Accessibility Statement

Effective September 10, 2026

Blue Blaze Estates wants every person looking for a home to be able to use this website, including people who use screen readers, keyboard navigation, screen magnification, or voice control.

Our commitment

We aim to conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at Level AA. We build accessibility into the site's own markup rather than layering a plugin or overlay on top of it.

We do not claim full WCAG 2.1 AA conformance. The items below were checked by measuring the site as a browser actually renders it, not by an automated scanner alone. Automated checks cannot confirm conformance, and the outstanding work listed further down is real. We would rather tell you exactly what has been verified than make a blanket claim.

What we have verified

• Every field on the rental application has a real, programmatically associated label — not just placeholder text. All 27 were checked.
• Validation errors are tied to their field, so a screen reader announces which field is wrong rather than relying on red colour. A failed submission announces how many fields need attention.
• Text, placeholder text, error messages, input borders and buttons were measured against WCAG ratios as rendered in a browser (4.5:1 for normal text, 3:1 for controls). Placeholder text was previously 2.63:1 and is now 7.56:1.
• A “Skip to main content” link appears on the first Tab, and activating it moves focus into the page content.
• The homepage photo slideshow does not move on its own. It starts paused, has a Play/Pause button, and stays paused for visitors whose device asks for reduced motion.
• Only the photo actually on screen is described to a screen reader; the others are hidden from it.
• The listing photo gallery opens as a proper dialog: focus moves into it, stays inside while it is open, Escape closes it, and focus returns to the button that opened it.
• Pages reflow without horizontal scrolling down to a 320-pixel-wide screen.
• Buttons and links say what they do, and icon-only controls carry accessible names.

Known limitations

We would rather list these than imply the work is finished:

• No screen reader audit has been completed. Our checks measured the underlying markup and colours; they are not a substitute for testing with JAWS, NVDA or VoiceOver, which we have not yet done.
• Browser zoom has not been tested directly. We confirmed the layout reflows when scaled to 200%, but not through a browser's own zoom control at every step.
• The owner-facing admin dashboard has had contrast and labelling fixes but no full accessibility audit.
• Any downloadable document we publish in future needs checking so it is a tagged, readable file rather than a flat scan. We do not currently publish any.

Tell us about a barrier

If any part of this site is difficult or impossible for you to use, we want to hear about it and we will fix it. Please tell us the page and what happened:

Phone: 618-942-7624
Email: blueblazeestates@gmail.com

We aim to respond within one week. If you cannot complete the rental application on this website for any reason, call us and we will take your application over the phone or in person. You will not be disadvantaged for applying that way.

Requesting an accommodation

Separately from this website, if you have a disability and need a reasonable accommodation or modification in order to apply for or live in one of our homes, contact us using the details above. We will work with you as required by the Fair Housing Act and the Illinois Human Rights Act.