Accessibility at getowed

1The standard we aim for

We build to WCAG 2.2 Level AA across the whole site, and to Level AAA wherever we can reach it. WCAG stands for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines — the international standard for making websites usable by everyone.

We also follow the spirit of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act and the Accessible Canada Act, even where they do not legally apply to a business our size. Ontario’s web rule, O. Reg. 191/11 s. 14, binds “large organizations” — fifty or more employees — and asks for WCAG 2.0 Level AA. getowed is too small to be covered by it, and we build to WCAG 2.2 instead. We would rather be measured against the higher standard nobody is making us meet.

2What we have done

Seeing

• Body text on these pages is at least 20 pixels, and contrast is checked by a computer, not by eye. The check runs every time the site is built — if a colour pair falls below the standard, the build stops.
• The screens people sign in to — the caseworker console and the command centre — are denser than this: body text there is 14 pixels, because those are working surfaces read all day rather than pages read once. Every size on them is set in a unit that scales, and both carry A− A A+ buttons in the sidebar that change it, along with theme and contrast. Nothing there is fixed in place.
• You can set the theme, the text size, the motion and the contrast yourself, from any page. The controls are in the header, and there is a fuller set on the display settings page. They need no account and no JavaScript, and your choice is applied before the page is drawn — so there is no flash of the wrong theme.
• The whole site works at 200% zoom, and reflows at 400% without side-to-side scrolling.
• Nothing is explained by colour alone. Every state also has an icon and a word.
• There is a dark theme, and it meets the same contrast standards as the light one.

Hearing

• We do not rely on sound for anything. Any video we publish will be captioned and transcribed.

Moving

• Every button and link can be pressed within an area of at least 44 by 44 pixels. The standard asks for 24; we chose 44 because many of the people using getowed have limited hand control. A few small controls are drawn smaller than that on purpose, but the area that responds to your press is still the full 44.
• Everything works by keyboard alone, and the focus outline is always visible.
• Nothing requires dragging, swiping, or a steady hand.
• Nothing times out while you are filling it in.
• Every button and link says on screen exactly what it is called, so voice control software can reach it by name.

Reading and thinking

• We write at about a grade 6 to 8 reading level, and a check runs on every build to keep it there. The current score is grade 6.
• Nothing flashes, blinks, or plays on its own, and nothing moves without you scrolling. Sections fade in slightly as you reach them, and buttons shift by one pixel when you point at them. If you have told your device you prefer reduced motion, all of it stops. If you cannot change that setting — on a library computer, or a phone you borrowed — you can stop it here instead, on the display settings page.
• The site works with JavaScript turned off, and it works on a slow connection.

Signing in

• On this site there are no passwords, no memory tests, and no CAPTCHAs. A CAPTCHA is a wall built exactly against the people this site is for. In the caseworker console you can use a password if you want one, and you never have to — ask for a link by email and it signs you in. Passwords can be pasted and filled by a password manager.

Language

• Everything published so far is available in Canadian English and Canadian French, at its own web address.

The eligibility check

• One question per screen. You can always go back without losing an answer, and nothing is ever asked twice. “I am not sure” is a real answer wherever a real answer is possible — on question two it is not, because the question is whether a diagnosis exists, and there we say so in the error rather than offering a third option.
• It runs without JavaScript, stores nothing about you, and keeps your answers in your own browser for six hours before deleting them. If you come back after that, it tells you they are gone rather than pretending to remember.
• This section previously appeared below under “what is not good enough yet”, listing these four things as promises for when the check was built. It was built, and the promises were kept, and this page went on saying it did not exist. That was the wrong way round for a page whose whole purpose is telling you what to expect before you spend your energy on it.

3What is not good enough yet

We would rather tell you than have you find out:

• The guided application is not built yet. The eligibility check is — see above; this page said otherwise for longer than it should have.
• Documents from the Canada Revenue Agency and provincial ministries are often not accessible themselves. We cannot fix their files. We can explain what they say, and that is part of why getowed exists.
• We have not yet completed testing with a full range of assistive technology users. We are working on it, and reports from you carry more weight than any checklist.
• The French is a careful translation, but it has not yet been reviewed by a professional Canadian French reviewer. We said here that it would be before we asked anyone to rely on it, and that is no longer what happened: since 8 September 2026 we have written to organizations in French and published a French page for organizations drafting a funding application. We asked first. The review is still owed, and we would rather say that plainly than quietly drop the sentence. On 17 September 2026 the French licence, privacy policy and list of service providers were checked against the English with language tools and references; that is not a professional review, and the note on those pages says so. The note comes off when a French-speaking user or partner organization has read a page and confirmed it, and not before.

4Tell us when something is wrong

If any part of getowed is hard or impossible for you to use, please tell us. You do not need to be polite about it, and you do not need to know the technical term.

hello@getowed.ca

Tell us the page and what happened, in whatever words you like. We reply within two working days, we will tell you honestly whether we can fix it and when, and if we cannot fix it quickly we will find another way to get you what you needed.

If you would rather speak to a person than write, say so in the email and we will arrange it.

5How we keep this true

Every new screen is checked against a written list before it goes live: keyboard only, screen reader, 200% zoom, 400% reflow, contrast measured, works without JavaScript, reading level tested.

Automated checks catch perhaps half of real accessibility problems. The rest come from people telling us. That is why the paragraph above matters more than this one.

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