Accessibility

The standard we hold ourselves to

This site targets WCAG 2.2 level AA. That is checked automatically on every change — an axe-core scan of every page runs in our test suite and the build fails on a violation — and by hand: keyboard only, and with a screen reader, before anything ships.

This matters to us more than it might to another organization our size. We work with senior centers, and we partner with VISIONS, a services organization for blind and visually impaired New Yorkers. A site the people we serve cannot use would undercut the point of the work.

If you are blind or have low vision

• Every image carries alt text written by a person; our interactive graphics (the growing box, the planter cutaway, the delivery map) each have a full text equivalent, and the map is backed by a plain list of every location.
• Every number chart has a data table for screen readers.
• Real landmarks and a strict heading hierarchy on every page, verified automatically, so rotor and heading navigation work as expected.
• The display panel in the header offers larger text (the whole layout reflows — nothing is clipped at 200%), a high-contrast theme, and a plain reading font. Your operating system's increase-contrast setting is honored automatically, as are Windows Contrast Themes.
• Form errors are announced, described per field, and never conveyed by color alone.
• A listen button on articles, program pages and the FAQ reads the page aloud with your device's own voice, in the page's language — nothing is sent anywhere.
• Content that is not yet translated on the Spanish and Chinese pages is language-tagged so screen readers pronounce it correctly.

If you are deaf or hard of hearing

Nothing on this site requires hearing: there is no audio, no video, and no phone-only way to reach us. Every way to contact us — the forms and email — is text-based, and we commit to captioning any video we ever publish and to providing transcripts for any audio.

If you navigate by keyboard or switch

• Everything operable works with a keyboard alone: menus, the photo lightbox (focus is trapped and returned), the growing-box timeline, the map, every filter and form.
• Focus is always visible, at 3:1 contrast minimum, and the sticky header never covers the element you have tabbed to.
• Touch and click targets are at least 44 by 44 pixels.
• A skip link is the first thing the tab key reaches, and deep pages carry visible breadcrumbs so you always know where you are.

If motion bothers you

Your system's reduced-motion setting disables every animation on the site — the scroll effects, the growing box, the map entrance, the counters. The display panel can do the same on any device, and nothing flashes, parallaxes, or autoplays on a loop anywhere.

Known gaps

• Spanish translations exist for the interface and most content; Chinese currently covers the interface, with page content shown in English and marked as such. We say so on the page rather than machine-translating.
• The PDFs in our resources section were produced before we started checking accessibility. We are re-exporting them as tagged, text-searchable documents.

Tell us when we get it wrong

If something on this site blocks you, email mintboxharvest@gmail.com and say what happened. We will fix it and reply to tell you when it is fixed. Accessibility feedback goes to the top of the list — it is the only kind of bug report that means someone was excluded.