Accessibility

Overview

Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and it is referenced throughout the UDL Guidelines.

We strive to follow best practices based on federal requirements outlined in Section 508—the "Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards," authorized by the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board—as well as recommendations of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

If you encounter a problem accessing cu.cast.org or would like to provide feedback, please get in touch with us by emailing us at circleup@cast.org.

Features

Skip Navigation Link

Each page on the site begins with a "skip navigation" link. Choosing this link moves the user directly to the main content of the page, bypassing the long list of navigational links which appears on every page. This permits faster and easier navigation for people using screen readers, or for anyone using a keyboard rather than a mouse to navigate the site.

Site Layout

This site has been designed with existing accessibility recommendations and standards in mind. High-contrast dark text on a light background is used for better readability.

Alternative Text

All images on this site are accompanied by brief alt text that identifies the image or its function. If you are using a browser, alt text is visible to non-screen reader users only if the browser's automatic image loading feature is turned off. Long descriptions are provided for images where appropriate. If you find an image that is missing alt text, please let us know at circleup@cast.org.

Hyperlinks

Hyperlinks are written so that they make sense when read out of context by a screen reader.

Additional Technologies

The option to resize text is available in most browsers with a keyboard shortcut:
Control (or Command on the Mac) and + (plus) to zoom in Control (or Command on the Mac) and - (minus) to zoom out Control (or Command on the Mac) and 0 (zero) to reset the zoom level to the default (100%).

You can also find these options in the browser's menus, usually under View. Should you need to use a more feature-rich screen reader to access our site, a number of free options are available: VoiceOver is built-in on Mac computers and iOS devices such as the iPhone and iPad Narrator is built-in on Windows computers and tablets, and NVDA is available as a free download as well ChromeVox is available on Chromebooks TalkBack is built-in on Android phones and tablets, and a version of it is also available on Amazon’s Fire tablets (called VoiceView)This site has been designed with existing accessibility recommendations and standards in mind. High-contrast dark text on a light background is used for better readability.