Accessibility statement.

HandshakeMD, operated by shrinkMD Publishing LLC, a Florida limited liability company, is committed to providing a website and digital experience that is accessible to people with disabilities.

We want people to be able to search for healthcare professionals, read directory information, use the professional resources, and operate every Platform feature regardless of disability or assistive technology. A directory of clinicians is used by people looking for care, sometimes urgently, and often by exactly the people most likely to be using a screen reader, a keyboard, magnification, or voice control. A referral directory somebody cannot operate is not a partially working product. It is a closed door.

1Our accessibility goal

We aim to design, develop, and maintain the Platform with accessibility in mind.

Our current goal is to work toward substantial conformance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2, Level AA, published by the World Wide Web Consortium. WCAG 2.2 is the current W3C Recommendation and expands upon WCAG 2.1, so building to it covers everything 2.1 asked for and more.

WCAG provides technical guidance intended to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities, including people with:

• visual disabilities;
• hearing disabilities;
• mobility disabilities;
• speech disabilities;
• cognitive or learning disabilities;
• neurological disabilities; and
• combinations of disabilities.

We have deliberately not written that this Platform is fully compliant with WCAG 2.2 Level AA. Nobody outside this project has audited it, and a claim of full compliance would be a statement of fact we cannot support. Section 3 says what we actually do and what we actually know.

2Accessibility measures

Depending on the feature and the technology, our accessibility work includes measures such as:

• keyboard accessible navigation;
• visible keyboard focus indicators;
• meaningful heading structure;
• appropriate labels for forms and controls;
• alternative text for meaningful images;
• sufficient colour contrast;
• text that can be resized without loss of essential functionality;
• descriptive links and buttons;
• accessible error messages and instructions;
• avoiding reliance on colour alone to communicate meaning;
• accessible authentication methods where practical;
• sufficiently sized interactive targets;
• captions or transcripts for multimedia where applicable;
• logical reading and navigation order; and
• compatibility with commonly used assistive technologies.

Two of those are worth a note. There is no password on this Platform and no puzzle to solve: a clinician confirms a listing by clicking a link in an email, which means there is no memory or cognitive step to pass. And there is no video or audio anywhere on the site today, so there is nothing yet that needs a caption.

3What is actually checked, and how

An accessibility statement that nothing verifies is worth nothing, so here is what runs and when. These checks are part of the test suite for this site, not a periodic review. They run on every page on every build, and a change that breaks one breaks the build rather than shipping.

Nine checks, across every page, at desktop and phone width:

• Automated rule checking. Every page loaded in a real browser and checked against the WCAG 2.0, 2.1, and 2.2 rule sets at Level A and AA.
• Reflow. No page scrolls sideways at 320 pixels wide, which is the width the guideline names and roughly what 400 percent zoom leaves you.
• Text resize. Every page loaded with the browser's own default text size doubled, the way a person actually does it, and checked for anything lost or pushed off screen.
• Text spacing. Line height, letter spacing, word spacing, and paragraph spacing all forced past the guideline's thresholds, with nothing allowed to clip.
• Keyboard. Every focus stop on every page walked with the tab key, checked for a visible focus indicator, and checked that the order wraps rather than trapping you.
• Contrast. Text and interface colours computed against their own backgrounds rather than sampled, so a palette edit cannot quietly drop a pair below the threshold on a page nobody happened to load.
• Target size. Every button, link, and control measured, and required to be at least 24 by 24 pixels unless it is a link inside a sentence, which the guideline exempts.
• Focus not obscured. The site header stays at the top of the window as you scroll, so every focus stop and every contents link is checked to make sure it does not land behind it.
• The rest of WCAG 2.2. Dragging, consistent help, repeated questions, and authentication without a memory test.

As of the date at the top of this page, all nine pass on every page. That is a statement about what our checks can see, which is not the same as a statement that the Platform is perfectly accessible. Section 5 says what they cannot see.

4Ongoing effort

Accessibility is an ongoing process.

Websites, browsers, assistive technologies, content, and technical standards evolve, and a new Platform feature may create an accessibility problem that did not exist before.

We may periodically:

• review accessibility;
• test key user flows;
• correct identified barriers;
• evaluate new features before deployment;
• improve keyboard and screen reader compatibility; and
• update this statement as our accessibility practices evolve.

5What we have not done

This is the honest part, and it is the part most accessibility statements leave out.

No independent audit. Nobody outside this project has reviewed the site, and no disabled tester has been paid to try to use it. Automated and mechanical checking finds the measurable failures and misses the experiential ones. We intend to commission a review. Until we have, this statement claims conformance against our own checks and nothing more.

