Accessibility

This page says what has actually been done, what’s checked automatically, and what hasn’t been tested. An accessibility statement that overclaims is worse than none, because it tells somebody the barrier they hit is their fault.

The Standard We Build To

WCAG 2.1 Level AA is the target this site is designed against.

We aren’t claiming conformance to it. A conformance claim requires a full audit including assistive technology testing, and that audit hasn’t been completed. What follows is the difference between what’s verified, what’s built in, and what remains untested.

Verified On Every Build

An automated suite runs against every page of this site before anything is published, and it currently makes several thousand checks. Among them:

• Every image carries alt text describing what’s actually in that photograph rather than repeating a keyword, and it’s written for the image rather than generated from the page title. Where the same photograph appears on more than one page, every page describes it the same way, because the description belongs to the image and not to the page around it.
• Alt text is unique per image, never derived from a filename, and never opens with a redundant phrase like “image of”.
• Heading hierarchy never skips a level, and every page has exactly one H1.
• A skip-to-content link is present as the first focusable element.

Built In, And Demonstrable.

These are properties of the stylesheet and markup rather than results of an audit, and they can be checked directly:

• Every form field carries a real label element that’s associated with its input. Placeholder text is supplementary and never the only label.
• Visible focus styling on interactive elements, so keyboard position is never invisible.
• prefers-reduced-motion is honored, so movement is reduced for anyone who has asked their system for that.
• Buttons and primary controls are sized to a 44 pixel minimum. Inline links inside dense lists, such as the row at the foot of this page, are smaller than that.
• The page language is declared, so screen readers pronounce content correctly.

Color Contrast, Measured.

Every text and background pair used on this site has been measured rather than eyeballed. Body text sits at 16.64:1 against white, muted text at 7.32:1, white on the primary green at 5.56:1, and white on the call-to-action color at 5.02:1. All clear the 4.5:1 Level AA threshold for body text.

One color was rejected on this basis: a bright amber that measured 2.15:1 with white text and failed at any size. It’s banned from the palette rather than used carefully.

What Hasn’t Been Tested

Stated plainly, because this is the part statements usually omit:

• No screen reader testing has been carried out with real assistive technology.
• No full keyboard-only walkthrough of every page and interactive element has been completed.
• No testing with users who rely on assistive technology has taken place.

Those are planned rather than done, and this page will change when they are.

If Something On This Site Blocks You

Tell us and we’ll fix it. The phone number at the top of every page reaches a person, and the contact page explains which route is fastest.

If a page is unusable, say what you were trying to do rather than diagnosing it for us. Knowing you couldn’t request a walkthrough is more useful than a technical description, and we’d rather hear about it than have you go elsewhere.