Accessibility

Accessibility Statement

VettedCare helps people across Canada find licensed therapists. Finding mental health support should be possible for everyone, regardless of how they use the web. We are committed to building a directory that works for people who rely on screen readers, keyboard navigation, captions, magnification, or other assistive technology.

Our standard

We aim to conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at Level AA. These guidelines, published by the World Wide Web Consortium, are the internationally recognized benchmark for accessible web content and form the basis of accessibility law in much of Canada.

What we do

Accessibility is something we build in from the start, not something we bolt on afterward. In practice, that means:

• —Semantic HTML. We use real headings, lists, landmarks, and labelled form fields so the structure of every page is clear to assistive technology, not just sighted users.
• —Keyboard navigation. Every interactive element — search filters, links, menus, and forms — can be reached and operated without a mouse, with a visible focus indicator so you always know where you are.
• —Colour contrast. Text and meaningful interface elements are chosen to meet the WCAG AA contrast ratios, and we never rely on colour alone to communicate information.
• —Screen-reader support. Images carry descriptive alternative text, icons used on their own have accessible labels, and dynamic updates are announced where they matter.
• —Reduced motion. We honour the operating-system “reduce motion” setting, so animations and transitions are minimised for people who find movement uncomfortable or distracting.

Known limitations

We want to be honest about where we fall short. Accessibility is ongoing work, and some areas still need attention:

• —Some therapist profiles include content supplied by the practitioners themselves, such as documents or images, which may not yet meet our accessibility standards.
• —A small number of older pages and embedded third-party tools (such as maps and scheduling widgets) may not be fully accessible. We are working with our providers to improve these.
• —If you encounter a barrier that is not listed here, we want to know. Your reports directly shape what we fix next.

AODA and Canadian accessibility law

As a Canadian service, we are aware of our responsibilities under accessibility legislation, including the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) and its Information and Communications Standards, which reference WCAG 2.0 Level AA. We treat WCAG 2.1 AA as our working baseline so that our directory meets or exceeds these expectations, and we keep accessibility in mind as related federal and provincial standards continue to evolve.

Reporting an accessibility issue

If something on VettedCare is difficult or impossible to use, please tell us. Email accessibility@vettedcare.ca and, if you can, include the page address, a short description of the problem, and the device, browser, or assistive technology you were using. These details help us reproduce and resolve the issue more quickly.

Looking for something else? Visit our contact page or read more about VettedCare.

Last updated: 2026