The Middle East Policy Network, Inc., which also operates as Al-Shabaka, is committed to ensuring digital accessibility for people with disabilities. We are continually improving the user experience for everyone, and applying the relevant accessibility standards. If you use assistive technology (such as a Braille reader, a screen reader, or TTY) and the format of any material on this website interferes with your ability to access information, please contact us. If you do encounter an accessibility issue, please be sure to specify the Web page, and we will make all reasonable efforts to make the page accessible for you.

Conformance status

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) defines requirements for designers and developers to improve accessibility for people with disabilities. It defines three levels of conformance: Level A, Level AA, and Level AAA. Our website is partially conformant with WCAG 2.1 level AA. Partially conformant means that some parts of content do not fully conform to the accessibility standard.

Technical specifications

Accessibility of our website relies on the following technologies to work with the particular combination of web browser and any assistive technologies or plugins installed on your computer:

  • HTML
  • WAI-ARIA
  • CSS
  • JavaScript

These technologies are relied upon for conformance with the accessibility standards used.

Screen-reader and keyboard navigation

Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various behavioral changes, to ensure visually impaired users visiting with screen-readers can read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. This includes:

  • Screen-reader optimization: We make sure to build the site for screen readers, including making accurate form labels, descriptions for actionable icons, validation guidance for form inputs, element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and more.
  • Keyboard navigation optimization: Users should be able to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.
  • Disability profiles supported on our website: We allow for visual adjustments to the website, making it accessible to the majority of visual impairments.
  • Additional UI, design, and readability adjustments: Users can increase and decrease font sizes, adjust the spacing, adjust the color contrast profiles (such as light, dark, inverted, and monochrome), highlight focused or hovered elements only, and many other functions.

Assistive technology and browser compatibility

We aim to support as many browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share, including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS, and NVDA (screen readers), both for Windows and MAC users. Our website is not compatible with browsers older than 3 major versions or mobile operating systems older than 5 years.

Limitations and alternatives

Despite our best efforts to ensure accessibility of the website, there may be some limitations. Below is a description of known limitations, and potential solutions. Please contact us if you observe an issue not listed below.

Known limitations for this website:

  • Videos and Webinars: uploaded images may not have sign language alternatives.
  • Archived documents and PDFs: might not work with current assistive technologies because they use outdated technologies that do not support accessibility.

Feedback

We welcome your feedback on the accessibility of our website. Please let us know if you encounter accessibility barriers on the site by contacting us.

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