Accessibility

1. Our commitment

Sharpen is committed to being usable by everyone, including people who use assistive technology. We treat accessibility as part of building the product rather than something added afterwards.

We aim to meet our obligations under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) and its Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation.

2. Conformance status

We are working towards conformance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at Level AA.

Sharpen has not yet been formally audited against that standard, so we do not claim full conformance. We describe our status as partially conformant, meaning parts of the product do not yet fully meet the guidelines. We would rather say that plainly than overstate it.

3. Accessibility features

Signed-in users can adjust the following from account settings:

• Text size — small, medium, or large, applied across the application.
• Increased contrast — a stronger contrast setting for text and interface elements.
• Reduced motion — suppresses animations and transitions. Sharpen also respects your operating system’s reduced-motion setting automatically, whether or not you are signed in.

Throughout the product we aim to support keyboard navigation, visible focus indicators, form labels and error messages that assistive technology can announce, and text alternatives for meaningful images.

4. Known limitations

We are aware of the following limitations and are working to address them.

• Sharpen has not been formally audited against WCAG 2.1 Level AA, so undiscovered barriers are likely to exist.
• The text size and contrast settings apply to the signed-in application. They do not apply to the public marketing pages, which use a fixed design. Browser zoom works throughout.
• Sessions are conducted by voice and require speech and hearing. There is currently no text-based alternative for completing a simulated patient encounter. This is a substantial barrier and we are considering how to address it.
• Session recordings are not captioned, although a text transcript of each session is available.
• Some data-dense screens, such as evaluation breakdowns and analytics, have not been tested end to end with a screen reader.

5. Accessible formats and communication supports

If you need information from Sharpen, or content held within it, in an accessible format or with communication support, contact us at hello@sharpenedu.com. We will consult with you about a suitable format, provide it in a timely way, and at no more than the ordinary cost.

6. Feedback

We welcome feedback on the accessibility of Sharpen — it is often how we learn about barriers. Contact us at hello@sharpenedu.com.

Please tell us the page or feature involved, what you were trying to do, and any assistive technology you were using. We aim to acknowledge feedback within five business days and will tell you what we intend to do about it.

Feedback can be given in whatever format works for you, and we will respond in an accessible format on request.

7. Contact

Accessibility questions, requests, and complaints can be sent to hello@sharpenedu.com.