How fishinglicenseguide.org/ Works for People With Disabilities
This page sets out our commitment to accessibility on this site, the standards we work to (WCAG 2.1 Level AA), the assistive technologies we test against, the U.S. legal framework, the specific features we’ve built, the limitations we know about (including in some state license-purchase portals we link to), and how to tell us about a barrier you’ve encountered.
What’s on this page
1. Our Commitment
fishinglicenseguide.org/ is built so that anyone — using any device, any browser, any assistive technology — can find their state's fishing-license guide, read it, follow a step-by-step walkthrough, and contact the state agency without barriers. Accessibility is not an afterthought. It is part of every editorial template, every CSS rule, every navigation pattern. We test against assistive technologies on every major page template before publication and on a quarterly cycle thereafter.
2. Standard: WCAG 2.1 Level AA
We work to the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA. This is the standard the U.S. Department of Justice has long used as the benchmark for ADA website accessibility, and it is the procurement standard for federal-agency websites under Section 508 (which references WCAG 2.0 Level AA in the 2017 Refresh; we target the slightly newer 2.1 AA).
3. Legal Framework — United States
| Law | Citation | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| ADA Title III | 42 U.S.C. § 12181 et seq. | Prohibits disability discrimination in places of public accommodation — covers private publishers and information-service websites such as fishinglicenseguide.org/ |
| ADA Title II | 42 U.S.C. § 12131 et seq. | Covers state and local government — including state fish and wildlife agency websites and state license-purchase portals we link to |
| Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act | 29 U.S.C. § 794 | Prohibits disability discrimination by federally-funded programs — covers federal NOAA, USFWS, USCG, NPS, USFS, BLM, BIA resources |
| Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act | 29 U.S.C. § 794d | Federal procurement standard; 2017 Refresh aligns Section 508 with WCAG 2.0 AA — covers federal-agency websites |
| 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA) | Pub. L. 111-260 | Telecommunications and video accessibility |
| State unruh-style civil rights laws | Various | California Unruh Civil Rights Act, New York Human Rights Law, Texas Human Rights Act, etc. — many states have parallel anti-discrimination statutes that apply to website operators |
4. Specific Accessibility Features We’ve Built
Semantic HTML
Proper heading hierarchy (Yoast manages H1; H2/H3 in our templates), <nav>, <main>, <article>, <section>, <footer> landmarks.
17px+ body text
Body copy is at least 17px on all pages — comfortable reading for most users without zoom.
4.5:1+ text contrast
All body text meets WCAG AA contrast (4.5:1) against its background; large text and UI components meet 3:1 minimum.
Keyboard-only navigation
Every link, button, form control, and interactive element is reachable and operable using Tab, Shift+Tab, Enter, and Space.
Visible focus indicators
Focus outlines are not removed; the default browser focus ring is preserved on every interactive element.
Descriptive link text
Links describe their destination — e.g., “California Department of Fish and Wildlife license portal” rather than “click here.” Each external link has rel=”noopener” and target=”_blank”.
Logical reading order
Source-order matches visual order; CSS layout never reverses, scrambles, or hides content from screen readers.
Responsive without zoom traps
Pages reflow at 320px width; pinch-zoom is not disabled; user-scalable=yes.
Form labels
Every form control has a programmatic <label> or aria-label; error messages are announced.
Reduced motion
The site respects prefers-reduced-motion and avoids gratuitous animation.
Plain-English drafts
Walkthroughs and license-type descriptions are written at roughly an 8th–10th grade reading level.
HTML walkthroughs as alternative
Where a state license-purchase portal has accessibility barriers, our HTML walkthrough provides an alternative path to the same information.
5. Assistive Technology Compatibility
We test against the following combinations on every major page template before publication:
- NVDA + Firefox / Chrome on Windows
- JAWS + Chrome on Windows
- VoiceOver + Safari on macOS
- VoiceOver + Safari on iOS
- TalkBack + Chrome on Android
- Narrator + Edge on Windows (smoke test)
- Dragon NaturallySpeaking — voice-only navigation smoke test
- Browser zoom at 200% and 400%
- High-contrast mode in Windows and macOS
6. Known Limitations
- Some third-party advertising units may not always meet our internal standards. We work with our advertising partners and reject ad units that fail material accessibility checks.
- Embedded videos from third-party platforms inherit those platforms’ accessibility features (or limitations); we link to transcripts or captioning where the source provides them.
- Some legacy guides built before our current accessibility framework may have minor remaining issues — we are working through them on a rolling quarterly review and welcome reports.
7. State License-Purchase Portals Are Not Always Accessible
Many state fish and wildlife agency online license-purchase systems have residual accessibility gaps on certain assistive-technology combinations — uncaptioned video instructions, modal dialogs that trap focus, dynamic-content updates that don’t announce, payment-form fields without proper labels, or required-field indicators conveyed by colour alone. This is not within our control — those are the state agencies’ own systems, governed by ADA Title II (state government). We provide HTML walkthroughs of the purchase flow as an alternative path to the same information, so that, in many cases, you can plan and prepare your purchase from our fully accessible HTML before you encounter the state portal itself.
If you cannot use a state agency’s license-purchase portal because of an accessibility barrier, you have rights under ADA Title II. The U.S. Department of Justice ADA portal is at ada.gov. You can also contact the state agency’s ADA coordinator directly — most state agencies maintain one. For federal-agency content (NOAA Fisheries, USFWS, USCG, NPS, USFS, BLM, BIA), barriers are addressable under Section 504 / Section 508; the U.S. Access Board provides technical assistance at access-board.gov.
8. Reporting a Barrier
If you encounter a barrier — a page or feature that doesn’t work with your assistive technology, contrast that’s hard to read, a control that can’t be reached by keyboard, or anything else that gets in your way — please tell us. Reports drive our priority queue.
Email info@fishinglicenseguide.org with subject line “Accessibility issue”.
If you can, include:
- The page URL where you hit the barrier
- Your operating system and browser
- The assistive technology you were using (e.g., NVDA, JAWS, VoiceOver, TalkBack, Dragon)
- What you were trying to do
- What happened (or didn’t happen)
Acknowledge in 1–3 business days. Substantive response or fix within 14 business days for most issues. For severe barriers (e.g., unable to access important content or complete a critical task), within 5 business days.
9. Escalation
If you are not satisfied with our response, you have additional options:
- U.S. Department of Justice ADA portal — ada.gov
- U.S. Access Board (Section 508 technical assistance) — access-board.gov
- Your state attorney general’s civil-rights division — contacts vary by state; search “[state name] attorney general civil rights”
- Your state ADA coordinator — most states have an ADA coordinator office that handles complaints about state-government websites
- Federal Communications Commission (CVAA) for telecommunications/video issues — fcc.gov
10. Review Cycle
This statement is reviewed quarterly. Page templates are re-tested against the AT combinations above on each review cycle. The “Last reviewed” date at the top reflects the most recent review.
Hit a Barrier? Tell Us.
Email us with subject line “Accessibility issue.” Acknowledge in 1–3 business days; fix within 14 business days for most issues, 5 for severe.
📧 info@fishinglicenseguide.org