Accessibility Statement
Last updated: April 14, 2026Our Commitment
Yuma Homeward Bound Animal Rescue (YHBR) is committed to ensuring that our website (yhbr.org) is accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities. We strive to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA standards as defined by the W3C.
Conformance Status
yhbr.org is partially conformant with WCAG 2.1 Level AA. Partially conformant means that some content does not fully conform to the accessibility standard. We are actively working to address all known gaps. See Known Limitations below.
Measures We Have Taken
The following accessibility improvements were implemented in April 2026 as part of a structured accessibility remediation:
- Form labels (WCAG 1.3.1): All form inputs now have an associated
<label for>oraria-label. Previously, the Story Sharing Permission select on the Contact page and the email input on the Foster page exit popup were unlabelled. - Heading hierarchy (WCAG 1.3.1): Heading levels on all 10 content pages now follow a strict H1 → H2 → H3 structure. Previously, multiple pages skipped from H2 directly to H4 or H5, most severely on the Volunteer page (H1 → H4).
- Form error announcements (WCAG 3.3.1): All forms — Adopt, Contact, Foster, Bulldog Rescue, and Volunteer — now include a
role="alert" aria-live="polite"region that is populated programmatically on submission error, making errors readable by screen readers. - Color contrast — body text (WCAG 1.4.3): The
--mutedtext color was darkened from#64748bto#5a6a7eto achieve a contrast ratio above the 4.5:1 AA minimum on the site's cream background. Affects breadcrumbs, form helper text, and footer fine print across all pages. - Color contrast — footer (WCAG 1.4.3): Footer EIN, address, and hours text opacity was raised from
rgba(255,255,255,.35)to.65, and footer link color from.50to.75, on all pages. - Color contrast — foster badges (WCAG 1.4.3): Story card badge text on foster.html changed from
--green(#4A7C59) on a green-light background (4.19:1, fail) to--slate(#1e293b) for a passing ratio above 12:1. - Focus indicators (WCAG 1.4.1 / 2.4.7): Three CSS rules used
outline:noneon form inputs with only a border-color change as a focus indicator. A visiblebox-shadowfocus ring has been added to all affected input styles. - Autocomplete on personal data fields (WCAG 1.3.5):
autocompleteattributes (given-name,family-name,email,tel,postal-code) added to all personal data inputs on the Bulldog Rescue and Contact pages. - Moving content pause control (WCAG 2.2.2): The autoplay hero background video on the homepage now has a visible pause/play button in the bottom-right corner. The button announces its state to screen readers via
aria-labelandaria-pressed, and is removed automatically if the video is skipped on slow connections. - Skip links: A "Skip to main content" link is present at the top of every page.
- Keyboard navigation: Navigation menus are operable with Tab, Enter, and Escape keys.
- ARIA landmarks: All pages use
<main>,<nav>,<footer role="contentinfo">, and appropriate ARIA labels throughout. - Language attribute: All pages declare
lang="en"on the<html>element. - Responsive design: The site is usable at zoom levels up to 400% without loss of content or function.
Known Limitations
The following are known areas that have not yet been fully remediated. We are actively working to address them:
- Third-party pet widgets: The Petstablished and Petfinder embeds on the Adopt page are third-party iframes. We do not control their internal accessibility, but we link directly to our Petfinder listings as a fully accessible alternative.
- Pet listing images: Dynamically loaded pet photos from Petfinder may not always include descriptive alt text. We are working with our listings to ensure descriptions are entered for each animal.
- Mobile touch targets: Some navigation and icon button elements may fall below the WCAG 2.5.5 recommended 44×44px target size on certain mobile viewports. We are reviewing and updating these.
- Screen reader testing: Manual testing with NVDA + Firefox and VoiceOver + Safari is in progress. Automated tooling (axe) has been used for this remediation pass; human-assisted testing will follow.
- PDF documents: Any linked PDF files may not be fully tagged for screen readers. We are auditing these.
- User-generated content: Testimonials and social media content embedded on the site may contain accessibility gaps that are outside our direct control.
Assistive Technology Support
yhbr.org is designed and tested to work with the following assistive technologies:
- Screen readers: NVDA + Firefox, JAWS + Chrome, VoiceOver (macOS & iOS), TalkBack (Android)
- Keyboard-only navigation (no mouse required)
- High contrast and inverted color modes
- Browser zoom up to 400%
- Speech recognition software (Dragon NaturallySpeaking / Windows Speech Recognition)
Feedback & Contact
We welcome feedback on the accessibility of yhbr.org. If you experience a barrier or cannot access any content, please contact us and we will work with you to provide the information in an alternative format:
- Email: [email protected] (Technology Coordinator — preferred for accessibility issues)
- General: [email protected]
We aim to respond to accessibility feedback within 5 business days and to remediate identified issues as quickly as possible, typically within 30 days for critical barriers.
Formal Complaints
If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the U.S. Department of Justice's ADA Information Line at 1-800-514-0301 (voice) or 1-800-514-0383 (TTY), or file a complaint with your regional ADA National Network center at adata.org.
Technical Specification
yhbr.org relies on the following technologies for its accessibility features:
- HTML5 with semantic elements and ARIA 1.2 attributes
- CSS3 (visible focus indicators, sufficient contrast ratios)
- JavaScript (ES6+) for dynamic ARIA state management and live region updates
Assessment Approach
YHBR assesses the accessibility of yhbr.org using the following approaches:
- Automated scanning with axe DevTools (axe-core 4.x) on every page after major deployments
- Manual keyboard-navigation testing across all interactive components
- Self-evaluation against WCAG 2.1 Success Criteria
- User feedback — we incorporate reports from visitors who encounter barriers
We review and update this statement whenever significant changes are made to the site.
Remediation log — April 14, 2026: Accessibility audit conducted and the following WCAG 2.1 AA issues were resolved: missing form labels (1.3.1), heading level skips (1.3.1), form errors not announced (3.3.1), insufficient text contrast — muted text and footer (1.4.3), badge contrast failure on foster page (1.4.3), focus indicators relying on color alone (1.4.1 / 2.4.7), missing autocomplete on personal data fields (1.3.5), and autoplay video with no pause control (2.2.2).
Next scheduled review: October 2026, or upon next major site update.