Ethnio accessibility statement & A11Y support

At Ethnio, we are devoted to fostering more inclusive and accessible interactions for our customers, users, and participants.

We hold the conviction that nurturing empathy through diverse perspectives is pivotal in crafting outstanding digital experiences for all. This conviction, coupled with our fundamental values of continuous improvement, prioritizing our customers, and treating one another with respect, propels us to deliver accessible experiences.

All Ethnio links, pages, and studies work with screen readers and assistive devices, and are highly compliant with Section 508 and WCAG 2.0 (Level AA). They are also tested with the NVDA screen reader on Windows. Since most content in Ethnio is defined by the customer, including language, colors, and links, the accessibility of any given study is largely controlled by the customer. For example, make sure to use high-contrast colors and clear language for questions and buttons.

Key places in Ethnio where customers can edit color contrast have built-in automatic accessibility suggestions:

Focus states and keyboard support for every input and control, including questions, logos, radio buttons, and open fields. Respondents can tab through and enter every element without a mouse, and assistive devices can complete all fields.
Alt text and descriptions for every selectable object, including images.

Highlights

Every Ethnio screener automatically scales content according to viewport size, which means screen readers and large fonts will always function well with Ethnio. The one caveat is that our JavaScript is placed within your site, so we are somewhat limited by the overall accessibility of any page where the Ethnio JavaScript code is placed. Here are some key accessibility features in Ethnio:

Specific fixes to accommodate NVDA. We use aria-labelledby instead of aria-describedby, role="radiogroup" instead of role="group", and we add required attributes for required questions. We also hide the required symbols from screen readers to avoid confusion.
The asterisk is a text character, not an image.

Bold text is an issue around strong/bold div tags on any form, not specific to Ethnio.
he sample phone number has been removed from the phone number field.

Ethnio also has an established process to review and test accessibility during product development, and we track and record the results.

Full control over accessibility by customers

Each participant-facing component of Ethnio can be adjusted by customers to comply with accessibility guidelines. For example, when creating buttons in Pool (Enterprise-only), the sidebar gives automatic feedback on compliance with color contrast ratios:

Intercepts

Ethnio intercepts let people tab through options and buttons, and include alt text. Additionally, in Study › Design › Intercept options, you can have the browser pull focus to the intercept.

Incentives & Redeem Links

All redeem links in Ethnio and payment method providers are highly accessible and work with assistive devices, but of course we can only control the redeem links in our system. Note that each state and option can be tabbed to and selected, with proper identification of all elements:

Sub-methods

After certain payment methods are selected, such as charities or eGift cards, assistive devices can navigate through subsequent cards using the VoiceOver equivalent of radio button navigation (arrow keys or Tab on a keyboard):

The information link is tabbable and compatible with assistive devices:

Success state:

Brand logo alt text

Each brand sets the alt text that screen readers announce for its logo. You'll find it in Brand settings, in the Alt text for brand logo field. Leave it blank, and Ethnio announces your brand name instead, so the logo always has a meaningful accessible name on redeem pages, scheduling pages, study links, and participant-facing emails. See brand logo alt text for more.

Known Issues

If you run a test of any Ethnio study link in an accessibility testing tool like WAVE, you'll notice some small errors around structure and formatting that don't impact the vast majority of screen readers and assistive devices. That said, we’re mostly compliant with Section 508 and WCAG 2.0 (Level AA). For example, a “missing site map” warning isn't relevant to a recruiting screener.

Loading indicators need alt text. They display for only a millisecond, so most respondents never see them.
We use bold tags instead of strong tags.