Accessibility Statement

Indian Sign Language Enabled Virtual Laboratory (ISLEVL) — CSIR–Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh

Our commitment

ISLEVL exists because scientific knowledge was not reaching learners who had been excluded from it. Accessibility is not a compliance obligation added to this platform — it is the reason the platform was built.

CSIR–Institute of Microbial Technology is committed to making islevl.org, the ISLEVL mobile application and everything we publish usable by the widest possible range of people: those who are Deaf or hard of hearing, blind or partially sighted, Deafblind, and those with physical, cognitive or learning disabilities.

We publish this statement, including our current shortcomings, because an honest account of where we stand is more useful to our users than an assurance we cannot yet substantiate.

Standards we work to

• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 — target conformance Level AA
• Guidelines for Indian Government Websites (GIGW) 3.0, National Informatics Centre and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
• IS 17802 (Parts 1 and 2) — Indian Standard on accessibility for ICT products and services
• Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 — Section 40 read with Rule 15
• Universal Design for Learning principles

Conformance status

We draw a deliberate distinction between two layers of this platform:

• The content layer — the Indian Sign Language educational material itself — is, to our knowledge, without parallel in India and has been independently assessed and recognised internationally.
• The interface layer — the website structure that delivers that content — has defects we are actively remediating.

We are not willing to describe the second as equivalent to the first.

What is accessible today

The following are in place and can be verified by any visitor.

For Deaf and hard-of-hearing users

• All educational content is authored in Indian Sign Language, not subtitled afterwards. Deaf signers, editors and validators are employed members of the team, not consultees.
• A digitally indexed ISL STEM Dictionary, from which 84 specialised scientific signs have been formally accepted into the national Indian Sign Language dictionary by ISLRTC.
• Visual-first design throughout: signs, graphics, demonstrations, facial expression and visual sequencing, minimising dependence on audio.

For all users

• Free and open access. No login, no subscription, no cost barrier, no registration wall.
• Self-paced control. Content can be paused, replayed and revisited without dependence on a live interpreter's availability or scientific vocabulary.
• Multiple formats for the same knowledge — video, comics, simulations, infographics, podcasts, quizzes and games — so users may choose the format that suits them.
• Responsive layout adapting to desktop, tablet and mobile screens.
• Offline access through AstroLabVM, which runs without an internet connection inside partner learning centres.
• Secure delivery over HTTPS, with Unicode encoding so scientific and multilingual terminology renders correctly.
• A working feedback route at islevl.org/User-Feedback, which we monitor.

Legal basis for accessible formats

We rely on Section 52(1)(zb) of the Copyright Act, 1957, which permits conversion of works into accessible formats for persons with disabilities. Content created under our collaboration with the Haryana Welfare Society for Persons with Speech and Hearing Impairment is expressly released free of copyright restriction on this basis.

Fixed since our last review

The following defects were identified in our July 2026 review and have since been corrected:

• Header images (social media links, award badges) now carry descriptive alternative text
• Non-descriptive alternative text such as "Avatar" has been replaced with meaningful visible labels
• Every page now has a single top-level heading, with no skipped heading levels
• A "skip to main content" link is now available at the start of every page
• The scrolling announcement banner can now be paused, both by a visible control and automatically on hover or keyboard focus
• All announcement links now lead to a real destination
• Pages now carry descriptive, unique titles
• The contact email link now opens a mail client correctly
• The footer notice recommending specific browsers and screen resolutions has been removed
• Video embeds now carry a descriptive title attribute on their frame
• The video dialog/pop-up element now has an accessible name

This is corroborated by independent automated testing on 2 August 2026: WAVE found 0 errors and 0 contrast errors on the homepage (AIM Score 9.8/10), and Google Lighthouse scored the homepage 93/100 on accessibility. We will re-run both after the two most recent fixes above and update this figure.

Known limitations

The following defects are known to us. Each is listed with the barrier it creates and the date by which we will have addressed it.

Not yet assessed

Automated testing (WAVE, Lighthouse) is complete as of 2 August 2026 — see Fixed since our last review above. We have not yet completed manual testing of keyboard focus visibility, behaviour at 200% zoom, or screen reader output with NVDA, JAWS, VoiceOver and TalkBack. This testing is scheduled for August 2026 and this statement will be updated with the results, including any further defects it reveals.

What we are doing about it

1. Complete — automated evaluation using Lighthouse and WAVE across the homepage, and remediation of every defect it found, including video frame titles and dialog naming.
2. August 2026 — complete manual keyboard and screen reader testing across representative content pages; publish results here.
3. September 2026 — add accessibility controls, sitemap, search and the required policy pages.
4. December 2026 — complete verified captions and transcripts across the video library.
5. March 2027 — target full WCAG 2.1 Level AA conformance, independently reviewed.

This statement will be updated at each milestone, whether or not the milestone is met on time.

How we test

• Automated evaluation using Lighthouse, WAVE and axe — last run 2 August 2026
• Manual keyboard-only testing of all primary journeys
• Screen reader testing with NVDA, VoiceOver and TalkBack
• Review by Deaf members of the ISLEVL team, who are employed as content creators, editors and validators. Accessibility decisions on this platform are made with disabled colleagues in the room, not on their behalf.

Tell us if something does not work

We treat accessibility reports as defects, not as feedback. Our feedback route has not yet received any accessibility-related submissions since it was established; we test it periodically to confirm it remains functional.

Feedback form

islevl.org/User-Feedback

Email

raoalka@imtech.res.in

Post

Project Leader, ISLEVL, CSIR–Institute of Microbial Technology, Sector 39-A, Chandigarh 160036

Telephone

+91 172 2880476

Please tell us the page address, what you were trying to do, and the browser or assistive technology you were using.

We acknowledge accessibility feedback within 5 working days and aim to resolve the issue or provide an accessible alternative within 20 working days. As this is a newly formalised commitment, we will report our actual performance against it at the next scheduled review. Where a fix will take longer, we will tell you why and when to expect it.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may escalate to the Grievance Redressal Officer, Dr. Alka Rao, CSIR-IMTECH (raoalka@imtech.res.in), and thereafter to the Office of the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Government of India.

Alternative formats on request

If you need anything on this platform in a format we do not currently offer — a transcript, a tagged or large-print document, an audio-described version, or content supplied in a different medium — contact us and we will provide it. There is no charge.

Statement prepared: 31 July 2026 · Updated: 2 August 2026, following remediation of Level A defects and automated re-testing
Next scheduled review: 31 October 2026
This statement is reviewed at least twice a year and after any significant change to the platform.