Last updated: [EFFECTIVE DATE — e.g., November 2026]
1. Our Commitment
5th Echelon Media ("we," "us," "our," or "Company") wants everyone to be able to read our reporting, watch our shows, and use our services, including people with disabilities and people who use assistive technologies such as screen readers, screen magnifiers, voice control, and keyboard-only navigation.
We aim to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2, Level AA, published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), across www.5thechelon.com. WCAG 2.2 builds on WCAG 2.1, so meeting it also means working toward WCAG 2.1 Level AA.
2. What We Are Doing
To work toward this goal, we:
- Consider accessibility when we design and build new pages and features
- Aim to provide text alternatives for meaningful images and graphics
- Aim to support keyboard navigation and visible focus indicators
- Aim to maintain sufficient color contrast, including in our dark-themed design
- Aim to provide captions for pre-recorded video and transcripts where available
- Use semantic page structure (headings, landmarks, and labels) so assistive technologies can navigate the site
- Review accessibility issues reported by our audience and prioritize fixes
- [Planned: periodic accessibility review using automated tools and manual testing — CONFIRM WITH DEVON/WILLA timing]
3. Conformance Status
We have not yet completed a full, independent accessibility audit of this website, so we do not claim that it fully conforms to WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 Level AA. We are working toward that standard and will update this statement as our work progresses.
4. Known Limitations
We know some parts of the site may not yet be fully accessible. These include:
- Live streams and embedded video: Live content from YouTube and Twitch may not have real-time captions. Captions on embedded videos depend on the hosting platform and the creator.
- Autoplaying video: Some creator pages play muted video automatically. [CONFIRM WITH WILLA — add pause controls or turn off autoplay; WCAG 2.2.2]
- Interactive tools and data visualizations: Graph, map, and dashboard views on Platform pages (for example War Room and Pipeline demos) may be hard to use with a screen reader or keyboard.
- Pages that load content dynamically: Some pages show a "Loading…" state before content appears, which may not be announced to screen-reader users.
- Archived articles: Older articles may be missing image descriptions or may have inconsistent heading structure.
- Third-party content: Content from other providers (embedded players, social links, external sites) is outside our direct control.
- [CONFIRM WITH WILLA/DEVON — add or remove items after an initial automated scan, e.g., contrast on dark backgrounds, monospace text sizing, form labels on login and newsletter sign-up.]
5. Feedback and Assistance
If you have difficulty using any part of our website, or need content in a different format, please tell us. Include the page address (URL), what you were trying to do, and the browser and assistive technology you use, if any.
Email: info@5thechelon.com (subject line: "Accessibility") [CONFIRM — or a dedicated accessibility@5thechelon.com alias if created]
Postal: 5th Echelon Media, Washington, D.C., USA
6. Response Time
We aim to acknowledge accessibility feedback within 5 business days and to provide a substantive response or proposed solution within 30 days. Where we cannot fix an issue quickly, we will try to provide the information you need in another way.
7. Technical Information
This website is built with standard web technologies (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript) and is designed to work with current versions of major browsers and assistive technologies. Some features require JavaScript.
8. Changes to This Statement
We will review this statement at least once a year and when we make significant changes to the site. The "Last updated" date above shows when it was last revised.
Executed by:
5th Echelon Media
Washington, D.C., USA
Date: [EFFECTIVE DATE]