Accessibility statement

Our commitment

Accessibility is part of how this project serves the public, not a box we check. Everyone who uses this site has the same right to read, understand, and act here with dignity and independence. This includes people with disabilities, people using assistive technology, and people whose attention, memory, vision, hearing, or motor abilities differ from any “average”.

What we target

  • This site targets WCAG 2.2 Level AAA — the highest published conformance level.
  • We treat AAA as our floor, not a ceiling: an accessibility-focused site should demonstrate the standard it advocates.
  • The U.S. legal baseline under DOJ Title II is WCAG 2.1 AA; we exceed that in every respect we can test and verify.

AAA criteria we actively implement

  • Enhanced contrast — SC 1.4.6 (7:1 for normal text)
  • Images of text — SC 1.4.9 (logotype exception applies to the logo)
  • No keyboard traps — SC 2.1.3
  • No timing — SC 2.2.3
  • Low or no flashing — SC 2.3.2
  • Location awareness — SC 2.4.8
  • Link purpose from text alone — SC 2.4.9
  • Section headings — SC 2.4.10
  • Focus appearance — SC 2.4.13 (3px outline, 3:1 contrast)
  • Accessible authentication — SC 3.3.7 / 3.3.8
  • Reading level — SC 3.1.5

In practice

  • Navigate entirely by keyboard.
  • Use a screen reader on every page.
  • Zoom or resize text up to 400% without breaking layout.
  • Experience reduced motion if you prefer it (prefers-reduced-motion).
  • Pages use semantic landmarks (header, main, footer, nav), a single h1, programmatic heading order, a working skip link, and high-contrast text.

How we test

Accessibility is verified using a layered toolchain so no single gap slips through:

Automated — every build

  • Playwright + axe-core — headless browser audit using @axe-core/playwright and alfa (Siteimprove) against WCAG 2.2 AAA rules on every build. Violations block the build.
  • Playwright + alfa — a second automated engine with separate rule coverage from Siteimprove. Both must pass.
  • All issues found by automated tools are automatically remediated before release. Automated tools detect a subset of WCAG failures; manual and assistive-technology testing (below) catch what they can't. Results are published on the accessibility audit page.

Manual — each release

  • Accessibility Insights for Web — structured guided assessment following the Fast Pass and Assessment workflows.
  • Axe DevTools — browser extension used for quick spot checks during development.

Automated unit / integration testing

  • vitest — component-level accessibility assertions (role, label, focus behavior) run on every commit.

Planned

  • Screen reader testing — NVDA + Firefox on Windows, VoiceOver on macOS and iOS, TalkBack on Android. It will be added to the release checklist for future versions.

Where we know we fall short

  • We do not claim perfection. Known issues and planned fix dates are tracked on the accessibility audit page.
  • If a barrier is blocking you right now, contact us. We will help you complete your task by another route while we fix the underlying problem.

Tell us

If anything here creates a barrier, contact A11y Equitas via a11yequitas.org. Government and nonprofit entities are especially encouraged to reach out. Feedback directly shapes future versions of the model and site. We aim to respond within five business days.

Last reviewed: 2026-05-23.