accessibility-statement.md

Accessibility statement

Target: WCAG 2.2 Level AA Statement date: 2026-09-27 Applies to: ourdao-frontend on main Status: Conformance target declared; conformance not yet claimed. Known gaps are listed below and tracked as issues.

The target

This app aims to meet WCAG 2.2 Level AA. That target is now stated in the README so there is something to measure individual work against.

Stating a target is not the same as meeting it, so this document does not claim conformance. What it does is record, per success criterion, what has actually been verified — pass, fail, or untested — and link every known failure to its issue. Untested means "nobody has checked", not "probably fine".

How to read the audit

Status	Meaning
Pass	Verified, with the evidence named in the row.
Partial	The mechanism exists and was verified on some surfaces, not all of them.
Fail	Known not to be met. Linked to the issue that tracks it.
Untested	No evidence either way. This is the coverage gap, and it is the largest category.
N/A	Does not apply to this app.

Scope of the automated coverage behind this table:

• eslint-plugin-jsx-a11y (recommended ruleset) runs on every file via npm run lint --max-warnings=0.
• axe-core runs in test/a11y.test.tsx against the real rendered output of AppShell, ConnectButton and the loan-request form, failing on any violation at any impact level. No axe rule is disabled anywhere.
• Direct role/name assertions cover what axe cannot: the skip-link target exists, the drawer dialog has an accessible name once opened, the notification bell has an accessible name, form inputs are labelled, banners use role="alert".
• test/contrast.test.ts checks ten core foreground/background token pairs against AA in both themes.
• test/AppShell-drawer.test.tsx covers the drawer's focus trap, Escape handling and focus restoration.

The surface area those cover is a fraction of the app — five components, not every route. That is why so much of the table below is Untested, and why #375 (automated checks across the app) stays open even though the harness from ##238 exists.

Audit

WCAG 2.2 defines 86 success criteria; 55 of them are Level A or AA, and those are the ones a Level AA claim depends on. All 55 are listed.

1. Perceivable

Criterion	Level	Status	Evidence or issue
1.1.1 Non-text Content	A	Partial	Icon-only controls on the audited surfaces have accessible names (#231, asserted in test/a11y.test.tsx). Not audited app-wide.
1.2.1 Audio-only / Video-only	A	N/A	No audio or video content.
1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded)	A	N/A	No prerecorded media.
1.2.3 Media Alternative	A	N/A	No prerecorded media.
1.2.4 Captions (Live)	AA	N/A	No live media.
1.2.5 Audio Description	AA	N/A	No media.
1.3.1 Info and Relationships	A	Fail	Form controls do not all have a programmatic label association — #360.
1.3.2 Meaningful Sequence	A	Untested	No automated check; relies on not reordering DOM for visual reasons.
1.3.3 Sensory Characteristics	A	Untested	No automated check.
1.3.4 Orientation	AA	Fail	The web manifest locks the app to portrait — #353.
1.3.5 Identify Input Purpose	AA	Untested	No check that address/identity fields carry the right autocomplete tokens.
1.4.1 Use of Color	A	Partial	Status is conveyed by icon and text as well as colour (StatusBadge, MEMBER_STATUS_LABELS); not audited on every status surface.
1.4.2 Audio Control	A	N/A	Nothing autoplays audio.
1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum)	AA	Partial	Ten core token pairs verified in both themes (test/contrast.test.ts, #234). Not every rendered pair is covered.
1.4.4 Resize Text	AA	Fail	The viewport disables pinch-zoom — #321.
1.4.5 Images of Text	AA	Pass	No images of text; all text is live text.
1.4.10 Reflow	AA	Untested	No 320 CSS px viewport test.
1.4.11 Non-text Contrast	AA	Untested	Focus rings and control borders are not contrast-checked.
1.4.12 Text Spacing	AA	Untested	No text-spacing override test.
1.4.13 Content on Hover or Focus	AA	Untested	Tooltips and popovers are not checked for dismissability.

2. Operable

Criterion	Level	Status	Evidence or issue
2.1.1 Keyboard	A	Partial	The drawer traps and restores focus correctly (#68, test/AppShell-drawer.test.tsx); other components are unaudited.
2.1.2 No Keyboard Trap	A	Partial	As above — verified for the drawer only.
2.1.4 Character Key Shortcuts	A	Pass	No single-character shortcuts are bound.
2.2.1 Timing Adjustable	A	Pass	No time limits. Countdown displays are informational.
2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide	A	Pass	Nothing auto-animates for more than five seconds.
2.3.1 Three Flashes	A	N/A	No flashing content.
2.4.1 Bypass Blocks	A	Pass	Skip-to-main link targeting <main id="main-content">, asserted by role and name (#232).
2.4.2 Page Titled	A	Fail	Every route shares one tab title — #352.
2.4.3 Focus Order	A	Untested	No assertion that DOM order matches visual order.
2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context)	A	Untested	No automated check of link text.
2.4.5 Multiple Ways	AA	Pass	Every page is reachable from the persistent sidebar, plus in-app navigation.
2.4.6 Headings and Labels	AA	Partial	PageHeader gives each page a heading; labels are subject to #360.
2.4.7 Focus Visible	AA	Untested	No automated check that a visible focus indicator exists.
2.4.11 Focus Not Obscured (Minimum)	AA	Untested	Sticky header/sidebar overlap is not tested. New in 2.2.
2.5.1 Pointer Gestures	A	Pass	No path or multipoint gestures.
2.5.2 Pointer Cancellation	A	Pass	Actions fire on activation, not on down.
2.5.3 Label in Name	A	Untested	Not checked against accessible names.
2.5.4 Motion Actuation	A	Pass	No device-motion input.
2.5.7 Dragging Movements	AA	Untested	No drag interactions found, but this is unverified. New in 2.2.
2.5.8 Target Size (Minimum)	AA	Untested	No 24×24 CSS px assertion. New in 2.2.

