Legal information

Accessibility Statement

This statement is also available in German: Erklärung zur Barrierefreiheit.

Last updated: 12 November 2026

We want everyone to be able to use GermanSocialLab – including disabled people, older users, and anyone who relies on a screen reader, keyboard navigation, magnification or a mobile phone. This statement explains, as plainly as we can, where we stand and where barriers remain.

Scope

This statement covers the website germansociallab.com, including the English-language pages, the course catalogue, course descriptions, the log-in page and the course areas of our self-study library.

It does not cover services provided by other companies that we use but do not design ourselves: our payment provider's checkout page, the video-conferencing tool used for live online seminars, and externally linked videos and websites.

A voluntary commitment

The European Accessibility Act (Directive (EU) 2019/882) is implemented in Germany by the Accessibility Strengthening Act (Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz, BFSG). Both exempt micro-enterprises that provide services. As a micro-enterprise, GermanSocialLab is therefore not legally required to make its services accessible under this law. We publish this statement voluntarily because accessibility matters to us and to the people our courses serve.

Our benchmark

We use the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, level AA, as our reference. Our website partially meets this standard. No complete audit of all success criteria – for example by an independent testing body – has been carried out so far, so we do not claim conformance.

How we tested

On 12 November 2026 we tested eight key public pages in mobile view with the automated tool Lighthouse (accessibility category): the German and English home pages, the seminar overview, the page for organisations, the course catalogue, two course descriptions and the log-in page.

  • The German home page, the seminar overview and the log-in page scored 100 out of 100.
  • The page for organisations and the course catalogue scored 99.
  • The two course descriptions scored 95; the English home page scored 93.

Automated tools detect only some types of barrier. Manual testing with a keyboard, a screen reader and high magnification is still outstanding.

What is already in place

On all tested pages:

  • The page language (German or English) is set in the code, so screen readers use the correct pronunciation.
  • Images have text alternatives.
  • Links and buttons have accessible names.
  • Pages can be zoomed on mobile devices, and controls are large enough to tap.

New courses are produced under internal guidelines based on WCAG 2.1 AA, including a logical heading structure, sufficient colour contrast, text alternatives and a reading guide for every chart, tables with header rows, and clear, gender-inclusive language. We are still checking whether every course fully meets these guidelines.

Known limitations

  • Colour contrast: On the English home page and in course descriptions, some coloured text (for example gold status labels) does not have enough contrast with its background.
  • Headings: On some pages the order of heading levels is not fully logical. In part this comes from templates of the Moodle learning platform, which we cannot change ourselves.
  • Link in body text: On the English home page, one link is distinguished from the surrounding text by colour only.
  • Learning platform: The website runs on Moodle. Parts of the user interface come from this software and can only be adapted to a limited extent.
  • PDF documents: Course materials and templates in PDF format are not consistently accessible and have not yet been systematically checked.
  • Older courses: Older courses were created before our current quality guidelines and have not yet been fully reviewed for accessibility.
  • Videos: We have not yet checked whether all linked videos have captions.
  • Live online seminars: The video-conferencing tool is provided by a third party, so our influence on its accessibility is limited.

We are working to remove these barriers step by step and will update this statement whenever things change.

Feedback and contact

If you come across a barrier or cannot use any of our content, please let us know:

Email: info@germansociallab.com

If possible, tell us the page or course and briefly describe the problem. We usually reply within 14 days and work with you to find a solution. On request, we provide content in an alternative format where possible. Our postal address is given in the legal notice (Impressum).

About this statement

This statement was prepared on 12 November 2026 based on a self-assessment that included automated testing. It will be reviewed at least once a year and after any major changes to the website.

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