Accessibility Statement

Studio

Silvanè Studios

Based in

Ontario, Canada

Contact

hello@silvanestudios.com

1. Our commitment

Silvanè Studios designs and builds for people who navigate by keyboard, by screen reader, at 200% zoom, with motion turned off, and with low vision or colour blindness. Accessibility is on the specification for every project we deliver, not offered as an upgrade. This site is held to the same standard.

2. The standard

We build to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 at Level AA. In Ontario, the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation under the Ontario Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act requires WCAG 2.0 Level AA of public sector organisations and of businesses with 50 or more employees. This studio is smaller than that threshold, so the requirement does not currently apply to us by law. We build to the newer standard anyway, because the obligation we care about is to the person trying to use the site.

3. What is not there yet

No independent audit has been carried out on this site. Our testing is our own: keyboard traversal, screen reader passes, contrast measurement, zoom, and reduced motion. Specific known limitations:

• The opening film is motion-heavy. It is decorative and hidden from assistive technology, it is entirely skippable, and the page below it carries the same information as text. If your system asks for reduced motion, the film does not play at all and a still version is shown instead.
• The 3D canvas is decorative. Nothing is communicated only through it. If WebGL is unavailable or disabled, a static version of the page is served rather than a broken one.
• Some marketing typography is set small for editorial effect. It meets contrast requirements but is not as comfortable as the body text; it reflows correctly at 200% zoom.
• We have not tested every assistive technology. Our passes cover VoiceOver and keyboard-only navigation. If you use something else and hit a wall, that is a gap in our testing, not in your setup.

4. What is done

• Semantic HTML, with headings in order and landmarks that mean what they say.
• A visible skip-to-content link, and a keyboard path through every interactive element.
• Visible focus styles that are not removed for aesthetics.
• Text and interface contrast measured against Level AA.
• Full support for the reduced-motion setting, honoured across every animation on the site.
• Alternative text on meaningful images, and decorative imagery hidden from assistive technology.
• Forms with real labels, and errors reported in text rather than by colour alone.

5. Tell us about a barrier

If any part of this site is difficult or impossible for you to use, email hello@silvanestudios.com. Tell us the page, what you were trying to do, and what happened.

What happens next:

• We acknowledge within 3 business days.
• We tell you whether we can fix it and by when — honestly, including if the answer is “not quickly”.
• If you need something on this site in another format, ask and we will provide it at no cost.
• We tell you when it is fixed.

Reports are welcome from anyone, not only clients, and we would rather hear about ten small things than nothing at all.

6. Accessibility in client work

Every site we build includes an accessibility pass before launch. What we cannot control is what is added afterwards: an inaccessible embed, a low-contrast brand colour applied to body text, images uploaded without alternative text. We will tell you when something you have asked for creates a barrier, and suggest a version that does not. If your organisation has 50 or more employees, or is in the public sector, the Ontario requirement applies to your site and we will build to it as a matter of course.

7. If your business is in the United States

American clients ask whether we build to the Americans with Disabilities Act. The honest answer is that there is nothing separate to build to. The ADA does not publish web technical requirements for private businesses; claims and settlements there are argued against WCAG — the same guidelines Ontario’s regulation points at. Building to WCAG 2.2 Level AA, as we do, is at or above what a US claim would measure a site against.

Two things are worth knowing before you take anyone’s word on this.

• Nobody can sell you compliance.There is no ADA certification and no authority that issues one, and no way to guarantee a complaint never arrives. A studio or vendor promising an “ADA compliant” website is promising something that does not exist. We name the standard we build to and show you the testing.
• The obligation is the site owner’s. Under the ADA it falls on the business operating the website, not on the studio that built it. Which is why what matters is not who made it but whether it works — and why content added after launch is where most complaints begin.

If you are a United States state or local government body, the Department of Justice’s 2024 rule sets WCAG 2.1 Level AA with compliance dates in 2026 and 2027. Tell us at the start and we will build and document to it. For a private business, an independent audit or a formal conformance report is the evidence worth having if a demand letter arrives, and we can arrange one.

8. Related

We have written about this in more detail in our guide to AODA and website accessibility.