Effective October 4, 2026 · Last updated October 4, 2026
Our Commitment
A large share of the people this site exists for are living with a disability. Many of them acquired it in service. A resource directory that a Veteran with low vision, a tremor, a traumatic brain injury, or a hearing loss cannot use is not serving that Veteran, whatever else it does well.
We aim to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at Level AA. We are not claiming we have arrived. Below is an honest account of what works today and what does not, because a statement that overclaims is worse than no statement at all.
What Works Today
These are verified in the site's own code, not aspirations:
In place across the site
- Every image carries alt text. Images that add nothing beyond nearby text are marked as decorative so a screen reader skips them instead of reading a filename.
- Event details are real text, not pictures of text. The date, time, venue, cost, description, and registration link for every event are in the page itself. You never have to read a flyer image to get the facts.
- Pop-ups are announced and dismissible. Dialogs identify themselves to assistive technology, are labelled by their heading, and close with the Escape key.
- Controls are labelled. Buttons that show only an icon carry a text label for screen readers, including the back-to-top button and the menu toggle.
- Live result counts are announced when you filter or search, rather than changing silently.
- Real headings, landmarks, and lists structure each page, so you can navigate by heading instead of reading top to bottom.
- Forms use real labels tied to their fields, so tapping the label focuses the field and a screen reader reads the right prompt.
- The page declares its language, so a screen reader uses the right pronunciation.
- The layout reflows to phone width and survives browser zoom without a horizontal scrollbar.
- A visible focus ring follows keyboard navigation, so you can always see where you are. Added October 4, 2026.
- Motion respects your system setting. If your device is set to reduce motion, the site's transitions and hover animations stop. Added October 4, 2026.
- A skip-to-content link is the first thing the Tab key reaches on every page, so you are never forced through the whole header and navigation to reach the content. Every page now carries a main-content landmark for screen readers to jump to as well. Added October 4, 2026.
- Events are readable without JavaScript. Each hub's upcoming listings are written into the page as text, so a screen reader, a text browser, or a slow connection still reaches them. Added October 4, 2026.
What We Have Not Finished
Naming these is the point of this page. All three are real, and we know about them:
Known gaps
- The calendar itself needs JavaScript. The month, week, and day views are drawn in your browser. Since October 4, 2026 every hub also carries its upcoming events as a plain text list that works without JavaScript, so the listings are readable either way — but the interactive calendar, the filters, and the search are not.
- Flyer images are not described. A flyer's alt text is the event's name, not a description of the poster. If an organizer put something on the flyer that is not also in the event description, a screen reader will not reach it. We are working on catching that during review.
- No independent audit. We have not had a third party test the site, and we have not formally verified every color combination for contrast. Our assessment is a self-assessment.
We also do not control the sites we link to. Once you follow a registration link to an organizer's page, that page's accessibility is theirs, not ours. If a listing sends you somewhere unusable, tell us anyway — we would rather know, and we can often get you the information another way.
Using the Site with a Keyboard
Every interactive element is reachable with the Tab key and activated with Enter or the space bar. Shift and Tab together move backward. The Escape key closes any pop-up. The first thing the Tab key reaches on any page is a Skip to main content link, which jumps you past the header and navigation and moves focus to the content itself.
The Installed App
Veterans OneSource™ can be installed to a phone or desktop. The installed version is the same site in a standalone window, so everything above applies to it, and it uses your device's own text-size and display settings exactly as your browser does.
Tell Us When Something Blocks You
This is the part we actually need from you. If something on this site is hard or impossible to use, we want the specifics, and a report from one person usually fixes it for everyone behind them.
Tell us what page you were on, what you were trying to do, and what happened, plus the browser and any assistive technology you were using if you know it. You do not need the technical vocabulary — "the pop-up on the Abilene page traps my screen reader" is a perfect report.
We aim to acknowledge accessibility reports within three business days and to tell you what we are going to do about it, including when the honest answer is that a fix will take a while. If a barrier is keeping you from information you need right now, say so and we will send you the information directly while we work on the page.
Related
See our Privacy Policy for how we handle information, our Terms of Use for the rules of the service, and our Sponsorship & Disclosure statement for how listings, Partners, and Sponsors work.