Accessible Website for Care Services That Truly Everyone Can Use
Your audience consists of older people, relatives under stress and people with impairments. An accessible website per the German accessibility act and WCAG 2.2 ensures they can find, read and contact you without failing at barriers.
3weeks
typically until live (project experience)
7.9 M
people with a severe disability, Germany (Federal Statistical Office)
AA
WCAG 2.2 target level — every page checked
2025
Accessibility Act requirements in force
Accessibility included · net, plus VAT
- WCAG 2.2 AA from the first concept idea
- Usable for seniors, relatives and applicants
- Accessibility statement included
- Existing site? Assessed in the initial talk
Accessibility per the Accessibility Act and WCAG 2.2 is part of the deal from the start — included in every care website from 2,480 € net (one-pager from 1,490 € net). Ongoing care including accessibility from 49 € per month. We assess existing sites in a free initial talk.
In hardly any sector is accessibility as obvious as in care. Anyone searching for care services is often older themselves, sees less well, operates a smartphone uncertainly or, as a relative, is in a tense, exceptional situation. A website built for healthy, tech-savvy users excludes exactly the people you want to reach. As a specialized agency for the care sector, we build care websites that are designed to be accessible from the start, because in care this is not a luxury but the core of good communication.
Accessibility in six layers
Why Accessibility Matters Especially in Care
In Germany, around 7.9 million (German Federal Statistical Office) people live with a recognized severe disability, and with increasing age, visual, hearing and motor impairments rise significantly. This very age group is the core audience of care services. A website that requires small fonts, weak contrasts and complicated operation loses prospects here before the first conversation even comes about.
Add to this the emotional situation. Relatives searching for a care service are often under pressure and short of time. They have no patience for a website where they cannot find the phone number or cannot fill in the contact form. Accessibility here means not just technical conformity but simply: the website works even when conditions are not ideal, with a shaky hand, tired eyes or on a small screen. Which mobile details matter most is set out in our guide on optimising a care website for mobile relatives.
The Dual Benefit of Accessible Design
What Makes a Care Website Accessible
Accessibility is not a single feature but a consistent attitude that shows in many details. The following building blocks ensure your website is usable by as many people as possible, regardless of age, vision or hearing and technical experience.
Strong Contrasts
Text and background are designed with sufficient contrast so that even people with declining eyesight can read everything well. We follow the contrast requirements of WCAG 2.2.
Easy-to-Read Type
Generous font sizes, clear typefaces and ample line spacing make text comfortable to read. Users can also enlarge the type without the layout breaking.
Keyboard Operation
The entire website can be operated fully by keyboard, with a clearly visible focus. This helps people who cannot use a mouse and is the basis for many assistive tools.
Screen Reader Support
Clean structure, meaningful headings and descriptive alternative texts ensure that reading aids capture the content correctly and blind users understand your website.
Usable on Any Device
Large buttons, ample spacing and a responsive layout make operation reliable even on a smartphone and with uncertain motor skills.
Understandable Language
Clear, simple wording instead of jargon removes uncertainty. We explain complex topics such as care levels so that relatives understand them without prior knowledge.
Keyboard and focus: operation without a mouse, visibly guided
Every step stays visible
Many older users and people with motor impairments operate a website by keyboard rather than mouse. For this to work, it must always be clear where they currently are. We use a clearly visible focus ring and a logical order so the path from the menu through the content to the contact form is intuitive.
- Visible focus ring on every element
- Logical, predictable order
- Skip link straight to the main content
Accessibility Act and WCAG 2.2: The Legal Framework
With the German Accessibility Strengthening Act (BFSG), binding requirements for digital accessibility have applied to many providers since 2025. The law implements the European directive and is technically based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 at conformance level AA. Whether and to what extent your care service is directly affected depends on factors such as company size and offering. Regardless of the legal obligation, however, accessibility in care is professionally and ethically called for. What this means in practice is covered in our articles on the BFSG for care services and on the practical implementation of an accessible care website.
- Perceivability: content is visible and audibly perceptible, for example through contrast and alternative texts
- Operability: all functions usable by keyboard and without time pressure
- Understandability: clear language, predictable operation and helpful error messages
- Robustness: compatible with assistive tools such as screen readers and magnification software
- Accessibility statement with feedback option and current conformance status
- Clearly reachable way to report barriers and request support
Classify Conformance Honestly
The four principles of WCAG 2.2 in care
Perceivable
Content is graspable for eye and ear through strong contrasts, legible type and alternative texts, even with declining eyesight.
Operable
All functions can be used by keyboard and without time pressure, with large buttons and a visible focus.
