Accessibility
A tool for every commencing student has to work for every commencing student. This page sets out how First Six approaches accessibility. Useful for the disability, equity, and IT teams who need to assess it.
Built in, not bolted on
Accessibility is part of the product, not an add-on:
- Student-controlled display: every student has settings for text size, higher contrast, reduced motion, and light or dark mode, not buried. Our own conformance report found the text-size control does not yet move all text on some pages (hardcoded sizes it cannot reach), and that is being fixed rather than reworded: the report's 1.4.4 row is the honest state. The student-facing guide is settings and accessibility.
- Semantic, keyboard-friendly interface: labels and roles on controls, a sensible tab order, and standard keyboard interactions. The conformance report grades where this holds and where it does not yet; no assistive-technology testing has been carried out so far, and we say so there rather than implying it.
- Contrast and legibility: text contrast is checked on both light and dark themes, with the report naming the exceptions it found, including form control boundaries that fall below the non-text contrast threshold, worse in dark mode. Status changes are announced for screen readers on core flows; the AI assistant surfaces do not yet announce streamed answers, and the report says so.
A standalone Accessibility Conformance Report (VPAT 2.5) is published and maintained; it is sent alongside the pilot pack rather than numbered into it, because it is a standing conformance document read on its own merits. Ask for it by name. An accessibility statement also lives in the product itself.
Why it matters for retention
The students most at risk of disengaging in the first six weeks include those for whom a clumsy interface is one more barrier. An accessible tool here is core to the job the product exists to do, not a compliance checkbox.
What we'd ask of you
Accessibility is a shared responsibility. The content your team authors (briefings, resources, announcements) should follow the same principles: clear language, meaningful link text, and not relying on colour alone to carry meaning.
Common questions
Do you have a VPAT or conformance report?
Yes. Our Accessibility Conformance Report follows VPAT 2.5 (international edition) and covers WCAG 2.1 Level A and AA, Revised Section 508 and EN 301 549. Ask us and we will send it, or find it in the procurement pack. Two things to know before you read it. It is a vendor self-evaluation, not an independent audit, and no screen-reader testing has been done yet, so criteria that depend on assistive-technology behaviour are rated Partially Supports rather than Supports. It also names four criteria we do not support today rather than summarising them away. We would rather you saw that than a cleaner document that was less true.
Can students change text size and contrast themselves?
The controls exist for all four (text size, high contrast, reduced motion, theme) and are saved to the student's account across devices. The honest caveat from our own conformance report: the text-size control does not yet resize all text on some pages, and fixing the hardcoded sizes behind that is tracked work, not a surprise we are hoping you will not notice.
Does the app work with screen readers?
It is built with semantic HTML, labelled controls, and announced state changes on the core flows. No formal assistive-technology testing (NVDA, VoiceOver) has been carried out yet, which is why the conformance report rates AT-dependent criteria Partially Supports rather than claiming more than has been verified. If screen-reader support is a hard requirement, read the report's 4.1.x rows before relying on this paragraph.
Related
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