Accessibility Statement
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Accessibility Statement
Our Commitment to Web Accessibility
The Builders Association of the Blue Ridge Mountains (BABRM) is committed to providing a fully accessible website experience for all users of all abilities, including those who rely on assistive technologies like screen readers, screen enlargement software, and alternative keyboard input devices to navigate the web.
Ongoing Efforts to Ensure Accessibility
We follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.1 as our guiding principle for determining accessibility. These are internationally agreed-upon standards that cover a wide range of recommendations and best practices for making content useable. As we add new pages and functionality to our website, all designs, code, and content entry practices are checked against these standards.
Website accessibility is an ongoing process. We continually test content and features for WCAG 2.1 Level AA compliance and remediate any issues to ensure we meet or exceed the standards. Testing of our website is performed by our team members using industry-standard tools such as the Accessibility Checker WordPress Plugin, color contrast analyzers, keyboard-only navigation techniques, and Flesch-Kincaid readability tests.
Accessibility Features On Our Website
The following is a list of items we have included in our website to improve its accessibility:
- Our website design has a mobile-responsive version with appropriately sized tap-targets.
- We have thoughtfully selected a font that has marked differences in commonly ambiguous characters, such as the number 1, lowercase l, and uppercase I.
- Our brand colors were intentionally selected for color contrast and meet AAA requirements, even for small text.
- Navigational aids are provided on all pages. Skip navigation links have been incorporated to facilitate keyboard navigation and to bypass content on a page, allowing users to jump directly to the main content.
- Our website declares a language in the header.
- All images and other non-text elements have appropriate alternative text associated with them.
- Structural markup to indicate expected section containers, headings, lists, and buttons has been provided to make our content more understandable and “skim-able” by all users, regardless of device.
- Forms are associated with labels and instructions on filling in forms are available, along with clearly understandable error states.
- Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) screen-reader only text is present when links, buttons, icons, or images require additional context to understand their meaning.
- A warning is provided before links open in a new tab or window.
Where We’re Improving
In our efforts to bring our website up to standard, we are targeting the following areas:
- Blog posts before November 30, 2023.
- PDFs before November 30, 2023.
- Image alt text before November 30, 2023.
- Issues with our Member Application via Memberzone (hidden content by keyboard, focus order, radio buttons, checkboxes).
- Other issues with Memberzone sections.
This is part of our broader effort to make everyone’s experience at The Builders Association of the Blue Ridge Mountains (BABRM) a welcoming and enjoyable one. Please note that while we make every effort to provide information accessible for all users, we cannot guarantee the accessibility of third-party websites to which we may link.
Accessibility Support Contact
We welcome comments, questions, and feedback on our website. If you are using assistive technologies and are having difficulty using our website or finding a meeting, please let us know. We will do our best to assist you and resolve issues.
Contact our Executive Officer, Megan Carroll at [email protected] or 828.299.7001. Or, click the Contact Us button below and fill out our contact form.
Accessibility Support
Contact us with any comments or questions.