Skip to main content
Request a Consultation

Accessibility Statement

Great Homecare Services is committed to making this website usable by as many people as possible, including people who use a screen reader, navigate by keyboard, or need larger text and stronger contrast. Our clients are often older adults, and their families often reach us on a phone at the end of a long day. A site that is awkward to use is a site that fails the people it was built for.

This statement describes what we have done, what we know is not finished, and how to tell us when something gets in your way.

What we have done

The following are built into the site and are checked as part of our own development process:

  • Text and background colours are tested against the WCAG 2.1 AA contrast thresholds, and the test runs as part of our build. Colours that do not meet the threshold for body text are used only for decoration, never to carry information on their own.
  • The whole site can be operated with a keyboard. Every link, button and form control can be reached by tabbing, and each one shows a visible outline when it has focus.
  • A “Skip to main content” link is the first thing a keyboard or screen reader user reaches on every page, so the navigation does not have to be tabbed through each time.
  • Buttons, links and form controls are at least 44 by 44 pixels, so they can be used without precise aiming.
  • Every form field has a visible label. We do not use placeholder text in place of a label, because it disappears as soon as someone starts typing.
  • Errors are described in words and marked with an icon, not by colour alone, and the message says what to do next.
  • Each page has one main heading, and headings run in order without skipping a level, so the page can be navigated by structure.
  • Expandable sections, such as the questions on our FAQ page, use the browser’s own controls, so they behave the way your device already expects.
  • Images that carry meaning have text alternatives. Images that are decoration are marked so that a screen reader passes over them instead of reading them out.
  • The site works at 400% zoom and on a narrow phone screen without content being cut off or requiring sideways scrolling.
  • Movement and animation are reduced automatically if your device is set to prefer reduced motion.

What is not finished

We would rather tell you this than let you find it.

We have not had an independent accessibility audit. The checks described above are our own. They are real and they are automated where they can be, but they are not the same thing as an assessment by a qualified third party, and we do not claim formal conformance to a WCAG level on the strength of them.

Two colour combinations sit below the AA threshold and are used deliberately. Both are decorative: they carry no information that is not also given in words elsewhere on the page. They are recorded in our own development notes rather than hidden.

Our contact page includes a map provided by Google. We do not control how that map behaves with assistive technology. The same address is written out in text beside it, and it appears in the footer of every page, so nothing on that page depends on the map being usable.

If something gets in your way

Please tell us. A specific description helps most — the page you were on, what you were trying to do, and what happened instead — but you do not need to know any of the technical terms, and you do not need to explain why you need it.

You can reach us by phone or email; both are in the footer of every page and on our contact page. If you would rather not use the contact form, phoning is always fine.

We aim to reply within five business days. If something on this site is preventing you from arranging care, tell us that when you get in touch and we will deal with it by phone in the meantime rather than making you wait for the site to be fixed.

Accessible formats and communication support

If you would like anything on this site in another format, ask us and we will arrange it. That includes reading information out over the phone, sending it by email, or providing it in large print. There is no charge for this, and we will not ask you to justify the request.

Our obligations in Ontario

Great Homecare Services Agency Ltd. operates in Ontario and is subject to the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) and its Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation. We will provide this statement, and our accessibility policies, in an accessible format on request.

If you have raised something with us and are not satisfied with how we handled it, you are entitled to take it further with the relevant provincial authority.

Keeping this current

We review this statement when the site changes in a way that affects any of it. If something described here stops being true, this page is updated rather than left to age.