Accessibility Policy

Introduction

Friends of The Hudson River is committed to ensuring that our website at friendsofthehudsonriver.com is accessible to all people, including individuals with disabilities. We believe that everyone should have equal access to information about the Hudson River, our conservation programs, and opportunities to participate in protecting this vital natural resource.

This Accessibility Statement outlines our efforts to make our digital content accessible and provides information about how to contact us if you encounter any barriers.

Our Commitment

Accessibility is a core value of Friends of The Hudson River. Just as the Hudson River belongs to everyone, so too should access to information about its protection and preservation. We are dedicated to:

Providing an inclusive digital experience for all visitors, regardless of ability.
Designing and developing our website with accessibility as a foundational principle, not an afterthought.
Continuously improving the accessibility of our website based on user feedback, evolving standards, and best practices.
Training our staff and volunteers on accessibility principles and inclusive design.
Ensuring that new content and features meet accessibility standards before publication.

Conformance Status

Target Standard

We aim to conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA as published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). These guidelines establish a wide range of recommendations for making web content more accessible to people with disabilities, including those with visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, language, learning, and neurological disabilities.

Current Status

We are actively working toward full WCAG 2.1 Level AA conformance. Our website has been designed and built with the following accessibility principles in mind:

Perceivable: Information and user interface components are presented in ways that all users can perceive.
Operable: User interface components and navigation are operable by all users.
Understandable: Information and the operation of the user interface are understandable to all users.
Robust: Content is robust enough to be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies.

Accessibility Features

Our website includes the following accessibility features:

Consistent and predictable navigation throughout the website.
A clear heading hierarchy (h1 through h6) to organize content logically.
Skip navigation links to allow keyboard users to bypass repetitive content.
Breadcrumb navigation to help users understand their location within the site.
ARIA landmarks to identify major page regions (header, navigation, main content, footer).

Visual Design

Sufficient color contrast ratios between text and background colors that meet or exceed WCAG 2.1 AA requirements.
Text that can be resized up to 200% without loss of content or functionality.
No content that relies solely on color to convey information.
Responsive design that adapts to different screen sizes and orientations.
Support for user-defined browser zoom levels and text scaling preferences.

Images and Media

Descriptive alternative text for all informational images.
Decorative images are marked with empty alt attributes so assistive technologies can skip them.
Captions and transcripts for video and audio content where available.
Images of text are avoided in favor of actual text content.

Interactive Elements

All interactive elements are accessible via keyboard navigation.
Visible focus indicators on all focusable elements.
Form fields include associated labels and clear instructions.
Error messages are descriptive and associated with the relevant form fields.
Buttons and links have descriptive, meaningful text.
ARIA attributes are used where needed to enhance the experience for assistive technology users.

Motion and Animation

Animations respect the user’s prefers-reduced-motion operating system setting.
No content flashes more than three times per second.
Users have control over any automatically moving or updating content.

Technical Specifications

Our website is built using the following technologies, which are relied upon for conformance with WCAG 2.1:

HTML5: Semantic markup for document structure and content.
CSS: Cascading Style Sheets for visual presentation, including Tailwind CSS for consistent design implementation.
JavaScript: For interactive features and animations, with GSAP for motion effects that respect user preferences.
Astro: A modern web framework that produces static HTML pages for optimal performance and compatibility.
SVG: Scalable Vector Graphics for icons and graphics, with appropriate ARIA attributes.

Our website is designed to be compatible with the following assistive technologies:

Screen readers (such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack).
Screen magnification software.
Speech recognition software (such as Dragon NaturallySpeaking).
Keyboard-only navigation.
Switch access devices.

Our website is tested to work with the latest versions of major web browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge.

Known Limitations

While we strive for full accessibility, we acknowledge that some areas of our website may have limitations:

Legacy PDF Documents: Some older PDF documents, such as historical reports and publications, may not be fully accessible. We are working to remediate these documents and provide accessible alternatives upon request.
Third-Party Content: Some content provided by third-party services, such as embedded maps, social media feeds, or donation processing forms, may not fully conform to WCAG 2.1 Level AA. We work with our third-party providers to improve accessibility and advocate for adherence to accessibility standards.
Interactive Maps: Map components displaying river locations and event sites may have limited accessibility for screen reader users. Text-based alternatives with location descriptions are provided where possible.
Historical Photography: Some historical photographs of the Hudson River in our gallery may have limited descriptive alt text. We are continuously improving image descriptions as resources allow.

We are committed to addressing these limitations on an ongoing basis and providing accessible alternatives whenever possible.

Feedback

We welcome your feedback on the accessibility of the Friends of The Hudson River website. If you encounter any accessibility barriers, have difficulty accessing any content, or have suggestions for improvement, please let us know:

Email: info@friendsofthehudsonriver.com (please include “Accessibility” in the subject line)
Contact Form: Available on our website at friendsofthehudsonriver.com/contact
Response Time: We aim to respond to accessibility feedback within 5 business days.

When reporting an accessibility issue, please include:

A description of the problem you encountered.
The page URL where the issue occurred.
The assistive technology or browser you were using, if applicable.
Any other details that would help us identify and resolve the issue.

If you need information from our website in an alternative format (such as large print, Braille, or audio), please contact us and we will make every reasonable effort to accommodate your request.

Assessment Approach

Friends of The Hudson River assesses the accessibility of our website through the following methods:

Internal Review

Regular accessibility audits conducted during development using automated testing tools and manual evaluation.
Review of new content and features for accessibility compliance before publication.
Periodic comprehensive reviews of the entire website against WCAG 2.1 Level AA success criteria.

Automated Testing

Use of automated accessibility testing tools to identify common issues related to color contrast, missing alt text, heading structure, form labels, and other machine-detectable criteria.
Integration of accessibility checks into our development workflow.

Manual Testing

Keyboard-only navigation testing to verify that all interactive elements are accessible without a mouse.
Screen reader testing using multiple assistive technologies.
Testing across different browsers, devices, and operating systems.
Evaluation of content readability, logical reading order, and focus management.

User Testing

We value input from users with disabilities and incorporate their feedback into our ongoing accessibility improvements.
Community members are invited to share their experiences accessing our website and participating in our programs.

Ongoing Improvement

Accessibility is not a one-time effort but an ongoing commitment. We continuously work to improve the accessibility of our website by:

Monitoring web accessibility standards and best practices for updates and changes.
Incorporating accessibility considerations into all stages of content creation and web development.
Providing ongoing training to our team on digital accessibility.
Reviewing and updating this Accessibility Statement regularly.

Legal Framework

This accessibility effort is guided by the following standards and regulations:

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1: Published by the W3C WAI, these guidelines are the internationally recognized standard for web accessibility.
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): Federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities.
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act: Federal law requiring electronic and information technology to be accessible to people with disabilities.
New York State Human Rights Law: State law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about our accessibility efforts or need assistance accessing any content on our website, please do not hesitate to reach out:

Friends of The Hudson River Email: info@friendsofthehudsonriver.com Website: friendsofthehudsonriver.com

We are committed to providing an accessible and inclusive experience for all visitors and appreciate your help in making our website better for everyone.