Accessibility statement

1. Our standard

This site is designed and built to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 at Level AA. WCAG is the international standard referenced by the Americans with Disabilities Act guidance and by California law. We treat it as a release requirement, not an afterthought.

2. What we've done

• Keyboard access. Every link, button, menu, accordion and form field can be reached and operated with a keyboard alone, in a logical order, with a clearly visible focus indicator.
• Screen readers. Pages use proper headings, landmarks and labels. Images have descriptive alternative text, decorative graphics are hidden from assistive technology, and status messages (like a form being sent) are announced.
• Color and contrast. Text meets or exceeds the 4.5:1 contrast ratio for normal text and 3:1 for large text and interface components. Color is never the only way information is conveyed.
• Text and zoom. Text can be resized to 200% and the layout reflows at 400% zoom without horizontal scrolling. Handwritten-style text is used only for short decorative notes, never for essential information.
• Motion. Animations are brief and subtle, nothing flashes, nothing auto-plays, and every animation is reduced or removed when your device's "reduce motion" setting is on.
• Touch targets. Buttons and controls are at least 24 by 24 pixels with spacing between them, and comfortably larger on phones.
• Forms. Every field has a visible label, errors are described in text next to the field and announced, information you've entered isn't lost when an error occurs, and we don't use CAPTCHA puzzles.
• Consistent help. Contact details and the street-dog text line appear in the same place on every page.
• Testing. Every page is checked with automated tools (axe-core against WCAG 2.2 AA) at desktop and phone sizes, plus manual keyboard and screen-reader checks, before changes go live.

3. Known limitations

• Foster application. This form is provided by Jotform and embedded on this site. We've chosen accessible form settings where Jotform offers them, but we don't control that code. If any part of a form is difficult to use, email us and we'll take your application another way. The adoption application is built into the site and tested to the standard above.
• Donation checkout. Payments are handled on Stripe's checkout page, which Stripe maintains to WCAG standards. If you have trouble, you can donate by Venmo or Zelle, or contact us.
• Photos from foster homes. Dog photos are taken by volunteers on their phones. We write alternative text for every one, but the descriptions are brief. Ask us if you'd like more detail about a particular dog.
• Third-party sites. We link to Petfinder, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and Amazon, whose accessibility we don't control.

4. Compatibility

The site is built with standard HTML and tested in current versions of Safari, Chrome, Firefox and Edge, on macOS, Windows, iOS and Android, with VoiceOver and NVDA. It works without JavaScript for reading content, though the forms and the donation button need it.

5. Tell us if something isn't working

If you have difficulty using any part of this site, or you'd like information in another format, please contact us and we'll help. Email info@letsrescuedogs.net or call +1 (213) 776-5886. Tell us the page and what happened, and we'll respond within five business days. Reports of accessibility problems are treated as bugs and fixed as a priority.

6. Formal complaints

If you're not satisfied with our response, you can contact the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division at ada.gov. We would much rather hear from you first and fix the problem.