Accessibility Statement — Gardeners Edmonton

This Accessibility Statement explains how Gardeners Edmonton and related services strive to make content and offerings accessible to everyone. We are committed to ensuring that gardeners in Edmonton, community members, volunteers and visitors can access information and tools needed to plan, maintain and enjoy gardens across the Edmonton area. The statement covers our web presence, digital resources and general service accessibility practices.

Our scope includes content created for Edmonton gardeners, outreach materials, and online resources intended for people looking for gardening support in and around Edmonton. We aim to follow industry best practices to support people with a range of disabilities, including visual, auditory, motor and cognitive differences. Accessibility is a core part of how we design materials and deliver services.

We aim to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at the AA level. Where full compliance is not yet achieved, we are working toward improvements. Our approach is to combine technical measures, content processes and user-centred testing so that Edmonton gardeners and related audiences benefit from clear, navigable and perceivable content.

How we support assistive technologies

We build pages and documents with screen-reader support in mind, using semantic markup, ARIA where appropriate, and logical heading structure. Screen-reader users should find consistent labels, skip links and descriptive alt text for images applied wherever practical. Our goal is to ensure that screen-reader users working to find gardening advice, plant lists and event details in Edmonton can navigate with confidence.

Keyboard navigation is a priority: interactive elements are reachable using the keyboard, focus order is logical, and visible focus indicators are maintained. We test common interactions — menus, forms, dialogs and image galleries — to ensure functionality for users who rely on keyboards or alternative input methods.

We also emphasize readable content: clear language for planting instructions, contrast-conscious color choices for charts and maps, and the ability to resize text without loss of functionality. These measures help gardeners in Edmonton and beyond access instructions, planting calendars and seasonal maintenance checklists.

Our team conducts regular accessibility reviews and uses automated tools plus manual checks to find and fix issues. We incorporate user testing where possible and maintain an internal list of improvements. Ongoing maintenance means updating templates, improving alt text, and refining interactive features so that Edmonton gardeners can rely on accessible content all year round.

If you encounter a barrier, we want to hear from you. Please contact our accessibility team to request information in an alternative format, report an accessibility problem, or ask for help accessing plant guides and event information. We will respond and work with you to provide the requested material in a timely manner. Please provide details about the content, the format you need and how we can help you use it.

Key features we prioritize include:

• Clear headings and semantic structure to help Edmonton gardeners find content quickly.
• Keyboard accessible navigation and focus management across interactive tools and forms.
• Screen-reader compatibility through ARIA attributes and descriptive text.
• High color contrast and scalable text to improve readability.
• Accessible multimedia practices such as captions and transcripts when audio or video is used.