Published
An accessibility statement for every office — a public page, no sign-in
Every office now has an הצהרת נגישות page open to anyone, in Hebrew and Russian: the accessibility level per ת״י 5568, what has been done, the true state of testing and a contact for accessibility enquiries.
An accessibility statement is required by תקנה 35ה of the Israeli equal rights for people with disabilities regulations: whoever provides a service online publishes what has been done to make it accessible and who to contact when something does not work. Every office in the system now has one — a public page of its own.
The page opens without signing in, and that is not a technical detail: someone who could not get past a screen has to reach the statement and get in touch without going through that very screen first. The הצהרת נגישות link also sits on the sign-in screen.
One page, two languages — Hebrew first, Russian below — and the same five things in each:
- the accessibility level: the system is built to the Israeli standard ת״י 5568 at level AA, which is the Israeli edition of WCAG 2.1;
- what has been done: accessibility is implemented in the markup itself. No external accessibility widget is used — that floating button in the corner of many sites does not count as meeting the standard;
- the state of testing as it is: a full accessibility audit has not been carried out yet, and the statement says so plainly instead of “the site is fully accessible”. An audit date is never filled in automatically — only the date of an audit that actually took place;
- known limitations, where the office has any;
- accessibility enquiries: the name of the contact person, their role and ways to reach them, what is worth including in an enquiry, and how quickly it is answered — receipt confirmed by the next working day, and a substantive reply within the period named in the statement itself.
The contact details are an office setting, and the statement is published only once they are filled in. A statement with nobody to turn to is worse than none at all: it promises an answer and does not give one. So without a contact the page simply does not exist. We fill the details in when the office is connected, as we do with the logo and the colour.
Want to see this on your own office's inquiries?