Notice

Accessibility

We target WCAG 2.1 Level AA and are partially conformant, with one known gap: the interactive map is visual, so an equivalent list beside it carries the same reports in a form a keyboard and a screen reader can reach.

Block by Block is a public demonstrator of a civic participation platform for New York City. It is not an official City of New York service and is not endorsed by the City. It is still built to be usable by as many people as possible, including people who navigate with a keyboard, use a screen reader, magnify the page to 200%, or read in a language other than English. This statement explains what we have done, what we know is not yet good enough, and how to tell us when we have got something wrong.

The standard we work to

We target the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at Level AA. We chose that target deliberately, because New York City applies strict digital accessibility standards to civic tools, and a demonstrator that could not meet them would not be worth demonstrating.

Conformance status

Block by Block is partially conformant with WCAG 2.1 Level AA. Partially conformant means that parts of the site do not fully meet the standard, and that no independent auditor has verified our assessment.

We state it that way because the interactive map is a genuine limitation and we have not had an external audit. A claim we cannot back is worse than an honest gap.

What is in place

These measures are implemented today, across the whole public site:

• Semantic HTML: real headings, lists, landmarks and buttons, so assistive technology can describe the structure of a page rather than guessing at it.
• Full keyboard navigation. Every interactive element can be reached and operated without a mouse, and a skip-to-content link lets you jump past the navigation.
• A visible focus indicator on every interactive element, so you can always see where you are.
• Form fields with real, associated labels — not placeholder text standing in for a label.
• ARIA labels on icon-only controls and on data visualizations, so a control that shows only a symbol still announces what it does.
• Text contrast that meets the Level AA ratio.
• Respect for your operating system’s reduce motion preference. If you have asked your device to limit animation, this site honors that.
• A responsive layout that works at mobile sizes and remains usable at 200% zoom, without content being cut off or trapped in horizontal scrolling.

Language as an access measure

The interface is available in English, Italian, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Bengali, Haitian Creole and Russian. In New York City, language is an accessibility barrier as real as contrast or keyboard support: a civic tool that only speaks English excludes entire neighborhoods. Your choice of language is remembered in your own browser.

Known limitations

We would rather name these than let you discover them.

• The interactive map is inherently visual. Alongside it we provide an equivalent list containing the same information — the same reports, the same categories, the same blocks — and that list is keyboard accessible and readable by a screen reader. What we do not claim is that the map itself offers a fully equivalent non-visual experience. Spatial relationships that a sighted user reads at a glance are not conveyed by the map to a non-visual user. The list is the accessible route to that information.
• No formal third-party audit. The site has not been audited or certified by an independent accessibility specialist. Everything in this statement is our own assessment.
• Small team, demonstrator status. Block by Block is built and maintained by a small team. We fix accessibility problems as we find them and as they are reported, but we do not have a dedicated accessibility function.

How the site was assessed

We used automated accessibility testing tools during development, and accessibility was built in as we went rather than checked at the end. This is self-assessment, not an audit. Automated tools catch a meaningful share of problems — missing labels, insufficient contrast, broken heading order — but they do not catch everything, and they are no substitute for testing with the people who actually use assistive technology. That gap is real, and it is the main reason our conformance claim is a partial one.

Tell us about a barrier

If any part of this site stopped you from doing something — filing a report, reading the data, using the map list, changing language — please tell us. Describe the page and what happened, and tell us what you were using if you can (browser, screen reader, magnification). You do not need to know the technical name of the problem.

Write to a.megacreator@gmail.com. We commit to reading every message about an accessibility barrier, replying to the person who sent it, and saying plainly what we will fix and what we cannot fix. If we cannot fix something, we will explain why and describe the alternative route to the same information.

This is currently the only contact address available for the project. A dedicated address will replace it.

Who is responsible for this site

Block by Block is operated by Arcano Zero – AI Lab Srl, based in Rome, Italy. The City of New York does not operate this site, so accessibility feedback should come directly to us rather than through a City channel. We will handle it directly.

Last updated: July 27, 2026