How department-of-health.org/ Works for People With Disabilities
Public health information is for everyone. This page sets out our commitment to accessibility, the standards we work to (WCAG 2.1 Level AA), the assistive technologies we test against, the federal and state legal framework, the specific features we’ve built, the limitations we know about — and how to tell us about a barrier you’ve encountered.
What’s on this page
1. Our Commitment
department-of-health.org/ is built so that anyone — using any device, any browser, any assistive technology — can find a state health agency contact, understand a vital records or licensure procedure, and use the site without barriers. Accessibility is not an afterthought. It is part of every editorial template, every CSS rule, every navigation pattern. We test against assistive technologies on every major page template before publication and on a quarterly cycle thereafter.
2. Standard: WCAG 2.1 Level AA
We work to the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA. This is the standard the U.S. Department of Justice has long used as the benchmark for ADA Title III website accessibility. It covers four high-level principles: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust.
Practically, this means: text contrast meets minimums, all functionality is keyboard-accessible, page structure follows a logical heading hierarchy, every image has descriptive alt text, every form control has a programmatic label, focus indicators are visible, and the site degrades gracefully when JavaScript is unavailable or assistive technology is in use.
3. Legal Framework
| Law | Citation | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Americans with Disabilities Act, Title III | 42 U.S.C. § 12181 et seq. | Prohibits discrimination in places of public accommodation; DOJ position is that websites are subject to Title III |
| Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act | 29 U.S.C. § 794 | Prohibits disability discrimination by federally-funded programs |
| Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act | 29 U.S.C. § 794d | Federal procurement standard; 2017 Refresh aligns Section 508 with WCAG 2.0 AA |
| 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA) | Pub. L. 111–260 | Telecommunications and video accessibility |
| California Unruh Civil Rights Act | Cal. Civ. Code § 51 | State-level accessibility right of action in California |
| New York State Human Rights Law | N.Y. Exec. Law § 296 | State-level accessibility right of action in New York |
| Other state laws | Various | Texas, Florida, Massachusetts, Illinois, and most other states have parallel anti-discrimination frameworks |
4. Specific Accessibility Features We’ve Built
Semantic HTML
Proper heading hierarchy (Yoast manages H1; H2/H3 in our templates), <nav>, <main>, <article>, <section>, <footer> landmarks where applicable.
17px+ body text
Body copy is at least 17px on all pages — comfortable reading for most users without zoom.
4.5:1+ text contrast
All body text meets WCAG AA contrast (4.5:1) against its background; large text and UI components meet 3:1 minimum.
Keyboard-only navigation
Every link, button, form control, and interactive element is reachable and operable using Tab, Shift+Tab, Enter, and Space.
Visible focus indicators
Focus outlines are not removed; the default browser focus ring is preserved on every interactive element.
Descriptive link text
Links describe their destination (“California Department of Public Health” not “click here”). Each external link has rel=”noopener” and target=”_blank” with screen-reader-friendly context.
Alt text on images
Every image carries a descriptive alt attribute; decorative images use alt=””.
Logical reading order
Source-order matches visual order; CSS layout never reverses, scrambles, or hides content from screen readers.
Responsive without zoom traps
Pages reflow at 320px width; pinch-zoom is not disabled; user-scalable=yes.
Form labels
Every form control has a programmatic <label> or aria-label; error messages are announced.
Reduced motion
The site respects prefers-reduced-motion and avoids gratuitous animation.
Plain-language drafts
Procedural walkthroughs are drafted at roughly an 8th–10th grade reading level where the underlying technical content allows.
5. Assistive Technology Compatibility
We test against the following combinations on every major page template before publication:
- NVDA + Firefox / Chrome on Windows
- JAWS + Chrome on Windows
- VoiceOver + Safari on macOS
- VoiceOver + Safari on iOS
- TalkBack + Chrome on Android
- Narrator + Edge on Windows (smoke test)
- Dragon NaturallySpeaking — voice-only navigation smoke test
- Browser zoom at 200% and 400%
- High-contrast mode in Windows and macOS
6. Known Limitations
- Some third-party advertising units may not always meet our internal standards. We work with our advertising partners and reject ad units that fail material accessibility checks.
- Embedded videos from third-party platforms inherit those platforms’ accessibility features (or limitations); we link to transcript or captioning where the source provides them.
- Some legacy state-by-state pages built before our current accessibility framework may have minor remaining issues — we are working through them on a rolling quarterly review and welcome reports.
- Complex tables are designed to read well in screen readers; some particularly dense reference tables may benefit from a list-format alternative on request.
7. State Agency PDFs & Portals
State and local health agency websites — and the PDF forms they distribute for vital records, immunization exemption requests, healthcare facility licensing, and public-records requests — are not always fully accessible. This is not within our control. We document the procedure on our own page in fully accessible HTML so that, in many cases, you can complete a procedure understanding what to do without ever needing to navigate a partly-inaccessible agency PDF.
If you cannot use a state agency’s online portal or PDF form because of an accessibility barrier, you have rights under the ADA and Section 504 against that agency directly. The U.S. Department of Justice ADA portal is at ada.gov. The U.S. Access Board provides technical assistance at access-board.gov. You may also contact the agency’s ADA coordinator (every state agency receiving federal funds is required to designate one).
8. Reporting a Barrier
If you encounter a barrier — a page or feature that doesn’t work with your assistive technology, contrast that’s hard to read, a control that can’t be reached by keyboard, or anything else that gets in your way — please tell us. Reports drive our priority queue.
Email info@department-of-health.org with subject line “Accessibility issue”.
If you can, include:
- The page URL where you hit the barrier
- Your operating system and browser
- The assistive technology you were using (e.g., NVDA, JAWS, VoiceOver, TalkBack, Dragon)
- What you were trying to do
- What happened (or didn’t happen)
Acknowledge in 1–3 business days. Substantive response or fix within 14 business days for most issues. For severe barriers (e.g., unable to access important content or complete a critical task), within 5 business days.
9. Escalation
If you are not satisfied with our response, you have additional options:
- U.S. Department of Justice ADA portal — ada.gov
- U.S. Access Board (technical guidance) — access-board.gov
- Federal Communications Commission accessibility (CVAA matters) — fcc.gov/accessibility
- Your state attorney general’s consumer protection or civil-rights division
- Your state human rights commission or equivalent
- Disability rights legal organisations in your state (most states have at least one Protection & Advocacy organisation funded under federal law)
10. Review Cycle
This statement is reviewed quarterly. Page templates are re-tested against the AT combinations above on each review cycle. The “Last reviewed” date at the top reflects the most recent review.
Hit a Barrier? Tell Us.
Email us with subject line “Accessibility issue.” We acknowledge in 1–3 business days and target a fix within 14 business days for most issues, 5 business days for severe barriers.
📧 info@department-of-health.org