Accessibility statement

Our commitment

We aim for this website to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 at Level AA. That's the standard the U.S. Department of Justice points businesses to in its guidance on web accessibility and the ADA.

We build accessibility into the site's own code rather than bolting it on afterward. We don't use accessibility overlay widgets or toolbars. They promise a quick fix, but they often get in the way of the screen readers, zoom and settings people already rely on.

Our policies, terms, scope checklists and guides are regular web pages, not PDFs, so they work with screen readers, zoom and translation tools, and they print cleanly.

What we've built in

Keyboard and focus

• Everything works with a keyboard alone: menus, tabs, the ZIP check, forms, and every button and link.
• A "Skip to content" link is the first thing you reach on every page.
• Whatever you've tabbed to gets a clear, dark outline. On phones, the pinned call-and-text bar and the header are kept from covering it.
• The mobile menu closes with the Escape key and returns you to the button you opened it from.
• Buttons and links are large enough to tap easily. The main ones are at least 44 pixels tall.

Reading and contrast

• Body text is dark enough to meet or beat the 4.5 to 1 contrast ratio WCAG asks for, including our lighter secondary text. Form field borders meet the 3 to 1 ratio for controls.
• We don't rely on color alone to show something important. Errors are written out in words, and optional fields are labeled as optional.
• Every page has one main heading, headings in order, and labeled regions (header, navigation, main content, footer), so screen reader users can jump around quickly.
• Tables have real row and column headers, and links say where they go.

Forms

• Every form field has a label that screen readers announce. On our request forms, the label is always visible above the field, never just faint text inside it.
• Fields that ask for your name, organization, email, phone or ZIP code let your browser or password manager fill them in.
• Longer forms, like the walkthrough request, ask only for what we need to reply first. The rest is clearly marked optional, and fields that apply only to some kinds of space appear only when they apply.
• Choices use standard radio buttons, checkboxes and drop-downs. There are no drag-only controls anywhere on the site.
• If something's missing when you send a form, a summary at the top of the form lists each field to fix and what's wrong, with a link straight to it. Those fields are also flagged as invalid for screen readers.
• No form has a time limit, and there are no puzzle tests to prove you're human. Spam is filtered quietly in the background.

Motion, sound and timing

• If your device is set to reduce motion, our gentle fade-ins and smooth scrolling turn off.
• Nothing plays sound, auto-advances or moves on its own. There are no pop-ups, countdown timers or chat bubbles that open by themselves.

Zoom, small screens and your own settings

• Pages are designed to reflow into a single column on narrow screens, down to 320 pixels wide, without sideways scrolling, and to stay usable when text is zoomed to 200%.
• Buttons and form controls keep visible borders in Windows high-contrast (forced colors) mode.
• Every page prints cleanly, without the menus, so you can keep a paper copy of a scope checklist or our policies.

Images

• Meaningful images have text descriptions that say what's actually in the picture. Decorative ones are hidden from screen readers so they don't get in the way.
• Our logo is described as "Gentle Touch Cleaning", and our name also appears as regular text on every page.

How we check

Each time the site is built, an automated check runs on every page. It flags form fields without labels, images without text descriptions, pages without exactly one main heading, and broken links. We fix anything it finds before we publish.

Automated tools catch only part of the problems, so before launch and after any major change, we also:

• run accessibility checkers (axe or Lighthouse, and WAVE) on each kind of page;
• request a walkthrough, send a bid request, contact us and apply for a job using only a keyboard;
• test with the VoiceOver screen reader on an iPhone and NVDA on Windows;
• zoom to 200% and 400%, narrow the window to 320 pixels, and try high-contrast mode and reduced motion;
• check color contrast, including hover, focus and error states.

Our most recent full review: [date of the pre-launch accessibility review, once it's done].

Known limitations

We'd rather tell you about these up front:

• File uploads. Our walkthrough, bid, photo and job-application forms let you attach floor plans, site photos or a résumé. How the file picker works depends on your phone or computer, and a form can carry only a limited total size. Uploads are optional on every form except the photo request, which needs one photo. You can always email or text plans and photos instead, or describe the space in words, and on the bid form you can paste a link to a plan set.
• Other companies' pages. Paying an invoice online or booking a walkthrough time may take you to a page run by another company, such as a payment or scheduling service. We choose tools partly for accessibility and test them, but we can't fix problems inside them. If one gives you trouble, reach us directly and we'll take care of it by phone, text or email.
• Photo reports. Our quality-walk notes and construction phase reports include photos. If you'd like a written, text-only version of a report, a proposal or an invoice, ask and we'll send one.
• English only. The site is in English for now. Your browser's translation feature works on every page, and you're welcome to text us in the language you're most comfortable with; we'll do our best with a translation tool.
• Still being reviewed. We haven't finished our full pre-launch review yet. If you find something we missed, we want to know.

Other ways to reach us

You never have to use this website to work with us. Everything you can do here, you can do with a person:

• Call (540) 505-1295. We'll set up your walkthrough over the phone and read back the details. Relay calls are welcome: dial 711 to reach us through Virginia Relay.
• Text (540) 505-1295. Many people find this easiest. Describe your space in your own words and we'll take it from there.
• Email hello@gentletouchcleaningva.com, if you'd like everything in writing.

Office Mon–Fri 8am–6pm. We reply within 2 business hours. Messages after hours get a reply by 9am the next business day.

During service

If you, your staff or the people you serve need us to work differently, tell us. For example: fragrance-free products, quieter equipment during certain hours, keeping a ramp or accessible route clear while we work, or texting instead of calling. We'll build it into your written scope. You don't need to explain why.

Tell us about a problem

If something on this site is hard to use, please tell us by phone, text or email. It helps to know:

• the page you were on (or what you were trying to do);
• what went wrong;
• if you're comfortable sharing, the device, browser and any assistive technology you use.

We'll reply, help you finish what you came to do another way right away, and tell you what we'll fix and roughly when. [Owner's first name], our owner, reads every accessibility report personally.

About this statement

This statement was first written on September 23, 2026, updated on October 8, 2026, and applies to gentletouchcleaningva.com. We'll update it, and the date at the top, after each accessibility review and whenever we add a new tool or feature to the site.