Circle Up Accessibility Policy
Circle Up's accessibility policy and how to contact us if you have questions.
Circle Up is a product of CAST. We are committed to ensuring that Circle Up is accessible and usable to everyone. Accessibility is a core component of 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 the recommendations of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). We aim to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at Level AA.
Contact Us
If you encounter a problem accessing cu.cast.org or would like to provide feedback, please get in touch with us using one of the following methods:
- Email: circleup@cast.org
- Phone: (781) 245-2212
- Mail: CAST, Inc., 50 Salem St., Building B, Ste 303, Lynnfield, MA 01940-0030
Skip Navigation Link
Each page in Circle Up begins with a "skip navigation" link. Choosing this link moves the user directly to the main content of the page, bypassing the navigational links that appear 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 move through the site.
Site Layout
Circle Up has been designed with existing accessibility recommendations and standards in mind. The interface adapts to a range of screen sizes and works with keyboard navigation, and global navigation is available throughout. High-contrast dark text on a light background is used for better readability.
Alternative Text
All meaningful images in Circle Up are accompanied by brief alt text that identifies the image or its function. Where an image is decorative, it is marked so that assistive technology can skip it. Longer 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.
Captioning
Any instructional or help videos we provide within Circle Up are captioned to support understanding for as many of our users as possible. If you encounter a video that is missing captions, please let us know at circleup@cast.org.
Hyperlinks
Hyperlinks are written so they make sense when read out of context by a screen reader.
Tables and Data
Where tables are used to present data, table cells are associated with headers to make navigation with screen readers easier. Data tables do not stand alone but are accompanied by additional content that provides context for the information shown.
Additional Technologies
The option to resize text is available in most browsers with a keyboard shortcut:
- Control (or Command on Mac) and + (plus) to zoom in
- Control (or Command on Mac) and - (minus) to zoom out
- Control (or Command on Mac) and 0 (zero) to reset zoom level to 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 Circle Up, 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).