Accessibility · Our Commitment

Accessibility Statement

We are building a platform for families of disabled people. Making it accessible to everyone who needs it is not optional — it is the point.

Last updated: June 2025 · Applies to autismawarenesszimbabwe.com

Our Commitment

Autism Awareness Zimbabwe is committed to making our website and courses accessible to as many people as possible. Our community includes parents and carers who may themselves have disabilities, autistic adults who access our resources directly, and families using older devices or slower internet connections in Zimbabwe and across Africa.

We recognise that accessibility is a journey, not a destination. This statement is honest about where we are now and where we are working to improve.

This website is run by a small independent organisation. We are working to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA standards and improve our accessibility continuously.

What We Have Built In

In Place

Mobile Friendly

Every page and course is fully usable on a smartphone — designed first for parents accessing on mobile in Zimbabwe and Africa.

In Place

Keyboard Navigation

All interactive elements including course navigation, forms and buttons can be accessed using a keyboard alone.

In Place

Reduced Motion

Users who have enabled the "reduce motion" setting on their device will see reduced animations across the site.

In Place

Focus Indicators

Keyboard focus is clearly visible on all interactive elements — buttons, links, and form fields.

In Place

Plain Language

All content is written in clear, plain English. Legal and policy pages avoid jargon. Course content avoids clinical terminology where possible.

In Place

Multilingual

Key resources are available in English, Shona and Ndebele — removing language barriers for families who are more comfortable in their home language.

In Progress

Alt Text for Images

We are working to ensure all images include descriptive alternative text for screen reader users.

In Progress

Colour Contrast

We have aimed for strong contrast throughout but are continuing to audit and improve contrast ratios across all pages.

Known Limitations

We are a small, independently run platform and we are honest that we have not yet achieved full WCAG 2.1 Level AA compliance across every page. Known limitations include:

Accessing Our Content in Different Ways

Our courses are text-based and work on any modern browser. They do not require specialist software, apps, or high-bandwidth connections. They are designed to work on the kinds of devices most common in our community — Android smartphones, Chromebooks, and basic laptops.

If you are using a screen reader and encounter a specific barrier, please tell us. We will prioritise fixing it.

Tell Us About a Problem

If you experience any accessibility barrier on our site — something that prevents you from reading content, completing a form, navigating a course, or downloading a resource — please contact us. We take these reports seriously and will respond within 5 working days.

Please tell us which page or course you were using, what you were trying to do, and what went wrong. This helps us fix it faster.

Enforcement

If you have contacted us about an accessibility issue and are not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS) in the UK at equalityadvisoryservice.com, or the Equality and Human Rights Commission at equalityhumanrights.com.

Our Ongoing Commitment

We review this statement annually and update it whenever we make significant changes to the site. We are committed to improving accessibility continuously because it matters — not just as a legal requirement, but because the families this platform exists to serve deserve to be able to use it.