diff --git a/tests/progressbar.js b/tests/progressbar.js
index f3e5c625e64..a490c035596 100644
--- a/tests/progressbar.js
+++ b/tests/progressbar.js
@@ -56,16 +56,16 @@ test("accessibility", function() {
 	expect(7);
 	el = $("#progressbar").progressbar();
 
-	equals(el.ariaRole(), "progressbar", "aria role");
-	equals(el.ariaState("valuemin"), 0, "aria-valuemin");
-	equals(el.ariaState("valuemax"), 100, "aria-valuemax");
-	equals(el.ariaState("valuenow"), 0, "aria-valuenow initially");
+	equals(el.attr("role"), "progressbar", "aria role");
+	equals(el.attr("aria-valuemin"), 0, "aria-valuemin");
+	equals(el.attr("aria-valuemax"), 100, "aria-valuemax");
+	equals(el.attr("aria-valuenow"), 0, "aria-valuenow initially");
 	el.progressbar("progress", 77);
-	equals(el.ariaState("valuenow"), 77, "aria-valuenow");
+	equals(el.attr("aria-valuenow"), 77, "aria-valuenow");
 	el.progressbar("disable");
-	equals(el.ariaState("disabled"), "true", "aria-disabled");
+	equals(el.attr("aria-disabled"), "true", "aria-disabled");
 	el.progressbar("enable");
-	equals(el.ariaState("disabled"), "false", "enabled");
+	equals(el.attr("aria-disabled"), "false", "enabled");
 });
 
 })(jQuery);
diff --git a/ui/ui.core.js b/ui/ui.core.js
index de628a94d1d..5c4f481eb83 100644
--- a/ui/ui.core.js
+++ b/ui/ui.core.js
@@ -108,6 +108,27 @@ $.ui = {
 	}
 };
 
+// WAI-ARIA normalization
+// tweak $.attr for FF2 implementation
+if (isFF2){
+
+var attr = $.attr;
+$.attr = function(elem, name, value) {
+	var set = value !== undefined,
+		state = /^aria-/;
+	
+	return (name == 'role'
+		? (set
+			? attr.call(this, elem, name, "wairole:" + value)
+			: (attr.apply(this, arguments) || "").replace(/^wairole:/, ""))
+		: (state.test(name)
+			? (set
+				? elem.setAttributeNS("http://www.w3.org/2005/07/aaa", name.replace(state, "aaa:"), value)
+				: attr.call(this, elem, name.replace(state, "aaa:")))
+			: attr.apply(this,arguments)));
+};
+
+}
 
 //jQuery plugins
 $.fn.extend({
@@ -133,32 +154,6 @@ $.fn.extend({
 			.attr('unselectable', 'on')
 			.css('MozUserSelect', 'none')
 			.bind('selectstart.ui', function() { return false; });
-	},
-	
-	// WAI-ARIA Semantics
-	ariaRole: function(role) {
-		return (role !== undefined
-			
-			// setter
-			? this.attr("role", isFF2 ? "wairole:" + role : role)
-			
-			// getter
-			: (this.attr("role") || "").replace(/^wairole:/, ""));
-	},
-	
-	ariaState: function(state, value) {
-		return (value !== undefined
-			
-			// setter
-			? this.each(function(i, el) {
-				(isFF2
-					? el.setAttributeNS("http://www.w3.org/2005/07/aaa",
-						"aaa:" + state, value)
-					: $(el).attr("aria-" + state, value));
-			})
-			
-			// getter
-			: this.attr(isFF2 ? "aaa:" + state : "aria-" + state));
 	}
 	
 });
diff --git a/ui/ui.dialog.js b/ui/ui.dialog.js
index c940f657d6a..22ed2bb1882 100644
--- a/ui/ui.dialog.js
+++ b/ui/ui.dialog.js
@@ -83,8 +83,8 @@ $.widget("ui.dialog", {
 					(options.closeOnEscape && ev.keyCode
 						&& ev.keyCode == $.keyCode.ESCAPE && self.close());
 				})
-				.ariaRole("dialog")
-				.ariaState("labelledby", titleId)
+				.attr("role","dialog")
+				.attr("aria-labelledby", titleId)
 				.mouseup(function() {
 					self.moveToTop();
 				}),
diff --git a/ui/ui.progressbar.js b/ui/ui.progressbar.js
index e2266ea68a1..4f4fead64d6 100644
--- a/ui/ui.progressbar.js
+++ b/ui/ui.progressbar.js
@@ -25,10 +25,10 @@ $.widget("ui.progressbar", {
 		this.element
 			.addClass("ui-progressbar")
 			.width(options.width)
-			.ariaRole("progressbar")
-			.ariaState("valuemin","0")
-			.ariaState("valuemax","100")
-			.ariaState("valuenow","0");
+			.attr("role","progressbar")
+			.attr("aria-valuemin","0")
+			.attr("aria-valuemax","100")
+			.attr("aria-valuenow","0");
 			
 		$.extend(this, {
 			active: false,
@@ -103,13 +103,13 @@ $.widget("ui.progressbar", {
 	disable: function() {
 		this.element.addClass("ui-progressbar-disabled");
 		this.disabled = true;
-		this.element.ariaState("disabled", true);
+		this.element.attr("aria-disabled", true);
 	},
 	
 	enable: function() {
 		this.element.removeClass("ui-progressbar-disabled");
 		this.disabled = false;
-		this.element.ariaState("disabled", false);
+		this.element.attr("aria-disabled", false);
 	},
 	
 	pause: function() {
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ $.widget("ui.progressbar", {
 		if (this.options.range && !this.options.text) {
 			this.textElement.html(percent + '%');
 		}
-		this.element.ariaState("valuenow", percent);
+		this.element.attr("aria-valuenow", percent);
 		this._propagate('progress', this.ui());
 	},