Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance (HDR) recently completed several improvements to their website to make it more ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) compliant.
Supported by a Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), HDR worked with their webmaster to conduct an audit of their site, make initial color contrast improvements and add accessiBe.com’s accessWidget to high traffic pages.
The accessWidget enables users to toggle special features on and off, providing slight modifications to improve user experience based on individual needs, like “seizure safe,” “vision impaired,” and “ADHD Friendly.” Additionally, HDR’s webmaster provided staff updated page templates that are in compliance, along with direction on how to create accessible social media posts by adding “alt text” descriptions for assistive devices. Moving forward, they will also be avoiding flashing text or fast changes of color to prevent seizures and feature the speaker in videos to help lip readers.
“Persons with disabilities rely on their tablets and smart phones to live independently, and we can help them do so by making sure our websites and socials are accessible.”
– Andrea Dono, HDR Executive Director
AccessiBe.com’s initial website audit is free, and a continued service is available at an annual rate—ranging from approximately $500 to $1500 depending on the site’s total number of pages. They also offer a discount to nonprofits! HDR now has an annual subscription and receives a monthly compliance report. The tool uses AI to scan their site’s many pages and ecommerce systems and remediates problem areas, such as ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) labels, alt text, contrast and menu dropdowns. They started at a 59% accessibility score and, after these initial improvements, are now at a 74%. HDR plans to complete a full website overhaul in 2025 that will remediate all issues.
This is just one part of Harrisonburg’s larger accessibility initiative. To create a more welcoming downtown Harrisonburg for all, HDR offered ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation for their Levitt AMP Harrisonburg concert series, produced an accessible parking map (available on their website), and hosted a training for downtown business owners and employees. The training opportunity titled “Interacting with Grace and Confidence” was a customer-focused accessibility training facilitated by Valley Associates for Independent Living, Inc. (VAIL). HDR also offered funding for accessibility projects and purchases for downtown businesses through their existing Bricks & Clicks program. Andrea Dono, Executive Director, shared these inspiring initiatives at the 2024 Main Street Now conference in Birmingham, Alabama.
Photo credit: Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance
Virginia Main Street 