Accessibility Statement

Last reviewed: July 24, 2026

gainingSTEAM is a Nebraska 501(c)(3) non-profit serving K–8 students, families, coaches, and volunteers. Robotics should be open to every kid and every adult who wants to help — and that includes the website. We build this site to be usable with a keyboard, a screen reader, magnification, or whatever else gets you here.

Conformance status

We target WCAG 2.2 Level AA — the current W3C standard. We consider the site partially conformant with it: most of it meets the bar, and we know of specific gaps, listed below, that we haven't closed yet. We'd rather tell you that plainly than claim full conformance we can't back up.

What we do

Automated checks on every change. The axe accessibility engine runs against our components in our test suite, and again against real pages in a real browser — in both light and dark themes, at phone and desktop widths — before changes reach production.
Semantic structure. Pages use proper landmarks — navigation, main content, and footer regions — with a correct heading order, so assistive technology can move around the page.
Keyboard access. Interactive elements are real buttons and links, with visible focus indicators so you can see where you are. A “skip to main content” link is the first thing you reach on every page, so you can jump past the navigation.
Screen reader support. Images carry alternative text, form fields have associated labels, and status messages — loading, errors, confirmations — are announced rather than only shown.
Color and contrast. Light and dark themes are both maintained, with text and controls meeting or exceeding AA contrast ratios. We don't use color alone to convey meaning.
Reduced motion. If your device asks for reduced motion, our animations and page transitions turn off.
Zoom and small screens. Layouts reflow rather than break, and every page is checked at phone width as well as desktop.

Known limitations

These are the gaps we're aware of. We're working on them, and we'll update this list as they close.

Third-party content. Donation processing, embedded video, and event registration on VEX Events are run by other organizations. We choose partners carefully but don't control their accessibility.
Older blog posts. Posts from earlier seasons may have images with thin alternative text. We improve these as we revisit them.

Tell us when something doesn't work

If any part of this site blocks you, we want to hear about it — a barrier we don't know about is one we can't fix. Email [email protected] with the page address and what went wrong, and a person will reply. If it's easier to describe over the phone or you need the information in another format, say so in the email and we'll arrange it.

We aim to respond within five business days. If something is blocking you from registering a team, signing up for a shift, or attending an event, say so — we'll help you get it done directly while we fix the underlying problem.

How this statement is maintained

We review this statement when we make significant changes to the site and at least once a year. It was last reviewed on the date shown above and reflects what we could verify about the site at that time.

This is one of our Legal & Policies.