diff --git a/src/accessibility.ts b/src/accessibility.ts
index 11ff5f743a..66170aa374 100644
--- a/src/accessibility.ts
+++ b/src/accessibility.ts
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ export class Accessibility {
       interestingOnly = true,
       root = null,
     } = options;
-    const {tree, needle} = await this._getAXTree(root);
+    const {tree, needle} = await this._getAXTree(root || undefined);
     if (!interestingOnly) {
       if (root)
         return needle && serializeTree(needle)[0];
diff --git a/test/accessibility.spec.js b/test/accessibility.spec.js
index 29805d6c5d..64ab278d4a 100644
--- a/test/accessibility.spec.js
+++ b/test/accessibility.spec.js
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ module.exports.describe = function({testRunner, expect, FFOX, CHROMIUM, WEBKIT,
           {role: 'textbox', name: 'disabled input', disabled: true},
           {role: 'textbox', name: 'Input with whitespace', value: '  ' },
           {role: 'textbox', name: '', value: 'value only' },
-          {role: 'textbox', name: 'placeholder',value: 'and a value'},
+          {role: 'textbox', name: 'placeholder', value: 'and a value'},
           {role: 'textbox', name: 'This is a description!',value: 'and a value'}, // webkit uses the description over placeholder for the name
         ]
       };