Accessibility | Able Wellness

Our commitment

The people Able is for include people with physical, intellectual, sensory and psychosocial disability, and the families and workers who support them. Accessibility isn't a feature we add at the end. Able is designed for people with disability from the first screen, not adapted afterwards, so choice and control never depend on asking for an accessible version. We check it as we build.

We design for the edges first. If a screen works for someone with low vision, limited hand movement or who reads more slowly, it works better for everyone.

What the site and app do

Three themes

Every screen comes in light, dark and high contrast. The Appearance control offers four choices: Match my system, Light, Dark and High contrast. On this website it's at the bottom of every page. In the app it's in your profile, and on the sign-in screen, so you don't have to get past sign-in to reach it.

Text you can read

Running text is at least 18 pixels on this website and in the participant and family app.
We measure the contrast of every text and background colour against WCAG thresholds rather than judging it by eye.
You can zoom this website to 200%. Pages rearrange into a single column as you zoom, without scrolling sideways.

Easy to press, easy to reach

Buttons and other controls are at least 48 pixels in each direction, and the main calls to action are larger.
You can use this website with a keyboard alone. Whatever has focus shows a clear outline.
A "Skip to content" link at the top of each page takes you straight past the menu.

Calm, and clear about what happened

Nothing on this website animates.
Colour is never the only way we show meaning. A state such as selected or done carries a word or an icon as well.
In the app, no screen moves on by itself when an animation ends. When you finish an activity, we tell you in words what was recorded, and you close the screen yourself.
Every game in the app follows the reduce-motion setting: movement becomes a short fade or a still picture, and nothing bounces or shakes.

Video

Where a video has captions, you can turn them on in the video player. Many of our captions are made automatically, so they can contain mistakes. We don't yet have Auslan or audio-described versions of our videos. We want to add them, and we'll update this page when we do.

The standard we aim for

We aim to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 at level AA across this website and the Able app. Where our own design rules are stricter, such as larger text and larger controls, we follow those.

This statement is based on our own testing. Automated accessibility checks run each time we change the app, and we test by hand as we build. We haven't yet had an independent accessibility audit. We plan to, and we'll update this page when we have.

Known limitations

We haven't got everything right yet. These are the areas we know need work:

Some video content. Not every video has captions yet, and captions made automatically can contain mistakes. There are no Auslan or audio-described versions yet.
Third-party video players. Some videos play in a player made by another company. We can't change everything about how it works with screen readers and keyboards, and some of its controls may be harder to use.
Known issues we're fixing. Our own testing has found some places in the app where a screen reader may not describe things correctly. The main menu isn't announced as a group of tabs, recipe method steps don't say whether they're ticked off, and the progress bar on calm music doesn't announce how far through a track you are.
Settings still being built. Some accessibility settings on the app's profile screen, including text size, captions, Auslan and audio description, don't work yet. Until they do, Able follows the text size set on your tablet, and captions can be turned on in the video player.

If one of these affects you, tell us. It helps us decide what to fix first, and we'll help you find another way to do what you need.

Feedback and other formats

If something on this website or in the app is hard to see, read, hear or use, please let us know. Tell us what you were trying to do, which page or screen you were on, and the device and any assistive technology you use, if you're comfortable sharing it.

If you need information from us in another format, such as large print, Easy Read or a plain text version, ask and we'll work with you to provide it. We can send plain text or large print, and we'll talk with you about other formats, such as Easy Read.

We aim to reply within two business days.

If you're not happy with our response, you can contact the Australian Human Rights Commission.

Contact us

Accessibility feedback: Send us an accessibility request
Phone: We don't have a phone line yet. If you'd rather talk than write, send us a request and we'll arrange a time to call you.
National Relay Service: If you're deaf, hard of hearing or have a speech impairment, you can use the National Relay Service for a call we arrange with you. Tell us in your request how you'd like to talk.

You can also read our help pages, privacy policy and terms of use.