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Website Accessibility

We are committed to ensuring that our website is accessible to all users, including people with disabilities. Accessibility is an ongoing priority, and we strive to provide an inclusive digital experience that supports a wide range of abilities, technologies, and ways of interacting with content.

Our goal is to ensure that everyone can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with our website effectively, whether they use assistive technologies, mobile devices, or standard web browsers.

We are actively working to ensure that our global features, templates, and shared components conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2, Levels A and AA. These guidelines are internationally recognized standards for digital accessibility and support compliance with applicable accessibility laws and regulations.

Accessibility is not a one-time effort. We regularly review and test our website to identify and address accessibility barriers. This includes both automated testing and human review to help ensure usability for people using assistive technologies.

We also continue to refine our design patterns, templates, and content practices to align with evolving accessibility standards and user needs.

Accessibility Best Practices:

As part of our ongoing accessibility efforts, we apply the following practices across our website:

Images

  • When adding the alternative description (alt text), think of it like you are describing the image to someone over the phone. They can't see it so what would you say about it?
  • Any text over the image must be in the alt text because a person using a screen reader has no other way to get this information. Avoid using text over an image.
  • Avoid using images as links. If you do need to link an image, the alt text should not describe the image. The alt text should convey the location and purpose of the link. 

Links

  • Use concise and meaningful text for links.
  • Avoid linking to "click here", "here" , "link", etc.  These kinds of links can be confusing when a screen reader reads them out of context.
  • It is OK to link a full sentence, but avoid longer.
  • Avoid using URLs for link text.

Readability

  • Use headings to create page structure. Headings and page structure follow a logical, hierarchical order.
  • Use numbered and bulleted lists for structure.
  • Use simple language and formatting.
  • Format and use simple tables with column and row headers. Split nested tables up into simple tables.
  • Content and navigation are responsive and usable across desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.

Video / Audio Captions

Color Contrast

  • Provide sufficient contrast between foreground and background.
  • Color contrast ratio for minimum compliance is 4.5:1.
  • Use WebAIM Contrast Checker

PDF & Document Accessibility

  • All documents must be remediated for accessibility before posting online.
  • Before distributing and remediating PDFs, determine whether a PDF is necessary. Could this be turned into a web page?
  • Forms include clear labels, instructions, and error feedback.