A large share of the people MEDVETS serves live with disability — service-connected injury, chronic pain, hearing and vision loss, cognitive effects of TBI. An inaccessible website would exclude exactly the people this organisation exists for. We treat accessibility as a functional requirement, not a compliance checkbox.
Target: WCAG 2.1 Level AA
What is built in
- Semantic HTML landmarks and a logical heading hierarchy on every page.
- A "skip to main content" link as the first focusable element.
- Visible focus outlines on every interactive element — never suppressed.
- Full keyboard operability, including the multi-step enlistment form, the mobile menu and all modals.
- Text and interface colours checked against AA contrast ratios.
- Form fields with real labels, described errors and programmatic association — not placeholder-only inputs.
- Alternative text on meaningful images; decorative images hidden from assistive technology.
- Respect for
prefers-reduced-motion— animations and count-ups are disabled when you ask your system to reduce motion. - Responsive layouts that reflow without horizontal scrolling down to 320px and remain usable at 200% zoom.
- Touch targets sized for use with limited dexterity.
- Placeholder imagery is currently in use; final photography will need descriptive alt text written per image.
- Video and podcast content from MEDVETS Media requires captions and transcripts — these are produced per item and may lag publication.
- Third-party embeds (maps, payment gateway) are not yet integrated; each will be audited before it goes live.
- Downloadable documents will be provided as tagged, accessible PDFs or HTML alternatives.
If something blocks you: anything you can do on this website you can also do by phone or email — a person will complete it with you, whether that's enlistment, donation, advocacy signup or a partnership enquiry. To report a barrier, tell us what you were trying to do, which page you were on and what got in the way; we aim to acknowledge within two working days and fix confirmed barriers as a priority.