Accessibility statement
Accessibility is part of who we are. We Are Loud exists to make music education work for everyone — including disabled, autistic, neurodivergent and dyslexic musicians — and we want this website to reflect that.
Our aim
We aim to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at Level AA. That's the standard widely used to make websites usable by as many people as possible, including people who use screen readers, keyboard navigation, magnification, or who need reduced motion.
What we've done
- Built the site with semantic, structured HTML so screen readers can make sense of it.
- Made every page usable with a keyboard, with a visible focus indicator so you can see where you are, and a "skip to content" link.
- Chosen colours and text sizes with contrast in mind, and kept text left-aligned and readable.
- Written meaningful alternative text for images that carry information.
- Honoured your "reduce motion" setting — if your device asks for less movement, our animations step back.
- Used identity-first language (for example "autistic students", "disabled musicians") because that's what our community asked for.
What we don't do
We don't use accessibility overlay widgets (the pop-up "accessibility toolbar" tools). Disabled people have told the wider community, clearly and repeatedly, that these tools often get in the way and can make things worse. We'd rather build accessibility into the site itself.
Known limitations
We're not perfect, and we're still improving. Some tools we embed from other companies — such as the My Music Staff student portal and payment forms — are outside our direct control and may not fully meet the same standard. If one of these gets in your way, please tell us and we'll help you another way.
Tell us about a barrier
If any part of this website is hard to use, or you need information in a different format, we want to hear about it — it helps us fix it. Email us at admin@weareloud.co.nz and we'll respond as soon as we can, and find another way to get you what you need in the meantime.