Accessibility Policy

ASSITEJ International has invested a significant amount of resources to help ensure that its website is easy to use for everyone . The ASSITEJ International website has been designed with maximum inclusion for users from different language backgrounds, from areas with differing levels of internet access, and for users who may be differently abled.

ASSITEJ International is aware that, despite our best efforts, there may be users for whom the website is still not as accessible as we would like it to be. We are committed to learning about and embracing digital tools that allow for more inclusion. ASSITEJ International continues its efforts to improve the accessibility of its website. We believe that it is our collective moral duty to allow easy, accessible, and unrestricted use for all.

Despite our best efforts to allow everybody to adjust the website to their needs, there may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming more accessible, or lack a suitable technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we continue to improve our accessibility; adding, updating, improving options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies.

All of this is meant to reach the best level of accessibility following technological advancements. We warmly welcome your feedback and experiences. If you wish to report an accessibility issue, have any questions, or need assistance, please contact us via the chat feature or by emailing info@assitej-international.org.

Accessibility for Users Coming from Different Language Backgrounds

The website is originally written in English. To make the content more accessible to users from around the world, we are using AI, or artificial intelligence (technology), to translate the website into numerous other languages. We use a tool called DeepL, a powerful machine translation tool supported by artificial intelligence and neural networks.

Wherever possible, a volunteer is sought to check the accuracy and fluency of the automated translation. However, please be aware that ASSITEJ International cannot validate the accuracy of any content not written or presented in English – whether or not a volunteer has checked it.

First-time visitors will be redirected to their preferred language based on their browser settings or IP address. The language is then saved in a cookie (a small text file of select data). This is so that any time a user returns to the website, they will be automatically redirected to their last visited language. A user may change the language displayed at any time by using the floating dropdown menu, which appears in the top-right-hand corner of every page.

Currently, the translated languages available to users are:

• Chinese;
• French;
• German;
• Indonesian;
• Italian;
• Japanese;
• Korean;
• Latvian;
• Lithuanian;
• Polish;
• Portuguese;
• Russian;
• Spanish;
• Turkish;
• Ukrainian.

We continue to seek translations into more languages as technology allows.

Accessibility for Users Coming from Areas with Differing Levels of Internet Access

The website has been created for computer and mobile browser viewing in as many locations as possible. However, some parts of the website service may have problems in certain countries due to local laws and international regulations. We are happy to work directly with users and / or ASSITEJ National Centres to provide alternative access to those coming from countries where certain elements may be blocked.

If you wish to report content you want to access but cannot due to the software we are using to store or display it, please contact us via the chat feature or by emailing info@assitej-international.org.

All Known Issues are Listed Here:

• Our Messaging Channel (hosted by Meta’s Messenger via the ‘Ask us’ widget on assitej-international.org) will / may not work in Myanmar, North Korea, Russia, Syria, Turkey, and Uganda. If you are from any of these countries and require help, please email info@assitej-international.org.
• Our embedded videos (which are hosted on YouTube) will / may not work in China, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Turkmenistan. If you are from any of these countries and require help, please get in touch with us via the chat feature or send an email to info@assitej-international.org.
• Please note that users from China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria, and Venezuela may experience some disruption with our website services occasionally.
• If you are from any of these countries and require help, please get in touch with us via the chat feature or send an email to info@assitej-international.org.

Accessibility for Differently-Abled Users

The ASSITEJ International website makes available the UserWay Website Accessibility Widget (an extra piece of website technology), which is powered by a dedicated accessibility server. The widget allows the ASSITEJ International website to improve its compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1).

The ASSITEJ International accessibility menu can be enabled by clicking the accessibility menu icon that appears on the corner of the page. After clicking the accessibility menu, please wait a moment for the accessibility menu to completely load.

