Legal · updated May 17, 2026

Accessibility

Think ASL is built by a family that has been Deaf for five generations. Accessibility isn't an add-on here; it's the founding constraint. Our target is WCAG 2.1 Level AA, with a path to 2.2 AA as we close the open items below.

The plain-English commitments

• Captions are on by default for every video. Lecture videos and quiz question videos both ship with a hand-authored caption track. We do not consider a video production-ready without one.
• Audio is additive, never sole. Every state change in the product carries a color, an icon, and text. If we ever add a chime or audio cue, it will be opt-in per user and always accompanied by a visual partner.
• Typed mode is always available. Camera mode is opt-in. Every quiz question can be answered by typing. Mastery and CEU credit are identical between modes.
• Captions for English speech only. We do not auto-caption ASL on lecture videos. Auto-captioning ASL is a research problem; we don't pretend to solve it. ASL voice-over by the on-screen signer is what gets the caption track.
• No microphone capture. The curriculum is silent video. The product has no audio input path.

Standards we follow

WCAG 2.1 Level AA is the public commitment. Specifically:

• Body text contrast at least 4.5:1; large text and UI controls at least 3:1.
• Real semantic headings — one h1 per page, a sensible h2 / h3 hierarchy, no skipped levels.
• Visible focus rings on every interactive element. Focus order matches reading order.
• All form fields have visible labels (not placeholder-as-label).
• Skip-to-content link on every auth-gated page.
• Font scaling to 200% without horizontal scroll.
• lang="en" on the document root, lang="ase" on any ASL video container so screen readers and translation tools handle it correctly.
• prefers-reduced-motion respected throughout. Animations cap at 200ms and the few subtle reveals on this site fall back to instant when reduced motion is requested.
• Real /404.html — not an ErrorDocument 404 /index.html that returns a 200 status code.

Keyboard navigation

Every interactive element is reachable and operable from the keyboard alone. Tab moves forward, Shift+Tab backward, Enter and Space activate. Modals trap focus until dismissed. The quiz player supports answering typed questions without touching the mouse; for camera questions, the consent step is reachable by keyboard and a typed-mode fallback link is always one Tab away.

Screen-reader testing — honest status

The public marketing pages, the sign-in flow, and the free preview have been verified against VoiceOver on macOS (Safari) and NVDA on Windows (Firefox). The teacher console, the certificate verification page, and the school admin surfaces have been verified against VoiceOver only as of May 2026; NVDA pass is open. The camera consent modal has been screen-reader-tested for navigation but the real-time recognizer overlay is visual-only by design — the typed-mode equivalent is the screen-reader-accessible path.

Where we've found gaps, we've fixed them or flagged them above. We do not claim screen-reader parity on the camera overlay itself; the design choice is that screen-reader users use typed mode and get identical mastery.

Where we have known gaps

• The camera overlay's letter-recognition animation is visual-only. Use typed mode for the same credit.
• NVDA verification on the teacher console is pending; VoiceOver has been used as the proxy. If you hit a NVDA-specific bug, please report it.
• WCAG 2.2 introduces new criteria (focus appearance, target size, consistent help). We pass most by default but a formal 2.2 audit is on the roadmap, not yet done.
• The free-preview quiz feedback uses color in addition to text and icon, but the green/red palette has not been tested against every form of color-vision deficiency. Text and icon carry the same information.
• Captions on lecture videos are English transcripts of the on-screen signer's voice-over. We do not yet ship ASL gloss as a separate caption track. Caption styling (size, color, position) is the Vimeo player default; user-configurable styling is on the roadmap.

If something isn't working

If a page, a quiz, a video, or any surface in Think ASL is failing for you, please tell us. Email thinkasl@madeby1891.com or use the contact form with "Accessibility question" selected. We try to acknowledge within two business days and to fix or document a workaround within ten business days. If the fix takes longer, we'll tell you why.

For procurement reviews

For VPAT or WCAG conformance reports for a school's procurement review, email us and we'll send our current document. We are honest about gaps; we'd rather lose a procurement than ship an inaccurate VPAT.