CHHA-NCR
A relaunched website for people with hearing loss, most of them 55 and over, that the charity’s own volunteers can run.
At a glance
- AA
- Colour contrast rating
- 5
- Visitor stages
- Client
- CHHA-NCR (Canadian Hard of Hearing Association, National Capital Region)
- Sector
- Non-profit / accessibility
- Built with
- WordPress, Elementor (Hello theme), Rank Math SEO, LiteSpeed Cache, CanadaHelps donations
- Relaunched
- July 2026
At a glance
- AA
- accessibility rating for colour contrast, on every colour pair the audit checked
- 5
- stages that guide visitors: Noticing, Finding Out, Choosing, Living with it, Giving back
What this case shows
Accessibility that passes an audit
Every colour pair the August 2026 audit checked meets WCAG AA, with skip links and a panel for text size, motion and link underlining.
Built for an older audience
Most visitors are 55 and over, so the site is plain language in five stages, from Noticing to Giving back.
A site their own team runs
The charity’s volunteers edit the site themselves on WordPress.
The situation
A volunteer-run charity serving people with hearing loss, most of them 55 and over, needed a site its non-technical volunteers could maintain. Its visitors had to be able to read and navigate it, with no information hidden behind clicks or motion.
What we built
Accessibility built in from the start, not added at the end.
Journey
The site is organised as a five-stage journey: Noticing, Finding Out, Choosing, Living with it, Giving back. Each stage is a plain-language page that points to the next.
The live page at chhancr.ca/resources 
Accessibility
Skip links, a clear page structure for screen readers, descriptions on every image, visible keyboard focus, reduced-motion support, and a panel where visitors set text size, motion and link underlining.
Directory
A directory of local hearing clinics with addresses, tap-to-call numbers and map links, plus an Accessible Ottawa guide to venues with hearing loops.
The live page at chhancr.ca/resources 
Self-service
Volunteers edit the site themselves on WordPress, so the branch does not depend on an agency. Caching keeps it fast, and structured data helps search engines read it.
What changed
What the independent audit found
- Openness about how the charity is run, which the audit called rare at this size: full board bios and published annual meeting (AGM) reports.
- The audit noted the five-stage journey as ahead of the US national counterpart’s site.
What the audit said
“Skip links, real landmarks, complete alt text, visible focus states and reduced-motion support: accessibility engineering above what most agencies ship, with every audited colour pair meeting WCAG AA.”
Sources: Independent four-track audit of the live site, August 2026 (content, design and accessibility, technical/SEO, peer landscape).
The live site, top to bottom.
Keep scrolling: this is the real site, captured in full, not a mock-up.
Skip the live site
Why this matters if you build for government and non-profit clients
For these clients, accessibility is often required, and an audit may follow. We build to WCAG AA from the start, on a site their own team can update.
- Fixed quote after one 20‑minute call
- 30 to 90 days of support after launch
- A reply within 24 hours
- Rated 5.0 on Google (opens in a new tab)
Other clients include LRO Staffing, Dodo Island Discoveries, FOCAS Canada and Crowned Spice.
