Accessibility statement

A11YVERSE Inc. is committed to making its platform accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities. As an organization dedicated to advancing accessibility across the global ecosystem, we hold ourselves to the highest standards of inclusive design.

Our commitment

Accessibility is not an afterthought at A11YVERSE. It is central to everything we build. We believe that a platform dedicated to organizing and sharing accessibility knowledge must itself be fully accessible. We are committed to meeting or exceeding the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 at Levels A and AA across the entire platform.

Standards we follow

We design, develop, and test our platform against the following standards and best practices: WCAG 2.2 Levels A and AA conformance, with efforts toward Level AAA where possible, the Accessible Canada Act and its requirements, ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) best practices for dynamic content, and inclusive design principles that consider a wide range of abilities and assistive technologies.

What we have implemented

Our platform includes the following accessibility features:

• Skip to main content links on every page, translated into all supported languages.
• Proper heading hierarchy with one heading level one per page and logical heading structure throughout.
• Landmark regions on every page including header, navigation, main content, and footer.
• Keyboard navigation support across all pages and interactive elements.
• Focus indicators that meet contrast requirements, using a 3-pixel solid outline with appropriate offset on all interactive elements.
• Alternative text for meaningful images and decorative treatment for non-essential images using empty alternative text and presentation roles.
• Screen reader optimized navigation with aria-current on active links, aria-pressed on toggle buttons, aria-labelledby on content sections, and sr-only text providing additional context for links.
• Screen reader only text spans used throughout the platform to provide additional context for links and interactive elements without affecting visual layout.
• No use of aria-label on generic role elements such as div and span, following ARIA best practices for role assignment.
• Anchor tags preferred over div elements for navigation, ensuring proper semantic structure and assistive technology compatibility.
• Colour contrast ratios that meet or exceed WCAG AA standards throughout the platform, including error text at a contrast ratio of 5.8 to 1 or higher.
• Accessible form validation following the Ontario Design System error pattern, with a top error summary linked to specific fields, unique error messages per field, and proper use of aria-invalid and aria-describedby.
• Focus trapping in modal dialogs with full keyboard support for navigation and dismissal using escape and arrow keys.
• Translated interface elements including all ARIA labels and user-facing strings in English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese.
• No use of uppercase text styling, enforced through CSS, to support readability and assistive technology interpretation.
• SVG icons treated as decorative with aria-hidden, presentation roles, and focusable set to false.
• Password visibility toggles with dynamically updating aria-labels.

Assistive technology compatibility

Our platform has been tested with screen readers including NVDA and VoiceOver by users with disabilities. Issues identified during testing have been resolved, and we continue to prioritize assistive technology compatibility as the platform evolves.

Event accessibility

Events organized through the A11YVERSE platform are designed to be fully accessible. Our events include ASL interpretation for main stage programming, CART captioning for all sessions and discussions, accessible materials formatted to WCAG 2.1 AA standards, wheelchair accessible venues with navigation support, and dedicated accessibility staff available throughout the event.

Attendees with specific accommodation needs are encouraged to reach out in advance through the event contact page.

Known limitations

We are continuously working to improve the accessibility of our platform. Some areas where we are actively making improvements include third-party content and external links that may not meet the same accessibility standards, older content that may not yet have complete alternative text or full translation coverage, and PDF documents that may have varying levels of accessibility depending on how they were created.

We are committed to addressing these limitations as part of our ongoing development.

Feedback

Your feedback helps us improve. If you encounter any accessibility barriers while using A11YVERSE, or if you have suggestions for how we can improve, please contact us. We take all accessibility feedback seriously and will respond within 5 business days.

You can reach us at accessibility@a11yverse.com.

When reporting an issue, it is helpful to include a description of the issue you experienced, the page or feature where you encountered it, the browser and assistive technology you were using, and any suggestions for improvement.

Formal complaints

If you are not satisfied with our response to your accessibility feedback, you may file a complaint with the Accessibility Commissioner of Canada or with the applicable provincial authority.