Accessibility at Minds Vary

Access is part of editorial quality. A page about mental health is not useful if its structure, motion, language, contrast, or interaction makes the information unnecessarily difficult to reach.

Minds Vary works toward an experience that supports keyboard users, screen-reader users, people who zoom or enlarge text, people with low vision, people sensitive to motion, and readers who benefit from clear, literal, well-organised content.

The project aims to meet WCAG 2.2 Level AA across public pages and essential navigation. This includes perceivable content, operable controls, understandable structure, and robust markup that can work with different browsers and assistive technologies.

No independent conformance assessment has yet been completed, and Minds Vary does not currently claim full compliance with WCAG, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the European Accessibility Act, or any other jurisdiction-specific law. Legal applicability and technical conformance require their own review.

The current Astro site is designed to produce readable HTML without requiring JavaScript for the main editorial content. The measures below describe implementation choices, not the result of a complete audit.

• Structure and landmarksPages use headings, main content, navigation, sections, articles, lists, and asides according to their purpose.
• Keyboard and focusLinks and controls are intended to work from a keyboard and show a visible focus indicator.
• Responsive readingLayouts are designed for screens from 320 pixels wide. This is an implementation goal, not evidence that every public page has passed a horizontal-overflow audit.
• ImagesThe implementation distinguishes meaningful images, which need useful text alternatives, from decorative imagery, which uses empty alternative text. The current site has not completed a content-wide alt-text audit.
• Motion preferencesNon-essential animation and smooth scrolling are reduced when the device requests reduced motion.
• Typography and colourThe site uses readable local fonts, generous line spacing, and a restrained palette intended to maintain contrast.

Accessibility also includes the way information is written. Minds Vary aims for descriptive headings, short paragraphs, literal link text, defined terms, clear summaries, and one main purpose per section.

Mental-health content should not use urgency, shame, or diagnostic certainty to hold attention. Important safety information should appear early, and a reader should not need to decode a metaphor or visual treatment to understand the next step.

The current site remains in development. The list below tells readers which parts of the experience have not yet been independently or comprehensively verified.

• No independent auditThe full public experience has not been assessed by an external accessibility specialist.
• Limited assistive-technology evidenceA formal browser, screen-reader, voice-control, and magnification test matrix has not yet been published.
• No monitored feedback routeThe current Contact page does not accept accessibility reports, so there is not yet a response-time or remediation commitment.
• Fictional contributor profilesContributor profile pages remain labelled editorial demonstrations and are not evidence of real identities, credentials, or clinical review.
• Features not yet coveredIf search, forms, additional languages, media, or third-party embeds are introduced, the current accessibility statements will not establish that those features have been assessed.

The project's stated evaluation approach covers design, content, development, and release work rather than relying on one final automated scan. Checks can include keyboard navigation, focus order, heading structure, image alternatives, form labels, colour contrast, reduced motion, text enlargement, narrow screens, and representative assistive-technology tasks.

This describes the project's evaluation approach, not a completed conformance audit. Automated tools cannot determine whether language is understandable, alternative text is useful, focus order makes sense, or a complete task is practical.

Minds Vary cannot currently receive accessibility reports because no monitored feedback channel is available. This also means the publication cannot yet promise a response, alternative format, workaround, or remediation time.

If a feedback route opens, it will request only the information needed to understand the barrier, such as the page URL, task, device or browser if known, and what happened. A reader will not need to disclose a diagnosis or disability to be taken seriously.