Accessibility

Most of the people who run community car schemes are older than the people who build websites, and a good number use larger text, a keyboard rather than a mouse, or a screen reader. This site is built for that, and this page says plainly how far we have got.

What we aim for

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 at level AA. That is the standard UK public bodies must meet, and it is the one we hold ourselves to even though we are not one.

What this means in practice

• Every page works from the keyboard alone, and the item you are on is always visibly outlined. The previous version of this site removed those outlines in eight places, which made it unusable without a mouse.
• Text can be enlarged to 200% without anything being cut off or overlapping.
• Colour is never the only way something is communicated. Where an item is selected, it changes shape or weight as well as colour.
• Every image has a text alternative, and images that are purely decorative are hidden from screen readers rather than described pointlessly.
• Nothing moves, flashes or advances on its own. The testimonial carousel only changes when you ask it to, and every animation stops if your device is set to reduce motion.
• The site works with JavaScript switched off. Forms tell you where to ring instead, and no content is hidden behind a script.
• Form fields have real labels, and errors are announced rather than shown only in red.

Colour contrast, and one honest limitation

All text meets or exceeds the AA contrast requirement. Getting there involved one real compromise worth stating: the Via brand blue measures 4.48:1 against white, which misses the 4.5:1 minimum by a hair. It is therefore used for the logo and large shapes, and a slightly darker blue is used wherever there is text.

The brand orange is a bigger constraint. At 2.26:1 on white it fails outright at any size, so it never appears as text on a white background — only on the dark navy, where it reaches 5.76:1.

How we test

• Automated checks on every page, which currently report no failures.
• Keyboard-only walkthroughs of the navigation, the FAQs, the carousel and the enquiry form.
• Checks at 320px wide and at 200% text size.
• Checks with JavaScript disabled and with reduced motion enabled.

Automated tools catch perhaps a third of accessibility problems. We have not yet had this site tested by disabled users, and until we have, this statement should be read as our own assessment rather than an independent one.

Where we know we fall short

• Some app screenshots show dense information that is described only in general terms in their alt text. A screen reader user gets the gist, not the detail.
• Our legal documents were written as PDFs. They are published as web pages here, but the original PDFs remain the authoritative versions and are far less accessible.
• The site has not been tested with every combination of screen reader and browser, only the most common.

If something does not work for you

Please tell us — it is the fastest way for us to fix it, and we would rather hear about it than not.

• Ring 01223 912554, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm
• Email info@communityscheme.org

If you need something on this site in a different format — large print, or plain text — ask and we will send it.

Enforcement

If you contact us about an accessibility problem and are not happy with our response, you can contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service, which provides free advice on discrimination and human rights in the UK.