Accessibility Statement

Our Commitment

Acolad is committed to ensuring that acolad.com is accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities. We are actively working to conform with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 Level AA — the internationally recognized standard for digital accessibility.

Accessibility is both a core value at Acolad and a requirement we take seriously across the industries and client relationships we serve.

Conformance Status

Acolad.com is substantially conformant with WCAG 2.2 Level AA. Substantially conformant means that the majority of the content fully conforms to the accessibility standard, with only a small number of exceptions as noted in the Known Limitations section below.

A formal self-evaluation was completed in April 2026 covering seven representative pages of the site. Of the 55 WCAG 2.2 AA success criteria:

• 36 criteria pass fully
• 2 criteria fail — both are attributable to HubSpot CMS native form output and are scheduled for remediation in 2026
• 5 criteria could not be fully assessed within the scope of this audit and are deferred to the planned contact form rebuild
• 12 criteria are not applicable to the current content and functionality of the site

What We're Doing

We conduct regular accessibility audits using ARC Toolkit, Google Lighthouse, and manual keyboard navigation testing. Issues are tracked, prioritized, and fixed at the code level, module by module. This statement is reviewed and updated every six months.

We maintain internal accessibility guidelines for our content authoring team, covering alt text, heading structure, link text, and other publishing best practices that affect the accessibility of every page on the site.

Work completed to date includes:

• Skip navigation link present on every page, allowing keyboard users to bypass repeated navigation
• Full keyboard and arrow key navigation across the global mega menu, including focus management and Escape key support
• Visible focus indicators on all interactive elements, meeting WCAG 2.2 SC 2.4.11 Focus Appearance requirements
• ARIA state attributes (aria-expanded, aria-pressed, aria-disabled, aria-current) added across navigation, filters, sliders, and interactive components
• Accessible tab and keyboard navigation patterns on the feature tabs rotator, including a pause control for auto-rotating content
• Semantic landmark structure corrected across all page templates, including the global footer and breadcrumb navigation
• Decorative icons and SVGs hidden from screen readers; meaningful images and linked images carry descriptive accessible names
• Animations and auto-play behaviors disabled for users who have enabled the "reduce motion" preference on their device
• Minimum touch and click target sizes enforced across interactive elements (WCAG 2.5.8)
• All button accessible names corrected to match visible label text, meeting WCAG 2.5.3 Label in Name
• Data table markup corrected with captions, header scope attributes, and proper structure
• Alt text quality standards applied across all content modules; problematic or redundant alt text corrected
• All accessibility implementations are designed to remain functional across all 12 language variants of the site

Known Limitations

The following issues have been identified and are documented here transparently. They are scheduled for remediation and do not prevent access to core content.

Feature tabs rotator — ARIA tablist structure The visual design of this component requires tab panels to appear directly below their associated tab button, which conflicts with the ARIA tablist specification. The module is fully keyboard navigable and all content is accessible. A structural rebuild is planned for a future development sprint.

HubSpot native forms — form field accessibility The contact and inquiry forms on acolad.com are rendered by HubSpot CMS. The platform's native form output has a number of accessibility limitations that are not directly fixable without platform-level changes, including missing autocomplete attributes on certain fields (WCAG 1.3.5), missing fieldset legend elements, and some ARIA attribute inconsistencies (WCAG 4.1.2). These issues do not prevent form completion but are flagged by automated accessibility tools. A full contact form rebuild is planned for 2026 to address these issues comprehensively.

Language switcher — screen reader announcement consistency The language switcher is generated by the HubSpot CMS platform as a non-semantic element. We have enhanced it with keyboard support, ARIA roles, and an accessible label via JavaScript. However, because we cannot change the underlying HTML element, its accessible name may not be announced consistently across all screen reader and browser combinations. All 12 language options remain reachable and operable via keyboard.

Duplicate ID attributes — global navigation HubSpot CMS generates duplicate ID attributes in the footer navigation markup. These IDs are not referenced by ARIA relationships and do not affect the usability or navigability of the site for assistive technology users, but are flagged by automated tools. This is a platform-level limitation under active review.

Standards and Scope

We are targeting conformance with WCAG 2.2 Level AA. Our work also addresses selected Level A criteria and best practices from EN 301 549, which underpins accessibility requirements in EU procurement and the European Accessibility Act (EAA).

This statement covers all pages served at www.acolad.com. It does not cover third-party services, embedded tools, or platforms operated independently of Acolad's web team.

WCAG 2.2 AA criteria addressed in our most recent audit cycle include: 1.1.1 Non-text content, 1.3.1 Info and relationships, 1.3.5 Identify input purpose, 1.4.3 Contrast minimum, 1.4.11 Non-text contrast, 2.1.1 Keyboard, 2.2.2 Pause/stop/hide, 2.4.1 Bypass blocks, 2.4.3 Focus order, 2.4.4 Link purpose, 2.4.7 Focus visible, 2.4.11 Focus not obscured, 2.5.3 Label in name, 2.5.8 Target size, 4.1.2 Name, role, value.

How to Report an Accessibility Issue

If you encounter a barrier or have feedback about the accessibility of any page or feature on acolad.com, we want to hear from you. We aim to respond within 5 business days.

Email: marketing@acolad.com 

Please include the URL of the page, a description of the issue, and the assistive technology or browser you were using, if known.

Enforcement and Escalation

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the relevant national enforcement body in your country. In the EU, this applies under the European Accessibility Act. In the US, relevant standards include Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.

This statement was prepared in April 2026 following a formal self-evaluation of acolad.com against WCAG 2.2 Level AA. It is reviewed and updated every six months. Next review: October 2026.