Accessibility Statement

Effective Date: September 19, 2026 • Target Conformance: WCAG 2.1 Level AA

Our Commitment: TownSphere believes that civic discourse and public opinion intelligence must be accessible to everyone, including individuals with visual, auditory, motor, or cognitive disabilities.

1. Conformance Status & Applicable Legislation

We are continuously optimizing TownSphere across web, iOS, and Android to conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA standards. Our accessibility commitment adheres to the following legal and regulatory frameworks:

United States: Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.
European Union: European Accessibility Act (Directive (EU) 2019/882) and the Web Accessibility Directive (Directive (EU) 2016/2102).
United Kingdom: Equality Act 2010 and the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Conformance Status: TownSphere is partially compliant with WCAG 2.1 Level AA. "Partially compliant" means that some parts of the content do not yet fully conform to the strictest interpretation of the accessibility standard, specifically third-party external news publisher content as outlined below.

2. Accessibility Features Implemented

High Contrast Typography: TownSphere utilizes high-contrast monochrome design hierarchies that meet or exceed the 4.5:1 contrast ratio required for standard body text and interactive elements.
Assistive Technology & Screen Readers:
- On Web: Semantic HTML5 elements and WAI-ARIA roles describe dynamic widgets, poll stats, and interactive voting buttons.
- On iOS & Android: Flutter Semantics nodes map poll titles, tally counts, and action buttons directly to Apple VoiceOver and Android TalkBack.
Keyboard Navigation: All critical interactive elements—including voting buttons, modal dialogs, category chips, and drawer navigation—can be traversed and triggered using standard keyboard shortcuts (Tab, Enter, Space, Esc).
Scalable Dynamic Type: The application honors system-level font scaling preferences, allowing users to increase typography size up to 200% without loss of content or functional clipping.
Color-Independent Visuals: Voting percentages and sentiment trends provide clear numeric text indicators and percentage badges alongside visual charts, ensuring charts are fully comprehensible without relying solely on color perception.
Touch Target Sizing: All tap targets across our mobile and web views are designed with a minimum dimension of 44 × 44 CSS pixels (or dp) to ensure ease of tapping for users with motor impairments.
Motion Sensitivity: TownSphere respects the user's OS-level prefers-reduced-motion setting, minimizing transitions and disabling autoplay or high-frequency animations.

3. Known Limitations & Third-Party Content

While we strive for comprehensive accessibility across all core voting, telemetry, and account features, some external elements may have limitations:

External News Source Media: External news stories curated from public news media outlets may occasionally feature external imagery or syndicated links lacking comprehensive author-provided alternative text (alt-text). Where available, TownSphere provides factual editorial summaries for every poll card.
Dynamic Chart Visualizations: Complex historical trend lines are paired with high-contrast data tables and percentage summaries to ensure non-visual access to all chart data.

4. Technical Specifications

Accessibility across TownSphere relies on the following technologies to work with your web browser, operating system, and any assistive technologies installed on your device:

HTML5 & WAI-ARIA
CSS3 (Flexbox & responsive media queries)
Flutter Semantics Engine (Web, Android TalkBack, Apple VoiceOver)
JavaScript ECMAScript 6+

5. Assessment & Audit Methodology

TownSphere assessed the accessibility of its platform through the following assessment approaches:

Self-Evaluation & Continuous Testing: Internal audits combining automated test suites (axe-core, Google Lighthouse accessibility audits) with routine developer inspections.
Physical Device Testing: Manual navigation and screen reader audits using Apple VoiceOver (iOS and macOS) and Google TalkBack (Android).

6. Feedback, Contact & Formal Escalation Procedure

We welcome your feedback on the accessibility of TownSphere. If you encounter accessibility barriers, or have suggestions on how we can improve usability for specific assistive technologies, please contact our team:

Email: townsphere.org@gmail.com
Response Time: We strive to respond to accessibility feedback within 2 business days.
Escalation: If you are not satisfied with our response to your accessibility concern, please email townsphere.org@gmail.com with the subject line "Accessibility Escalation". Your concern will be escalated directly to our lead engineering and compliance personnel for priority remediation.