Accessibility Statement

According to the WHO, approximately one billion people worldwide suffer from vision impairment that could have been prevented or has gone untreated. These include 94 million cases of cataracts, 88.4 million cases of refractive errors, 8 million cases of age-related macular degeneration, 7.7 million cases of glaucoma and 3.9 million cases of diabetic retinopathy. In addition, 826 million people experience nearsightedness due to untreated presbyopia.

In order to ensure that the information presented on our website, as well as the personal safety and protection options in the form of our bomb shelters, are available, we have designed our website to be accessible to as many people as possible, regardless of their physical or cognitive abilities. 

To achieve this goal, we strive to follow the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 AA level as closely as possible. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with various disabilities. Following these guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to everyone: blind people, people with motor disabilities, people with visual impairments, people with cognitive disabilities, and many others. This website uses a number of technologies designed to ensure accessibility at all times. 

We use an accessibility interface that allows people with specific disabilities to adapt the user interface and design of the website to their needs. In addition, the website uses an artificial intelligence-based application running in the background that continuously optimizes its accessibility level. This application improves the website’s HTML, adapts its functions and behavior for screen readers and keyboard navigation used by people with motor impairments. If you have found an error or have ideas on how we can improve the website, please contact us.

Navigating with a screen reader and keyboard

Our website implements ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) techniques along with various behavioral modifications to ensure that blind users using screen readers can read, understand, and enjoy the website’s features. Visitors using screen readers are offered the opportunity to activate a screen reader profile upon entry so that they can navigate and use the website effectively.

Screen reader optimization:

We use a background process that learns website components from top to bottom to ensure compliance even when the website is updated. During this process, we provide meaningful information to screen readers using ARIA attributes. For example, we add accurate form tags, descriptions for icons (social media icons, search icons, shopping cart icons, etc.), instructions for filling out form fields, and roles for elements (buttons, menus, popups, etc.). In addition, the background process scans all images on the website and adds accurate descriptions to them as ALT tags.

Optimizing keyboard navigation:

The background process adapts the HTML of a website and adds various behaviors to make the website usable with a keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate websites with the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, use the arrow keys to open menus, close them with the Esc key, use the Enter key to activate buttons and links, and move between selection elements with the arrow keys.

Disability profiles supported by the website

    • Epilepsy Safe Mode: Eliminates flashing or risky color combinations.
    • Visually Impaired Mode: Adapts the website to be suitable for people with impaired vision, tunnel vision, cataracts, and glaucoma.
    • Cognitive Impairment Mode: Provides assistive devices that make it easier to focus on important elements.
    • ADHD Friendly Mode: Reduces distracting elements on the website.
    • Blind Mode: Enables full compatibility with screen readers such as JAWS and NVDA.
    • Motor Impaired Mode: Enables keyboard navigation, including keyboard shortcuts.

Additional adjustments

    • Fonts: Change size, font style, alignment, etc.

    • Color Contrasts: Different color modes, including monochrome and invert.

    • Animations: Stop all animations with a single click.

    • Mute: The ability to mute the website completely.

Comments and feedback

While we do our best, there may be pages that are not yet fully accessible. If you need help, please contact our website developer/administrator at info@skald.ee.