Marcus,

The menu is a problem because SAPI speaks text that you punch to it, and the fact that the menu does not have a gotfocus event on the menu bars, is where the problem arises. We wanted the product to speak when the user highlights an option on the menubar (product used by visually impaired users).
The trial that we are undertaking with the third party product ACTIVEBAR (DATADYNAMICS) caused as many problems as it solved, the fact that shortcut keys did not seem to work was a major stumbiling block. We created a C routine to move the mouse and issue a click event to get this to work with a shortcut key. I havn't made a decision as yet if we will use this approach or get stuck into pure api calls. The hole procedure has been very interesting in that all the new products are so 'visual', as well as the mouse is seen as the only access tool that it leaves visually impaired people out in the cold a little bit.
All the heartache has been worth it though, very interseting stuff.
I hope all this ramibling helps you with your decision on a direction to tackle your problem.