Accessibility statement

WCAG 2.1 AA · Section 508

Mason Harriman Group is committed to making MHG Ascend usable by everyone, including people who use assistive technology. The platform is developed to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and WCAG 2.1 Level AA as a build requirement, not a remediation.

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What that means in practice

Every page has landmarks, a skip link, a single page heading and a logical heading order.
Every form control has a visible label. Errors are announced and described in text.
Keyboard focus is always visible, and everything that can be clicked can be reached with the keyboard.
Color is never the only carrier of meaning: status is written as text alongside any color.
Text and interface colors meet a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1.
Tables have captions and header cells. Wide tables scroll rather than forcing the page to.
Motion is reduced when the operating system asks for it.

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Conformance and testing

MHG Ascend is partially conformant with WCAG 2.1 Level AA in the sense used by the Revised Section 508 Standards: every screen has been tested and the items under Known limitations are the exceptions.

Last audit: 11 September 2026
Automated: axe-core over every screen, as every role, at desktop and phone widths: no WCAG A or AA violations.
Manual: Keyboard-only walk of sign-in, navigation menus, engagement records and objective acknowledgement; reflow at 320 pixels and 200 percent zoom; forced-colors (high contrast) check.
Screen reader: VoiceOver and NVDA checks are carried out by MHG before each release and recorded in the conformance report.
Report: An Accessibility Conformance Report in the VPAT 2.5 format is maintained and available from Mason Harriman Group on request.

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Known limitations

Uploaded documents: PDF, Word, Excel and image files people upload are stored and delivered as supplied. MHG does not remediate the content of uploaded files; program materials MHG itself publishes are produced to Section 508.
Charts: Drawn as SVG with a text title and a value for every bar; the same figures appear in the adjacent tables, which are the accessible alternative.
Authenticator enrolment: The QR code has the setup key written out beside it so it can be entered by hand.
Session time-out: Sessions end after 30 minutes idle for security. A warning with a keep-alive control is planned.

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Feedback

If any part of MHG Ascend is difficult to use, tell us and it will be corrected.

Signed in: Use the Help page; choose "Something is not working" and say which page and what assistive technology you use.
Not signed in: Use the contact form, or contact your program administrator, who will pass the report to Mason Harriman Group.
Alternative formats: Any report or notice on the platform can be provided in an alternative format on request.