How we make this site work for everyone
We build ohanahc.org so it works with a keyboard, with a screen reader, at a larger text size, and without a mouse. Here’s what that means in practice, what isn’t ours to fix, and how to tell us when something gets in your way.
Last reviewed September 7, 2026
The standard we build to
Ohana of Howard County builds this site to WCAG 2.1 AA, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines at level AA, the standard Section 508 and the ADA point to.
AA covers the things that decide whether a site is usable: contrast, keyboard access, text that resizes, and markup a screen reader can make sense of.
It’s the target for every page, not only the important ones. A form three levels down gets the same treatment as the homepage, because the person filling it in has the same needs either way.
What’s built in
These are decisions made while the site is being built, rather than repairs added afterward.
- Semantic headings and landmarks. Each page has one heading at the top level and the rest run in order, so a screen reader user can move through a page by heading instead of listening to all of it. The header, the main content and the footer are marked as what they are.
- A real label on every form field. Each label is tied to its own field, so it’s read out with the field and the whole label works as a click target. Help text is attached to the field it belongs to rather than left floating beside it.
- Visible focus. Tab through a page and you can see where you are. We don’t remove the focus ring, and anything you can click you can also reach with the keyboard.
- Contrast that was measured. Text contrast is read off the rendered page rather than assumed from the palette. Body copy meets 4.5 to 1, and large text meets 3 to 1.
- Nothing depends on an animation firing. Sections fade in as you scroll, and if that animation never runs the content appears anyway. The same is true when you print a page or save it as a PDF.
- Keyboard access throughout. Menus, accordions, tabs and forms are built from real buttons, links and inputs, so they work with the keyboard behavior the browser already gives you.
How we check it
At four points, and the last one never stops.
As each page is built
Every page is checked as it’s made. Heading order, alt text, form labels and the contrast of every line of text are measured on the built page itself, and the layout is checked at phone, tablet and desktop widths. A page that fails is fixed before it goes any further.
Before launch
The finished site is validated against WCAG 2.1 AA before it goes live: every template and every form, with a keyboard and a screen reader as well as with automated tools.
After launch
The live site is scanned continuously by an accessibility monitoring service. Anything it finds is queued and fixed, and the known limitations below change when something changes. The date at the top of this page is when it was last reviewed.
As content is added
The people who publish on this site are trained to keep new content accessible: headings in order, a description on every image, links that say where they go.
Automated tools catch some of it. The rest takes a person working through the site the way you would, so a person does that. If you find something these passes missed, we’d like to hear about it.
Known limitations
Saying where a site falls short is part of the standard. Here’s where this one does today.
- Screens that belong to other services. Giving, event registration and 5K registration happen on screens run by the services that handle them, so those screens follow their accessibility work rather than ours. If one of them stops you, tell us.
- Video players. Videos are embedded from the service that hosts them, so the player controls follow that service’s accessibility work.
This list changes. When one of these is fixed it comes off the page, and if we find something new it goes on.
Languages and translation
This site is written in English. If you’d rather read it in another language, your browser can translate any page here.
In your browser
Chrome, Edge and Safari all offer to translate a page. Look for Translate in the browser’s menu, or in the address bar, and pick the language you read. Nothing on this site blocks it.
If that doesn’t work for you
Machine translation isn’t perfect, and it can turn a clear sentence into a confusing one. Write to info@ohanahc.org and tell us which page and which language you need.
The same content in another format
If a page here doesn’t work for you in the form it’s in, tell us the page and the format that would, and we’ll see what we can do.
Report a barrier
If something on this site stopped you, we want to know. It’s the fastest way for us to fix it, and it helps everyone who comes after you.
Write to info@ohanahc.org. It helps if you can tell us the page you were on, what you were trying to do, and what happened instead. If you know which browser or screen reader you use, that’s useful too, but a sentence in your own words is enough.
If this site gets in your way, say so
One email is enough to start. Tell us what got in your way and we’ll work on the page behind it.