Accessibility

Built for sight loss

We’re a charity for blind and partially sighted people. So this website had better work for you.

This site is built to WCAG 2.1 AA. We test it with the same screen readers and magnifiers our service users use every day, and we redesigned it from the ground up to give you control over how it looks.

Three colour themes. Skip links. Real focus rings. Honest plain English. No animation if your device says it doesn’t want any. None of it is decorative — it’s all there because someone needs it.

If a page lets you down, tell us. We’ll fix it.

Try it now

Pick the theme that works for you.

Saved on this device. Lives in the top corner of every page.

Tab to reach the switcher ← → to move between themes Space or Enter to select

What’s built in

Nine things this site does, on purpose.

Each item below is a specific design or engineering choice we made for users with sight loss. Most of them you’ll notice immediately. Some you’ll only notice if you need them.

  1. 01

    Three colour themes, persistently saved.

    Default, high-contrast white, and high-contrast yellow on black. The switcher sits in the top utility strip of every page and your choice is remembered on this device.

    In useThe switcher above this article changes the page as you click it.

  2. 02

    Skip-to-main-content link.

    First focusable element on every page. Press Tab once when a page loads and you can jump past the header straight to the article.

    Looks likeSkip to main content

  3. 03

    Visible focus rings, always.

    Every interactive element shows a 2-pixel ring when you keyboard-navigate to it. The ring uses the active theme’s accent colour, so it stays visible in every mode.

    Looks likeFocused button

  4. 04

    Animations off in high contrast.

    If you choose either high-contrast theme, every transition and animation is suppressed. We also honour your operating-system’s prefers-reduced-motion setting.

    WhyMotion is decorative. If you didn’t ask for it, you don’t get it.

  5. 05

    Status badges are real text, not pictures.

    Where a session is cancelled, the word Cancelled is a real DOM element that every screen reader will announce — not a coloured stripe or a CSS-only flourish.

    Looks likeCancelled   Tue 25 Jun 2026 — VIP Social Club

  6. 06

    Real headings, real landmarks.

    One h1 per page. Sections are wrapped in main, nav, aside, footer — so screen-reader rotor navigation lands you exactly where you’d expect.

    WhyHeadings are a map. Skim them and you’ll know what’s on the page.

  7. 07

    Generous body type.

    Body text is 17 pixels, 1.65 line-height, capped at roughly 70 characters wide. Browser zoom up to 400% reflows cleanly — nothing breaks, nothing clips.

    Try itPress Ctrl++ a few times. The text grows; the page stays usable.

  8. 08

    Links you can see.

    Every link is underlined by default. We don’t rely on colour alone to tell you something is clickable, and in high-contrast modes the underline doubles in weight.

    Looks likeRead more about our VIP Social Clubs.

  9. 09

    Forms that announce themselves.

    Every form field has a real label that’s wired to it. Required fields say so in words. Errors are announced via ARIA live regions, not just colour.

    WhyA red border tells a screen reader nothing.

Tested with

Assistive technology

  • JAWS

    Microsoft Edge · Chrome

  • NVDA

    Firefox · Chrome

  • SuperNova

    Reader + magnifier

  • VoiceOver

    iOS · macOS Safari

  • TalkBack

    Android Chrome

  • Windows HC

    Forced-colours mode

Tested by

Manual checks each release

  • Keyboard-only navigation from skip link to footer.
  • Screen magnification up to 400% — content reflows, no scroll trap.
  • Focus indicator verification on every interactive control.
  • Colour-contrast checks against WCAG AA (4.5:1 body, 3:1 large text).
  • Mobile portrait at 320px wide — no horizontal scroll.
  • Automated WCAG sweep via IBM Equal Access Toolkit.

Honestly

Where we’re not perfect yet.

An accessibility statement that only lists wins isn’t really a statement. These are the gaps we know about today. If you find one we haven’t listed, tell us — it goes on this list and gets fixed.

  • PDFs

    Some older annual reports and Outlook magazines pre-2024 were produced from print artwork and aren’t fully screen-reader-tagged. If you need one of these in a different format, email us and we’ll send it.

  • Embedded map

    The borough map on the VIP Social Clubs page is hidden in high-contrast modes — the underlying tile imagery can’t be re-themed. The text list of clubs below it is the screen-reader-friendly equivalent.

  • Older photos

    A small number of legacy photographs carry generic alt text. We’re rewriting these as we re-edit each page.

Report a problem

Found something that doesn’t work? Tell us.

A real person reads every message. We aim to reply within 5 working days. Phone is fastest.

020 8423 5141 Mon–Fri 9.30am–4.30pm info@aftb.org.uk Reply in 5 working days Suite 18, Freetrade House, HA7 1EP By post

Off the web

Need this in another format?

If a website isn’t the right way for you to take in information, ask us. We send each of the following on request — no charge, no questions.

  • Large-print on paper
  • Audio recording (MP3 or CD)
  • Braille (UEB grade 2)
  • Read aloud over the phone
Prepared 28 June 2025 Last reviewed 13 May 2026 Standard WCAG 2.1 AA Audit tool IBM Equal Access Toolkit v4.0.6 Regulation Public Sector Bodies (Websites & Mobile Apps) (No.2) Accessibility Regulations 2018