Our goal is to provide a website that is accessible to everyone. We continually review and modify our site to improve its accessibility for people with disabilities and those who use assistive technology. Currently, there are aspects of our website that are not yet up to the standards of WCAG 2.0 conformance level AA.
We are taking steps towards adhering to the accessibility standards of WCAG 2.0 conformance and level AA (WCAG 2.0 AA) to provide an optimal web experience for our users.
Please note that our website needs to support present-day technical accessibility standards, such as ARIA 1.1, to ensure our interactive web features work correctly with modern browsers and assistive technology. Because Internet Explorer (IE11) does not support these technical standards, we strongly recommend using another browser if you are using assistive technology.
We recommend several screen reader – browser combinations including:
- JAWS / Chrome (Windows)
- NVDA / Firefox (Windows)
- VoiceOver / Safari (iOS) on mobile
Below, you’ll find a few recommendations to help make your browsing experience more accessible. If you have trouble seeing web pages, the US Social Security Administration offers these tips (https://www.ssa.gov/accessibility/) for optimizing your computer and browser to improve your online experience.
- Use the keyboard to navigate screens
- Increase text size
- Magnify your screen
- Change background and text colors
- Make your mouse pointer more visible (Windows only)
If you are looking for mouse and keyboard alternatives, speech recognition software such as Dragon Naturally Speaking(https://www.nuance.com/dragon.html) may help you navigate web pages and online services. This software allows the user to move focus around a web page or application screen through voice controls.
If you are deaf and or hard of hearing, there are several accessibility features available to you:
Closed Captioning
Closed captioning provides a transcript for the audio track of a video presentation that is synchronized with the video and audio tracks. Captions are generally visually displayed over the video, which benefits people who are deaf and hard of hearing, and anyone who cannot hear the audio due to noisy environments. Most of our video content includes captions. Learn how to turn captioning on and off in YouTube. (https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/100078?hl=en)
Volume Controls
Your computer, tablet, or mobile device has volume control features. Each video and audio service has its own additional volume controls. Try adjusting both your device’s volume controls and your media players’ volume controls to optimize your listening experience.
For more information regarding accessibility, please visit the following website:
https://www.w3.org/WAI/