Understandable
Clear language, predictable operation and helpful error messages remove uncertainty, especially for stressed relatives.
Robust
Clean code stays compatible with screen readers and magnification software, even as devices and assistive tools evolve.
Conformance level AA
We follow the target level AA customary in Europe and carefully check every page against the requirements.
Professionally called for
Regardless of the legal obligation, accessibility in care expresses respect toward your audience.
Forms That Do Not Overwhelm Older Users and Relatives
Contact and enquiry forms are the most important step toward first connection in care, and this is exactly where many websites fail. Incomprehensible mandatory fields, missing labels and cryptic error messages cause older users or stressed relatives in particular to abandon. We design forms to be forgiving, clearly labeled and reliably usable even with assistive tools.
Clearly Labeled Fields
Every input field has a visible, understandable label that is also recognized by screen readers. Placeholder text never replaces real labels.
Understandable Error Messages
When something is missing, the form clearly says what to do instead of merely coloring a field red. Errors are also announced for assistive tools so no one is left in the dark.
Fillable Without a Mouse
The entire form can be filled in and submitted by keyboard, with a logical order and visible focus. This helps people with motor impairments.
No Time Pressure
We avoid time limits when filling in. Anyone who types more slowly or is interrupted in between does not lose their entries and need not start over.
Accessibility as a Quality Hallmark of Your Care Service
An accessible website sends a message that is especially credible in care: we think of the people we look after. If even your website considers the needs of older and impaired people, relatives rightly infer your attitude in daily care. Accessibility is therefore not only an obligation or technology but a visible proof of your diligence.
At the same time, you benefit measurably: a well-structured, clearly operable website is also better understood by search engines and thus supports your local findability. Clean structures, meaningful headings and fast loading times benefit people and machines alike. Accessibility and good findability go hand in hand. On top of this, an accessible site leads to fewer queries and frustration: anyone who finds all the information themselves and can fill in the contact form without barriers calls less often in annoyance and chooses the first step toward you more frequently. Online appointment booking and ongoing maintenance also feed into this interplay.
Considered From the Start, Not Bolted On Afterward
How we make your care website accessible
- 1
Assessment
We check your current site for contrast, type, keyboard operation, structure and forms and record every barrier found in a traceable way.
- 2
Prioritize
Together we rank the findings by impact and effort. What excludes older clients and relatives most strongly is what we tackle first.
- 3
Implement
We remedy the barriers from color through type to forms and build accessibility into the structure rather than bolting it on afterward.
- 4
Test and document
We test with keyboard and reading aids, document the state and create an accessibility statement with a feedback option.
- 5
Accompany
Since content changes, we keep accessibility in view afterward too and reliably adapt it for new pages and functions.
Typical Barriers on Care Websites and How We Solve Them
In practice, we repeatedly encounter the same hurdles on existing care websites. They rarely arise from intent but because the actual audience was not considered during creation. The good thing about this insight: most barriers can be remedied specifically without changing the character of the website. We show you the most common stumbling blocks and how we resolve them.
Before and after: the same content, made readable
A very common barrier is fonts that are too small and pale, low-contrast text that is hardly readable against a subtle background. What looks attractive on a high-quality monitor becomes illegible for older eyes. We rely on sufficiently large fonts and check every text for its contrast. Equally common is content that exists only as an image, such as scanned flyers or graphics with embedded text. For screen readers and search engines, such content is invisible. We replace it with real text and descriptive alternatives.
Further typical problems are controls that can only be operated with a mouse, videos without subtitles, automatically starting motion that distracts or startles, and forms without clear labels. Each of these barriers excludes part of your audience. We go through them systematically, document them and remedy them step by step, so that in the end you have a website that older clients, relatives and care professionals can use reliably.
- Fonts that are too small or low in contrast are replaced with easy-to-read, high-contrast text
- Text in images is supplemented with real text and descriptive alternatives
- Mouse-only controls are made operable by keyboard
- Automatically starting motion is avoided or made pausable
- Forms receive clear labels and understandable error messages
- Respectful consideration of the reduced-motion preference
How accessible is your care website today?
In a short initial conversation we look together at the contrast, type, operation and forms of your current site and name the most important levers.
Thinking Data Protection and Accessibility Together
Accessibility does not end with type and contrast. Consent banners, cookie notices and privacy information must also be understandable and operable for all users. A banner that cannot be closed by keyboard or whose text no one can decipher is both an accessibility and a data protection problem. We design both areas so they fit together. How we handle sensitive health data is described on our page about data protection for care services.
A website that does not exclude older clients and relatives
Let us examine where your care website creates hurdles today and define a clear path together toward an accessible site.