diff --git a/src/windows/classes/com/sun/java/accessibility/AccessBridge.java b/src/windows/classes/com/sun/java/accessibility/AccessBridge.java
index 7d66a7d19d7a478c05376c8655e3a5f0956799b4..f2802f6dae19e8a165146b1afe9d77259c7973b8 100644
--- a/src/windows/classes/com/sun/java/accessibility/AccessBridge.java
+++ b/src/windows/classes/com/sun/java/accessibility/AccessBridge.java
@@ -807,7 +807,7 @@ final public class AccessBridge extends AccessBridgeLoader {
             }
 
             if (false == bExtendedSearch) {
-                debugString ("bk -- getVirtualAccessibleNameFromContext will not use the extended name search algorithm.  role = " + role.toDisplayString (Locale.US) );
+                debugString ("bk -- getVirtualAccessibleNameFromContext will not use the extended name search algorithm.  role = " + ( role != null ? role.toDisplayString(Locale.US) : "null") );
                 /*
                 Step 3:
                 =======