3. Understandable

Criterion	Level	Status	Evidence or issue
3.1.1 Language of Page	A	Partial	lang is set in the root layout; not asserted.
3.1.2 Language of Parts	AA	N/A	No passages in a second language.
3.2.1 On Focus	A	Pass	No focus handler changes context.
3.2.2 On Input	A	Pass	No onChange handler navigates.
3.2.3 Consistent Navigation	AA	Pass	AppShell renders one sidebar for every route in the group.
3.2.4 Consistent Identification	AA	Partial	Same components across routes; duplicated status maps are tracked in #358.
3.2.6 Consistent Help	A	N/A	No help mechanism to keep consistent. New in 2.2.
3.3.1 Error Identification	A	Pass	FormErrorSummary uses role="alert"; inline errors are text.
3.3.2 Labels or Instructions	A	Fail	Partly — see #360.
3.3.3 Error Suggestion	AA	Partial	Field errors suggest corrections; not asserted per field.
3.3.4 Error Prevention (Financial/Data)	AA	Pass	Writes are submitted through Freighter for explicit approval, and are individually reversible actions rather than a single submission.
3.3.7 Redundant Entry	A	Untested	No check that previously entered information is auto-populated. New in 2.2.
3.3.8 Accessible Authentication (Minimum)	AA	Untested	Wallet connect is extension-mediated; not audited. New in 2.2.

4. Robust

Criterion	Level	Status	Evidence or issue
4.1.2 Name, Role, Value	A	Partial	axe plus direct role/name assertions on the audited surfaces (#238, #231). Not audited app-wide, and subject to #360.
4.1.3 Status Messages	AA	Partial	role="alert" on mismatch and version banners and on FormErrorSummary; react-hot-toast renders toasts with role="status" and aria-live="polite". Not verified with a screen reader.

Summary

Status	Count
Pass	14
Partial	11
Fail	5
Untested	16
N/A	9
Total (Level A + AA)	55

Fourteen of 55 verified, five known failures, and 16 criteria with no evidence at all. The honest summary is that the target is declared, the harness exists, and the audit has not been run broadly enough to support a conformance claim.

Known gaps

Every known failure, with the criterion it fails:

Issue	Criterion	Gap
#353	1.3.4 Orientation	Web manifest locks the app to portrait.
#321	1.4.4 Resize Text	Viewport disables pinch-zoom.
#352	2.4.2 Page Titled	One tab title for every route.
#360	1.3.1, 3.3.2, 4.1.2	Shared form components with correct label association.
#375	several	Automated checks do not yet cover the whole app. The harness from #238 exists; coverage is the remaining work.

Fixing these gaps is deliberately out of scope for the issue that created this statement — each is tracked on its own.

Enforcement

The target is only worth stating if something checks it. Four mechanisms run in CI today:

1. eslint-plugin-jsx-a11y, recommended ruleset, on every source file, via npm run lint --max-warnings=0. Static rules catch missing roles, names and handlers at diff time. They cannot judge contrast, focus order or whether a name makes sense.
2. axe-core in test/a11y.test.tsx, against rendered output rather than source. Fails on any violation at any impact level, with no rule disabled and no baseline snapshot to update — a new violation is a failing test immediately.
3. Direct role and name assertions for what axe cannot express: skip-link target, dialog naming, icon-button names, labelled inputs, role="alert" banners.
4. test/contrast.test.ts, ten core token pairs against AA in both themes.

What none of this does is audit every route, and that is the gap #375 covers. Until the automated surface reaches the whole app, treat the Untested rows above as unknown rather than as passes.

Maintaining this document

• Adding an issue for a WCAG failure? Add a row to Known gaps and set that criterion to Fail. That is what makes priority follow from the target.
• Widening the automated coverage? Promote the affected rows from Untested to Partial or Pass and name the test that now covers them.
• Re-run the audit when any of the above changes, and update the statement date and counts.

Related: docs/a11y-audit.md is the component-level triage from #238, which this document builds on.