Things a machine cannot judge. Whether the alternative text on an image describes what actually matters about it. Whether the reading order makes sense out loud. Whether the listing form can be completed from start to finish with a screen reader without a sighted person nearby. Those need a person, and we would rather say so than imply otherwise.

Screen reader testing. Our checks drive a real browser and a real keyboard. They do not drive a real screen reader. Testing with at least one screen reader before a major release is our standard, and it is a human step rather than an automated one.

6Third party content and services

The Platform may link to or integrate content or services provided by third parties, such as:

• healthcare practice websites;
• maps;
• scheduling platforms;
• external documents;
• videos;
• licensing board websites;
• insurers; or
• other third party resources.

We do not control the accessibility of independently operated third party websites or services.

We encourage third party providers to make their services accessible, but we cannot guarantee their accessibility. What we can do, and do, is make sure the link itself is described well enough that you know where it goes before you follow it.

7Professional listings and user submitted content

Some Platform content is provided by healthcare professionals, practices, or other users.

We may adjust formatting or presentation to improve accessibility, but we cannot guarantee that every user submitted document, image, external link, or other item will be fully accessible.

If you encounter inaccessible content in a professional listing, tell us. A listing is generated from structured information rather than typed as a page, which means a formatting problem is usually fixable once and fixed everywhere.

8Images

We aim to provide alternative text or an equivalent treatment for images that convey meaningful information.

Decorative images intentionally use empty alternative text or other techniques that let assistive technologies skip them. The freshness meter on a listing is treated this way on purpose: it is a picture of the date printed next to it, and reading it out twice would be worse than reading it once.

We do not put important text inside an image. Where text matters, it is text.

9Documents

We aim to make important Platform documents reasonably accessible.

Some third party or user submitted PDF or document files may not fully meet current accessibility standards.

If you need information from a document in another format, contact us and we will make reasonable efforts to provide an accessible alternative.

10Forms and interactive tools

We aim to design forms, search tools, filters, and other interactive components so they can be used with a keyboard and with assistive technology.

Search on this Platform runs in your browser and updates a result count that is announced rather than changing silently. The good faith estimate tool announces the estimate it builds and moves focus to it. Every form field has a real label rather than a placeholder standing in for one.

If a feature prevents you from accessing information or completing an action, contact us.

11No accessibility overlay as a substitute

We do not consider an automated accessibility widget or overlay, by itself, a substitute for accessible design and development.

There is no overlay on this Platform. If accessibility tools are ever used here, they will supplement rather than replace the work of making the underlying Platform accessible.

12Feedback and assistance

If you have difficulty accessing any part of the Platform, tell us.

When you contact us, it helps to include:

• the page or feature involved;
• the accessibility problem you encountered;
• the browser or device you were using, if known;
• the assistive technology you were using, if applicable; and
• the format or accommodation that would help you access the information.

None of that is required. You do not need to disclose a diagnosis or any medical information, and we will not ask.

We aim to answer within five business days. Where a fix will take longer, we will say so and get you the information another way in the meantime.

If we get it wrong twice, say so bluntly. A complaint about accessibility is not a nuisance. It is the only reliable signal we have about the parts our own checks cannot see.

13Getting the same information another way

Everything on this Platform is available by email if the page itself does not work for you, and that includes searching the directory. Write to [email protected] with what you are looking for, in whatever words you would use out loud, and a person will send back what we have.

This is not a workaround we would rather you used. The page should work. But the offer is real, and it stands whether or not we have fixed the underlying problem yet.

14Contact for accessibility assistance

Accessibility requests or feedback may be directed to:

shrinkMD Publishing LLC
Operator of HandshakeMD
Accessibility: [email protected]
Northwest Registered Agent LLC, 7901 4th St N Ste 300, St. Petersburg, FL 33702

There is no separate accessibility form, deliberately. A form is one more thing that can be inaccessible, and email is not.

We will make reasonable efforts to respond to accessibility concerns and to provide access to information or functionality through an alternative method where appropriate.

15No retaliation

We will not discriminate or retaliate against anybody for requesting accessibility assistance or reporting an accessibility concern.

For a clinician, that includes their listing. Reporting an accessibility problem will never affect a listing, its badges, or its position in search results.

16Changes to this statement

We may update this Accessibility Statement as:

• Platform features change;
• accessibility standards evolve;
• testing identifies improvements; or
• legal requirements change.

The current version is the one posted here, with the date and version string at the top. If an independent audit is completed, this statement will change to say so, and to say what it found.

17In an emergency

This Platform is not an emergency service and nobody monitors it.

If you or somebody else is in immediate danger, call 911. If you are in crisis or thinking about suicide, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline in the United States, any time. Both numbers are at the top and the bottom of every page on this site.