Website Compliance Status

• We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone. We are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of ability or disability.
• To fulfil this, we aim to strictly follow the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairments, cognitive disabilities, and more.
• This website uses various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We use an accessibility tool that allows people with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user experience) and design it to their personal needs.
• Additionally, the website utilises an AI-based application that runs in the background and constantly ensures a high accessibility level. This application repairs the website’s HTML and adapts its functionality and behaviour for screen-readers used by blind users and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.
• If you wish to contact us with any notes, comments, and/or feedback, please use the following email info@assitej-international.org.

Screen-Reader and Keyboard Navigation

The ASSITEJ International website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various behavioural changes. This is to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers can read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. Here’s how the website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements:

Screen-Reader Optimisation

• We run a process that learns the website’s parts from top to bottom to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others.
• Additionally, the background process scans all the website’s images. It creates an accurate image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described.
• It also extracts texts from within the image using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. Screen-reader users should get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.
• These adjustments are compatible with popular screen readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack.

Keyboard Navigation Optimisation

• The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML and adds a mix of behaviours using JavaScript code to make the website useable by keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website, close pages, and fill / navigate between radio and checkbox elements with the keyboard.
• Additionally, keyboard users will find content-skip menus available at any time or as the first element of the website while navigating with the keyboard.
• The background process also handles triggered popups (new windows) by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, not allowing the focus to drift outside.
• Users can also use shortcuts to jump to specific elements.

Disability Profiles Supported on the ASSITEJ International Website

ADHD Profile

• This profile significantly reduces distractions and noise to help people with ADHD and Neurodivergent people browse, read, and focus on the essential elements more easily.

Blind Profile (Screen-Readers)

• This profile adjusts the website to be compatible with screen readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. If a screen reader is installed on the blind user’s computer, this website is compatible with it.

Cognitive & Learning Profile

• This profile provides various assistive features to help users with cognitive disabilities, such as Autism, Dyslexia, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements more easily.

Colour Blind Profile

• This profile heightens the colour contrast on the website in order to accommodate people with colour blindness.

Dyslexia Profile

• This profile changes the font style, size, and spacing in order to make it easier for people with dyslexia to read the website content.

Motor-Impaired Profile (Keyboard Navigation)

• This profile enables motor-impaired persons to operate the website using the keyboard. Users can also use shortcuts to jump to specific elements.

Seizure & Epileptic Profile

• This profile enables people with epilepsy to safely use the website by eliminating the risk of seizures resulting from flashing or blinking animations and risky colour combinations.

Visually-Impaired Profile

• This profile adjusts the website so that it is accessible to the majority of visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataracts, Glaucoma, and others.

Additional User Interface, Design, and Readability Adjustments

Font Adjustments

• Users can increase and decrease the font size, change its family (type), adjust the spacing, alignment, line height, and more.

Colour Adjustments

• Users can select various colour contrast profiles such as light, dark, inverted, and monochrome. Additionally, users can swap colour schemes of titles, texts, and backgrounds with different colouring options.

Animations

• Epileptic users can stop running animations with the click of a button. Animations controlled by the interface include videos, GIFs, and CSS flashing transitions but not animated slider menus.

Content Highlighting

• Users can choose to emphasise essential elements such as links and titles. They can also choose to highlight focused or hovered elements only.

Audio Muting

• Users with hearing devices may experience headaches or other issues due to automatic audio playing. This option lets users mute the entire website instantly.

Understanding

• We utilise a dictionary, allowing users to decipher the meanings of phrases, initials, slang, and others.

Additional Functions

• We allow users to change cursor colour and size and many other functions.

Assistive Technology and Browser Compatibility

• We aim to support as many browsers and support technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best-fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked hard to be able to support all major browsers.

In an ongoing effort to continually improve and repair accessibility issues. We also regularly scan the website with UserWay’s Accessibility Scanner to identify and fix every possible accessibility barrier on our website. Despite our efforts to make all pages and content on the website fully accessible, some content may not have yet been fully adapted to the strictest accessibility standards. This may be a result of not having found or identified the most appropriate technological solution.