Achilles Australia Accessibility Audit
Redesign Achilles Australia website to modern and WCAG Compliant accessible website using WordPress Ananyoo theme.
This Achilles Australia accessibility audit and WCAG 2.1 AA work were, fittingly, for an organisation whose whole purpose is inclusion. Achilles Australia is a not-for-profit that helps people with disability take part in running and walking, pairing athletes with volunteer guides at regular community events.
For a disability charity, the website cannot be the first barrier a member meets. People come to it to find an event, register to take part, volunteer as a guide or donate — and many of those visitors are themselves disabled. The site was rebuilt on our accessibility-ready Ananyoo theme, so that being inclusive in person is matched by being inclusive online.
Table of Contents
Why accessibility is essential for a disability charity
Australian organisations have clear duties under the Disability Discrimination Act, and the Human Rights Commission points to WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the working standard for an accessible website. For a charity that serves disabled people the duty is also a matter of mission: an event-registration form a screen-reader user cannot complete, or a donation page that fails on a keyboard, shuts out the very people the organisation exists to support. Building to WCAG 2.1 Level AA is the practical way to meet both the law and the purpose.
Scope and standard
Our Achilles Australia accessibility audit assessed the rebuilt site against WCAG 2.1 Level AA across the journeys a member or supporter relies on: finding and reading event information, the event-registration and volunteer sign-up forms, the donation flow, news and updates, and the contact pages.
How we ran the Achilles Australia accessibility audit
Because the site was rebuilt on our accessibility-ready Ananyoo theme rather than retrofitted, accessibility was built into the markup from the start and then verified:
- Automated audits with Deque axe, Google Lighthouse and WAVE across the key templates
- Keyboard-only operation of the menus, forms and donation flow, with a clearly visible focus indicator
- Colour-contrast checks against WCAG 2.1 AA, including text placed over event imagery
- 400% zoom and reflow testing so content stays usable for low-vision visitors
What accessibility means on each part of the site
Because Achilles Australia is built around events, participation and giving, our Achilles Australia accessibility audit focused on the parts a member or supporter actually uses:
- Event listings need a clear heading structure and the date, place and type in text, so a screen-reader user can scan what is on without relying on visual layout.
- Registration and volunteer forms need programmatic labels, clear instructions and announced errors, so signing up to take part or to guide is open to everyone.
- The donation flow needs labelled fields, visible focus and a keyboard-operable path to completion, so supporting the charity never depends on a mouse.
- Event photos and galleries need meaningful alternative text, so the story of the community is available to people who cannot see the images.
- Navigation and content need sufficient colour contrast, visible focus and clean reflow at high zoom for low-vision members.
Outcome
This Achilles Australia accessibility audit and rebuild brought the charity’s site into line with WCAG 2.1 AA, so disabled members, volunteers and donors can find an event, register, offer to guide or give without the website itself becoming the obstacle. Built on an accessibility-ready foundation and verified rather than assumed, the result reflects online exactly what Achilles Australia stands for in person.