Accessibility Statement
Overview
This accessibility statement (Statement) talks about accessibility at Wellness Together Canada. It gives information about the following things:
How Wellness Together Canada defines accessibility
What Wellness Together Canada’s accessibility goals are
How Wellness Together Canada is accessible right now
How to contact Wellness Together Canada about accessibility
We are working on making Wellness Together Canada more accessible. This page will be updated regularly so that you know what changes we have made to our website and app and how those changes affect their accessibility.
A Note About Language
We have used the phrase ‘disabled people’ on this page. This is an example of identity-first language (IFL). IFL is different from person-first language (PFL), which would say ‘people with disabilities’. We have used IFL because it is preferred by the disability rights movement, which is where the idea of accessibility comes from. There are other communities that prefer PFL for important reasons. We believe communities and individuals should be able to choose the language they use to talk about themselves. We also believe that the language we use to talk about communities should be flexible and respectful of different preferences.
Abbreviations and Definitions
What abbreviations are used on this page?
Identity-first language to IFL
Person-first language to PFL
Accessibility statement to Statement
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines to WCAG
What definitions are used on this page?
Accountability (uh∙kown∙tuh∙bil∙uh∙tee) when a person does what they say they will do. They make things right if they do something wrong.
Alt Text (awlt tekst) is a way of sharing what a picture shows. When a picture supports text the alt text will share what a picture adds to the text. Alt text is often added to websites, PDFs, or social media. It is hidden to most people but screen readers can read it aloud.
Assistive Technology (uh∙sis∙tiv tek∙nol∙uh∙jee) a machine or program that makes computers and smartphones usable for some disabled people.
Content (kon·tent) information that is shared with people on a website or app.
Design (di·zyn) a way that people decide what things to make and how to make them.
Keyboard Navigation (kee∙board nav∙i∙gey∙shuhn) when people use a keyboard instead of a mouse to move around and use a website or computer program.
Screen Reader (skreen ree-der) a computer program that interprets visual information from websites and other computer programs. The program then reads that information out loud to users.
User (yoo∙zer) is someone who uses a thing that has been designed.
What Is Disability?
Disability is the way that some people are excluded by society because their bodies or minds are different from what society expects.
All of us live with other people in communities, and together these communities make a society. A society also has systems, services, spaces, and objects that people create. All of these things can make life easier or harder for the people who use them, depending on how they are designed.
Most things in most societies are designed with the idea that people’s bodies and minds do things a certain way. This means that they are usually not designed to meet the needs of people whose bodies and minds work differently. When people have trouble taking part in society because most things are not designed to meet their needs, we say that they are disabled.
When we say that accessibility is a way of thinking, we mean that when we plan and make things, we must think about what all people need to participate fully. We must also think about what we can do to meet those needs. For Wellness Together Canada, accessibility is an ideal for how we design.
What Is Accessibility?
Accessibility is how we make sure we are designing things to meet the needs of disabled people. It is a way of thinking about design that says when we plan and make things, we must think about what all people need to participate fully. We must also think about what we can do to meet those needs.
When something is designed so that people can use it no matter how their bodies and minds work, it is called accessible.
Wellness Together Canada’s Accessibility Goals
Our main goal for accessibility is to create a website and app that everyone can use how they want to and when they want to. This means that we will work toward meeting the following conditions with our website and app.
People can find, understand and use everything they want.
People can use the website how and when they want.
People can communicate how they want to.
People are safe when using them.
The kinds of safety we think about are listed below.
People are safe when they use the website or app.
People are also safe after using them.
People are not caused pain or fatigue.
People have ways to avoid unneeded emotional distress when using the website and app.
People will not find anything that is known to cause seizures.
There are a number of things we need to do to make Wellness Together Canada accessible. The specific accessibility goals we are starting with are found below.
Goal 1: Meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2 AA
We aim to meet the guidelines of version 2.2 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). WCAG says how to make websites more accessible for more people, such as people who use screen readers. WCAG is reviewed and updated every few years. We use the most up to date version of 2.2. This version was released in August 2023.
WCAG has three levels of rules to follow. From lowest to highest the level of accessibility, they are A, AA and AAA.
Wellness Together Canada is working to meet the WCAG 2.2 AA rules. Following the AA rules will mean we are obeying the accessibility laws of every province and territory.
Once we meet the AA level we will work toward meeting as many AAA level rules as we can. There may be some AAA level rules we can’t meet because they would make things less accessible for certain users.
Goal 2: Meet Clear Language Guidelines
The Government of Canada and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) are working to make plain language standards. These standards explain how to write things so that they are easy for people to find, understand and use information. Wellness Together Canada plans to use the Government of Canada’s plain language standard when it is shared. For now, we have our own clear language guidelines to help us do the same thing.
Goal 3: Internal Accessibility Rules
We are working to make other accessibility rules for Wellness Together Canada. These rules address the needs of people with pain, fatigue, neurodivergence and mental health distress. They also make sure that any documents we share with the public are as accessible as possible. Making other accessibility rules helps us to make sure all people can find the right service for them. These rules also help to reduce the chance of people accessing programs that might harm them.
How Is Wellness Together Canada Accessible Now?
We have made a lot of changes to our website over the past year. This means we need to test it so that we know what accessibility problems we have to fix. We are doing this test between August and November 2023. The test will look at how well the website and app work for different kinds of assistive technologies. The assistive technologies in the test are screen readers and keyboard navigation.
The test will tell us what we have to fix so that we can meet the WCAG 2.2 Level AA rules. Our goal is to fix any problems that the test finds with the website by the end of 2023. We plan to fix any problems that the test finds with the app by March 2024.
Contact Us About Accessibility
If you have any questions about accessibility or would like to report an access problem, you can email our Accessibility Lead at accessibility@steppedcaresolutions.com.
Header photo taken by Gritchelle Fallesgon for Disabled and Here. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
