Accessibility Statement

This page is for anyone who uses a screen reader, navigates with a keyboard instead of a mouse, relies on high-contrast text to read comfortably, or uses any other assistive technology to get around the web. We want shopping at Backwoods Goat to work for you.

We reviewed this site in May 2026 and fixed every issue our tools found. Here is what we found and what changed.

What we fixed

Screen reader users couldn't hear the star ratings on testimonials. The stars were displayed visually but had no accessible label, so a screen reader would pass right over them. We added a label so the rating is now announced properly.

The "current page" label on pagination was broken. We were using an attribute that only works on certain HTML elements. On the element we had it, it would be silently ignored. The correct attribute (aria-current) was already there; we removed the broken one so it reads cleanly.

The quantity field on product pages had no label. A screen reader would announce a number without telling you what it was for. We added a proper label so it now reads "Quantity" before the number.

Keyboard users could get stuck behind the "Add to Cart" bar. When that bar was hidden, keyboard focus could still enter it, and there was no way to get back out. We fixed this so the hidden bar is fully removed from keyboard navigation when it's not visible.

The image slideshow wasn't reachable by keyboard. You'd tab right past it with no way to interact. We made it focusable so keyboard users can scroll through the images.

Links across the site were slightly faded. We had accidentally set links to 85% opacity, which reduces their effective contrast with the background. We corrected this to full opacity.

Several color combinations failed contrast requirements. We checked every color scheme used across the site. Four schemes had colors in accent greens and button labels that didn't meet the minimum contrast ratio for text. We darkened or replaced them so all text is readable at the required standard.

The email signup section had invisible text. The content box was set to fully transparent, which put white text directly over a white page. Nobody could read it. We restored the dark green background so the text is clearly legible.

What we can't fully test with automated tools

Alt text on product images. We know how important this is. A product image without a meaningful description means someone using a screen reader might not know what they're looking at. We try to make a habit of writing useful descriptions whenever we add something new, but we're not perfect. If you find an image that's missing alt text or where the description doesn't tell you what you need to know, please reach out. We want to fix it.

Cart and checkout. Our review covered the publicly accessible pages of our store. Once you move into the cart and checkout, you're on pages controlled by Shopify. We haven't tested those flows, and some of what happens there is outside our control. If you run into something, let us know and we'll do what we can, but there may be limits to what we're able to change.

Third-party tools. This store uses an external product rating widget. The markup we control is accessible; the widget's own code is outside our control. If you have trouble with it, please let us know.

Contact us

We want this site to work for everybody. If you find something that doesn't work with your tools, please get in touch. We will respond and we'll do what we can to make it work better.

cindi@backwoodsgoat.com

Technical details

This review was completed on May 14, 2026.

Pages reviewed:
- Home (/)
- About (/pages/about)
- FAQ (/pages/faq)
- Collections (/collections/all)
- Product page (/products/calm-green)

Tools used: pa11y with axe and htmlcs runners, Google Lighthouse, WAVE API (WebAIM).

Standard: WCAG 2.1 AA and WCAG 2.2 AA.

Results: WAVE reported zero errors on all five pages. Lighthouse scored 97-100 on all pages where it completed successfully. The three-point gap on the collections page reflects a documented discrepancy in how automated tools compute color values from CSS custom properties; WAVE and manual review confirm no real failure. All confirmed issues identified by automated tools were fixed before this statement was published.