Accessibility

This site deals with subjects people often reach for at a difficult moment. It should work for everybody who needs it, including anyone using a screen reader, a keyboard, magnification, or a slow connection.

We aim to meet WCAG 2.2 Level AA. We are not claiming a formal audit — we are telling you what we have done and what we know is still imperfect.

What is in place

• Every page has one main heading and a logical heading order.
• Every page can be operated by keyboard alone, with a visible focus outline.
• A "skip to content" link is the first thing a keyboard reaches.
• The help drawer traps focus while open, closes on Escape, and returns focus where it was.
• Images that carry meaning have alternative text. Decorative images are marked empty so screen readers skip them.
• Contrast is measured, not assumed: body text is 13:1 against its background and the lightest secondary text is 4.5:1, both at or above the AA threshold.
• Animation is limited, and all of it stops for anyone whose system requests reduced motion.
• The layout reflows to a single column and stays readable at 320 pixels wide and at 200% zoom.
• Pages are plain HTML that render without JavaScript. Nothing essential to reading is behind a script.
• Times are given in words with time-zone conversions, not only as a graphic.
• The site is light on data — no tracking, no heavy scripts, small images — so it loads on a poor connection.
• Typefaces are served from this site, so text renders even when outside font services are blocked or unreachable.
• Episode pages show a still image rather than loading a video player, which is far lighter and works on a metered connection.
• Search runs on your own device and needs no network round-trip once the page has loaded.

An automated structural check runs on every change and blocks publication if a page loses its main heading, an image loses its alternative text, or a link breaks. That is not a substitute for testing with real assistive technology, but it stops the common regressions.

What we know is imperfect

• Embedded YouTube players are built by YouTube. Their keyboard behaviour and captions are outside our control. Captions depend on what has been added to each video, and older episodes may only have automatic ones.
• Episode transcripts do not exist yet. This is the largest gap on the site. Audio and video are unusable for anyone deaf or hard of hearing without them, and transcripts are planned.
• Some artwork carries text inside the image, which a screen reader cannot read. Where that art announces a show time, the same information is written in text nearby.
• We have not yet tested with every screen reader and browser combination.

The quick-exit control

The Harbor of Hope page has a button that moves you away from the page quickly, and it also responds to pressing Escape three times. Both work by keyboard. Please read the safety notes on that page: it does not clear your browsing history, and it cannot defeat monitoring software on your device.

Tell us when something does not work

If you need something on this site in another format — a transcript, plain text, or large print — ask and we will get it to you.