How We Make This Site Usable for Everyone
state-medical-board.org/ targets WCAG 2.1 Level AA conformance and applies the standards expected under the ADA, Section 504/508 of the Rehabilitation Act, the CVAA, and applicable state accessibility laws. This page sets out what we've built in, where we're still working, and how to report a problem.
What’s on this page
1. Our Commitment
state-medical-board.org/ is an editorial directory that patients, physicians, credentialers, journalists, and policy researchers rely on. The information we publish is most useful when everyone can reach it — including people who navigate by keyboard only, use screen readers, rely on speech input, need magnification, prefer high contrast, are colour-blind, or have cognitive or learning differences. We design and review the site with that in mind and we treat reported accessibility issues as a priority.
2. Standards We Apply
- WCAG 2.1 Level AA — Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, the global benchmark referenced by U.S. courts and federal agencies under ADA Title III
- ARIA Authoring Practices — for landmark roles, live regions, and accessible widget patterns
- Section 508 Refresh (2017) — federal procurement standard, harmonised with WCAG 2.0 AA and substantially aligned with WCAG 2.1 AA
- CVAA Title II — 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, where embedded video is involved
3. Legal Framework
| Law | Citation | What it requires |
|---|---|---|
| Americans with Disabilities Act, Title III | 42 U.S.C. § 12181 et seq. | Public accommodations; case law has applied to commercial websites |
| Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act | 29 U.S.C. § 794 | Programs receiving federal financial assistance |
| Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act | 29 U.S.C. § 794d | Federal agencies; benchmark for accessible electronic and information technology; 2017 Refresh harmonised with WCAG 2.0 AA |
| 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA) | 47 U.S.C. § 613 | Captioning of video content; FCC enforcement |
| State accessibility laws | California Unruh Civil Rights Act; New York State Human Rights Law; New York City Human Rights Law; similar statutes in other states | State-level accessibility framework with private rights of action |
4. Features We’ve Built In
Full keyboard navigation
Every interactive element reachable by Tab, activatable by Enter or Space
Visible focus indicator
Clear high-contrast focus ring on every focusable element
17px+ body text
Comfortable reading size with line-height 1.75 across the site
WCAG AA contrast
Body text and UI contrast meets or exceeds the 4.5:1 ratio
Semantic markup
Proper headings, landmarks, lists, and tables; no header tags faked with bold
Alt text
Decorative images marked as such; meaningful images carry concise descriptive alt
Form labels
Every form input has a programmatic label; no placeholder-only fields
Responsive layout
Reflows cleanly down to 320px viewport without horizontal scroll
46px touch targets
Buttons and links sized for finger and stylus; spaced to avoid mis-tap
Page language declared
Each page declares lang=”en-US”
Descriptive link text
Links describe the destination; no “click here” or naked URLs
Reduced motion respected
Animations and transitions honour prefers-reduced-motion; no motion-induced harm
5. Assistive Technology Compatibility
| Category | Tested with |
|---|---|
| Screen readers | NVDA · JAWS · VoiceOver (macOS / iOS) · TalkBack (Android) · Narrator (Windows) |
| Browser zoom | Up to 400% page zoom without loss of content or function |
| Voice input | Dragon NaturallySpeaking · Voice Control (macOS / iOS) · Voice Access (Android) |
| Switch control | iOS Switch Control · Android Switch Access |
| High-contrast mode | Windows High Contrast · macOS Increase Contrast |
| Magnification | ZoomText · macOS Zoom · Windows Magnifier |
If a particular AT/browser/OS combination doesn’t work, please tell us — that combination is what we’ll test against next.
6. Supported Browsers
- Chrome — current and previous major version
- Edge — current and previous major version
- Firefox — current and previous major version (including ESR)
- Safari — current and previous major version (macOS and iOS)
- Samsung Internet — current major version
Older browsers may render the site with reduced visual fidelity but core content remains accessible.
7. Standard Keyboard Shortcuts
| Action | Key |
|---|---|
| Move forward through links and controls | Tab |
| Move backward | Shift + Tab |
| Activate a link or button | Enter (or Space for buttons) |
| Open and close menus / accordions | Enter or Space; Escape to close |
| Skip to main content | Tab from page top — “Skip to main content” link appears |
| Find on page | Ctrl+F (Windows/Linux) · Cmd+F (macOS) |
8. Known Limitations
state-medical-board.org/ links extensively to U.S. state medical boards, FSMB, DocInfo, NPDB, OIG-LEIE, DEA, CMS, USMLE, NBOME, ECFMG, ACGME, and other agency portals. We have no control over how those third-party portals are built, and accessibility quality varies considerably across state boards and federal portals. Older state board systems and government PDF forms can be inconsistent. If a board's own portal is inaccessible, we encourage you to contact the board directly — and to copy us so we can document the issue. We will also flag known accessibility issues with linked portals on the relevant page where we are aware of them.
- Some embedded third-party content (state board iframes, federal-agency embeds) does not meet our standard; we mark these where we are aware
- Older PDF forms hosted by state boards or federal agencies may lack proper tagging and reading order
- Government-portal session timeouts on some state board sites may not announce themselves clearly to assistive technology
- Some state board complaint portals require navigation through multi-step wizards that have not been audited for screen-reader compatibility by us
9. Alternative Formats
If a page on this site is not accessible to you in its current form, email us at info@state-medical-board.org with subject “Accessibility — alternative format” and we will provide the content in an alternative format — plain text email, large-print PDF, or a different layout — within five business days. There is no charge for this.
10. Our Testing Approach
- Automated checks on each page using Axe, WAVE, Lighthouse, and Pa11y as part of editorial review
- Manual keyboard-only testing on every new template
- Screen-reader spot-checks (NVDA, VoiceOver, TalkBack) on every new template
- Colour-contrast testing using WebAIM Contrast Checker
- Mobile testing on iOS and Android with native zoom and switch control
- Re-test after substantive page updates
- Reader-reported issues acted on within 1–3 business days for substantive accessibility blockers
11. Reporting an Issue
If you find something on state-medical-board.org/ that is hard to use, please tell us — we want to know:
- The page URL
- What you were trying to do
- What happened
- Your browser and operating system
- Your assistive technology and version, if any
We acknowledge receipt within one business day. We aim to fix substantive blockers within 1–3 business days and to provide a workaround in the meantime where the fix is not immediate. We log every report and use them to inform future template work.
12. Escalation Routes
If you have raised an issue with us and you are not satisfied with our response, you have escalation routes under U.S. and state law:
| Body | Role | Contact |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. Department of Justice — ADA Section | ADA Title III enforcement on websites as places of public accommodation | ada.gov · 1-800-514-0301 |
| U.S. Access Board | Section 508 standards; technical assistance | access-board.gov |
| Federal Communications Commission | CVAA — captioning and accessibility of video programming | fcc.gov — Disability Rights Office |
| State Attorney General | State consumer-protection enforcement; state accessibility law | Search “[state] attorney general consumer protection” |
| State human-rights / civil-rights agency | State-level discrimination complaints; varies by state | State-specific (e.g., NY State Division of Human Rights, California Civil Rights Department) |
Found Something That Doesn’t Work?
Tell us — accessibility issues are a priority. We respond within one business day and fix substantive blockers within 1–3 business days.
📧 Report an accessibility issue