Accessibility Statement

Our commitment

Inclusivity is one of NPA's six core values. We believe every Northlander — regardless of ability, age, or experience — deserves a path to the water. That commitment extends to this website, our communications, and the launches we steward.

Conformance standard

Northland Paddlers Alliance aims to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at Level AA, published by the W3C. These guidelines explain how to make web content more accessible to people with a wide range of disabilities, including:

• Visual impairments (low vision, color blindness, blindness).
• Auditory impairments.
• Motor and dexterity limitations.
• Cognitive and learning differences.

This site is also designed to be compatible with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, as applicable to small nonprofits.

Website accessibility features

• Semantic structure — landmark regions, heading hierarchy, and ARIA labels for screen reader users.
• Keyboard navigation — every interactive element is reachable with the Tab key, with a visible focus indicator.
• Color contrast — body text meets a minimum 4.5:1 contrast ratio against its background.
• Alt text — meaningful images include descriptive alternative text.
• Skip-to-content link — appears on focus at the top of every page.
• Reduced motion — animations respect the user's prefers-reduced-motion system preference.
• Responsive design — content reflows from small phones (375 px) to large desktops without horizontal scrolling.
• Resizable text — content remains usable when text is zoomed up to 200%.
• Touch targets — buttons and links meet a minimum 44 × 44 px touch area.
• Form labels — every form input is associated with a visible label.

On-water accessibility

For program participation:

• Loaner equipment — adaptive PFDs and craft are available at some events; please note your needs in the RSVP form.
• Advance notice — share any accessibility needs at sign-up so we can plan instruction, parking, and water-entry support.
• Communication — written event details (parking, what to bring, what to expect) are provided in advance by email.
• Companion paddlers — participants are welcome to bring a personal support partner at no additional cost.

Known limitations

We acknowledge that this site is not yet perfect. Areas we are actively working on:

• Older event recap photos may not yet have descriptive alt text.
• PDF documents (annual reports, waivers) are being progressively re-mastered for screen-reader accessibility.
• Third-party embeds (such as map iframes, when added) may not fully meet WCAG AA.

Assistive technology compatibility

This site is tested with modern versions of:

• VoiceOver (macOS, iOS) and TalkBack (Android).
• NVDA and JAWS on Windows.
• Browser zoom and high-contrast modes on Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari.

Report a barrier

Ongoing improvement

Accessibility is not a one-time project. We review this statement and the underlying site at least annually, and we incorporate accessibility into the planning of every new program, launch, and event.

This statement was prepared with reference to the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative's Accessibility Statement Generator guidelines.