Accessibility statement
Company name: Sparrow Access
website: https://sparrowaccess.com
Last updated: 27.07.2022
What is digital accessibility?
Accessibility in different digital environments means that websites and mobile applications can be used by everyone, including people with disabilities. For example, a person with motor impairment cannot use a mouse, touchpad or touch screens. In this case, it is necessary that all the functions and elements of the website or application are accessible and usable via keyboard. Or, for example, a visually impaired person is unable to look at the image displayed on the screen and the user interface because they can’t see. In this case, it is necessary that the image has a description and that the user interface is accessible with screen readers.
Accessibility legislations and standards
The accessibility of websites and mobile applications is increasingly mandatory through various laws. For example, the European Union Directive 2016/2102 obliges most public sector companies to comply with accessibility requirements for their websites and mobile applications, which are contained in the EN 301 549 standard.
In Estonia, the Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority enforces and monitors compliance with the directive .
The same office also keeps an eye on the accessibility requirements concerning the private sector, namely The European Union Accessibility Act , which is also known as the Products and Services Accessibility law in Estonian law . It requires accessibility in the following areas:
- computers and operating systems
- ATMs, ticketing and check-in machines
- smartphones
- TV equipment related to digital television services
- telephony services and related equipment
- access to audio-visual media services such as television broadcast and related consumer equipment
- services related to air, bus, rail and waterborne passenger transport
- banking services
- e-books
- e-commerce
One more thing, the WCAG
The standard EN 301 549, which describes the accessibility requirements for websites and apps in the European Union member states, is mostly (but not entirely) based on the Web Accessibility Guidelines, also known as WCAG, more precisely on its version 2.1 and level AA.
The WCAG guidelines are not really a standard, they are, as the name suggests, recommendations to ensure equal accessibility to web pages for everyone. The instructions themselves are quite technical and with complicated wording, which causes a lot of confusion for many people who are new to web accessibility. But their universal and technology agnostic approach has made WCAG the world’s best-known web accessibility guidelines.
Sparrow Access and Accessibility
At the core of the values of Sparrow Access is to ensure equal access to the services we offer and the content we create for everyone. Otherwise, we’d be nobodys sparrow.
Therefore, we have taken care that our website is accessible to all users, and that the page can be accessed with various assistive technologies.
More specifically, we have taken into account the guidelines of the CAG 2.1 web accessibility guidelines while developing the website and its content. By constantly changing and developing the page, we try to meet at least the AA level of the guidelines, and in places, meet some of the level AAA guidelines as well. The page has been tested internally and no third parties have been involved to obtain an accessibility assessment.
We are attempting to be accessible for people with visual, hearing, motor, cognitive and speech disabilities when creating the page and content. If you find accessibility issues on the site or you want advice on accessibility when using our site, feel free to contact us via info@sparrowaccess.com
We constantly take care of accessibility by creating new content and updating the page. Every update and addition to the page goes through an accessibility check within our company.
Recommended screen reader and browser combinations
While developing the page, we tested it with the following screen reader/browser combinations that are most popular among users:
- Jaws for Windows + Chrome, Edge and Firefox
- NVDA + Chrome, Firefox and Edge;
- VoiceOver + safari (on MacOs and iOs)
- Talkback + Chrome (android)
For screen readers and web browsers, the latest full version that was available at the time of the last revision of this statement has been used.
Wish to make your website accessible as well?
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