Accessibility

Accessibility Statement

We want anyone to be able to use this site — including people using screen readers, keyboard navigation, magnification, or voice control. We're not perfect at it yet. Here's where we stand, honestly.

LAST REVIEWED: [DATE]

Our Commitment

Kjelärd Mead LLC is a small, veteran-owned business. We don't have a dedicated accessibility team — but we do care that the people who want to support us can actually use our site, and that includes people with disabilities.

Our community includes a lot of veterans. Service-connected disability is a reality for many of them — vision loss, hearing loss, limited mobility, TBI. Building a site that shuts those folks out would be a poor way to thank them.

Conformance Status

We aim to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level AA. These guidelines are the widely accepted international standard for making web content more accessible.

Current status: partially conformant. That means most of the site meets the standard, but some parts don't yet. We'd rather tell you that plainly than claim a clean bill of health we haven't earned.

What We've Built In

Keyboard Navigation

The site can be operated without a mouse, with visible focus indicators showing where you are.

Screen Reader Support

Proper headings, labeled form fields, alt text on meaningful images, and decorative graphics hidden from screen readers.

Color Contrast

Text is checked against WCAG AA contrast ratios. Color is never the only way information is conveyed.

Reduced Motion

Animations are minimal and respect your system's "reduce motion" setting.

Resizable Text

Text can be enlarged up to 200% without breaking the layout or cutting off content.

Skip Link

A "skip to main content" link lets keyboard users bypass the navigation on every page.

Known Limitations

We'd rather list these than pretend they don't exist:

  • Third-party checkout. Payment and donation processing runs through Stripe. We don't control their interface, though Stripe maintains its own accessibility program.
  • Mailing list signup. Our email signup is powered by Mailchimp and is subject to their accessibility implementation.
  • Decorative background texture. The honeycomb pattern behind some sections is decorative only and is hidden from screen readers. It carries no information.
  • Older product images. Some earlier label and product photos may have incomplete alt text. We're working through them.
  • [ADD ANY ISSUES FOUND IN AUDIT]

Age Verification

Because this site relates to alcoholic beverages, visitors are asked to confirm they're 21 or older before entering. That screen is keyboard accessible, works with screen readers, and doesn't rely on color, images, or a time limit to complete.

Tell Us When We Get It Wrong

If you hit something on this site you can't use, we want to hear about it. Not as a formality — we can't fix what we don't know is broken.

Email support@kjelardmead.co or use our contact form. Tell us the page and what went wrong. We aim to respond within 2 business days.

If you're having trouble completing something — placing an order, contributing, or joining the list — email us and we'll help you do it directly. You shouldn't have to fight the website to reach us.

How We Test

  • Automated scanning during development
  • Manual keyboard-only navigation checks
  • Screen reader spot checks
  • Contrast verification against WCAG AA ratios

We review this page and re-test the site when we make significant changes.

Contact

Kjelärd Mead LLC
Colorado Springs, Colorado
support@kjelardmead.co

See also our Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, and Shipping & Returns.

Developer notes — remove before launch

This statement makes claims that must actually be true. Verify each before publishing, and edit the page if any don't hold:

  • Add a .skip link to every page template (this page has one — copy it).
  • Confirm visible :focus-visible styles sitewide, not just on this page.
  • Age gate must be keyboard-operable, focus-trapped while open, and announced to screen readers. Confirm it has no time limit.
  • Contrast — verified numbers, please don't eyeball these:
    • Gold #FFB81C on black #0d0d0d = 11.22:1 — passes.
    • Cream #f5f0e1 on black = 17.06:1 — passes.
    • Black text on a gold button = 11.22:1 — passes.
    • Gold #FFB81C on cream = 1.52:1 — fails badly. Never put brand gold text on the cream sections.
    • The darker gold #c9860f on cream = 2.67:1 — also fails. It's currently used for eyebrow/label text on cream sections in the mockup and must be changed.
    • Use #8E660F (4.54:1, the darkest brand-hue gold that passes) or better, #7a4f00 (6.26:1) for text on cream.
  • Mark the honeycomb texture aria-hidden="true" and ensure it's not an <img> needing alt text.
  • Add @media (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce) to the hero logo animation and any scroll effects.
  • Give every meaningful image real alt text; mark decorative ones alt="".
  • Test at 200% zoom and 320px width for reflow without horizontal scrolling.
  • Run axe DevTools or Lighthouse, then fill in the [ADD ANY ISSUES FOUND IN AUDIT] placeholder with anything real that remains.

If a claimed feature isn't actually implemented, delete that claim rather than shipping it. An overclaiming accessibility statement is worse than none.