Site Accessibility
This website was developed with accessibility in mind every step of the way. That being said, I’m not perfect. Things fall through the cracks or get overlooked by accident. But I’m doing my best to keep an eye on things and fix things as I go. Soon I hope to include a contact form that will allow folks to inform me I have an issue on the site, but I’m just not in that position at the moment.
That being said, one of the goals of this site is accessibility education. That means there will be many many intentionally inaccessible features included within the blog posts (special characters, intentionally poor contrast colors, empty frames, etc). I believe in showing why something inaccessible, not just saying. So I apologize in advance to those who may struggle with these examples – I will do my best to give y’all the heads up when to expect them.
a11y cats will NEVER implement examples of potential photo epileptic sensitive materials on the post itself. Examples of potential seizure triggering materials (such as excessive flashing lights) may be linked to, but will always include a warning and will never be displayed on the post itself.
Site Inclusiveness
I also use portions of this blog to address mindfulness, something I feel is very important when it comes to accessibility. Sometimes, these posts will include personal reflections on an experience or something that has been bothering me. I do not believe in censorship; therefore, if these posts involve reflection on a hateful experience or potentially offensive material, I won’t be censoring myself. I feel censorship gives the hidden words more power than they deserve and won’t give them the satisfaction of being feared – hateful language and slurs are the poetry of the ignorant, but they’re not Voldemort. I apologize in advance if you find this offensive, but my intention for using these words will never be out of hate or malice but education and mindful reflection.
Post Ratings
You’ll notice the blog posts have ratings. These ratings will give you a good idea of what to expect from posts as a head’s up.
Post accessibility ratings
As stated, I will use intentionally inaccessible examples. I’ve created an approximate rating system that will prepare users who may have difficulties. The ratings are:
- Accessibility friendly: users with disabilities should have little to no difficulties with this post
- Accessibility alert [blind or visually impaired, deaf or hearing impaired, keyboard users/motor impaired, cognitively impaired]: this post contains some examples that may cause hurdles
- Accessibility warning [visually impaired, hearing impaired, keyboard users/motor impaired, cognitively impaired]: this post contains many examples and will be predominantly difficult for some users to navigate.
Examples of why a post may be deemed inaccessible for specific groups of users
Tagged content may include but are not limited to the following examples:
- Blind or visually impaired: I may use an example of poor color contrast in many posts, or examples of fonts that should be avoided that some may struggle to read. Alternatively, I could implement poor examples of code that visually appear perfectly normal but are presented as “blank frame” to someone using a screen reader.
- Deaf or hearing impaired: I may present examples of poor captioning, or alerts common on sites that are audio-only. Alternatively, it may be a very screen-reader-heavy blog post with auditory dependencies
- Keyboard users/motor impaired: The post may include examples of keyboard traps or interactive elements that require users to be dextrous without taking potential disability into account
- Cognitively impaired: This tag may be attached to posts that contain intentionally overly complex wording, or examples of unnecessary and/or distracting common features, or common pitfalls that don’t set users up for success
Many times, the tags will overlap with each other (for example, an intentional keyboard trap will be tagged both as “Keyboard users/motor-impaired” and “Blind or vision impaired” as those who rely on screen readers also rely on keyboards).
Alternatives
I am considering alternatives for extremely difficult posts. Please be patient with me as I consider the best options.
Post advisory ratings
Advisory ratings will give users an idea of what to expect from the post (and prepare themselves, if need be). I suppose this is my way of providing a “trigger warning,” as the kids say. The ratings are:
- Good: This post does not involve topics that more sensitive viewers may find offensive. “Good” posts will still likely involve cursing and mature language.
- Bad: This post may involve some references those who are more sensitive may deem offensive.
- Ugly: This post’s entire subject could be perceived as offensive by more sensitive individuals.
It’s not my intention to use language or quote hate speech for the purpose of shock value or as an attempt to be an “edge lord.” It’s simply one of my core beliefs censoring these words gives them power I am unwilling to allow them to have over me. And when it comes to cursing and swearing — no excuses there, I’m just a potty mouth.