Senior living, assisted living and home care website accessibility: readable pages, tour requests and family contact

People researching senior living or home care are often older adults themselves, or family members helping them, and many browse with low vision, hearing loss, tremor or arthritis, a screen magnifier or a screen reader. Here's what to check so they can learn about your community or agency and get in touch.

1. Text people can actually read

Keep body text at 4.5:1 contrast against its background and avoid thin, light-grey fonts. Use a comfortable base size (16px or larger) with generous line spacing, and make sure pages still work when someone zooms to 200% or enlarges text in their browser. (WCAG 1.4.3, WCAG 1.4.4, WCAG 1.4.10) See readable fonts and spacing and checking colour contrast.

2. Phone contact that's easy to find and tap

Many families still prefer to call. Put the phone number as real text in the header and footer, link it with tel:, and make the button big enough for an unsteady finger. Icon-only phone buttons need a name. (WCAG 2.5.8, WCAG 4.1.2)

<a href="tel:+19185550100" class="call">Call us: 918-555-0100</a>

(The number above is an example.)

3. Levels of care, floor plans and pricing as text

Describe independent living, assisted living, memory care and respite stays in plain words on the page, not only in a brochure PDF. Give each floor plan image a text summary (rooms, approximate size, features like a walk-in shower or grab bars). If you publish starting prices or what's included, use a simple HTML table or list. Describe features factually (step-free entrances, elevators, handrails) and avoid blanket "fully accessible" claims. (WCAG 1.1.1, WCAG 1.3.1) See accessible tables and alt text examples.

4. Tour requests and care-assessment forms

Every field needs a visible label (not just placeholder text), related choices need a fieldset and legend, and errors must say in words what to fix. Ask only what you need, and don't make people retype details on a second step. Let the date picker work with the keyboard, or allow typing a date. (WCAG 3.3.2, WCAG 3.3.1, WCAG 3.3.7) See form error messages and accessible contact forms.

<fieldset>
  <legend>Who is this inquiry for?</legend>
  <input type="radio" id="for-me" name="for" value="self">
  <label for="for-me">Myself</label>
  <input type="radio" id="for-family" name="for" value="family">
  <label for="for-family">A family member</label>
</fieldset>
<label for="best-time">Best time to call you</label>
<input id="best-time" name="best-time" type="text">

5. Videos, virtual tours and photo galleries

Caption tour and testimonial videos, don't auto-play sound, and give 3D or virtual tours a written description of the same spaces. Photo alt text should say what's shown ("Dining room with tables set for four and large windows" (example)). Image sliders need pause controls. (WCAG 1.2.2, WCAG 2.2.2) See video captions and accessible sliders.

6. Activity calendars, menus and newsletters

Monthly activity calendars and dining menus are often posted as scanned images or PDFs. Publish them as a web page or a tagged PDF so residents and families can read them with zoom or a screen reader. (WCAG 1.4.5) See accessible PDFs and menus.

7. Family portals, careers pages and pop-ups

If families log in to see updates or pay invoices, test that password managers and paste work and there's no puzzle-only CAPTCHA. Caregiver job applications need the same labels and error messages as any form. "Schedule a tour" pop-ups and chat bubbles must close with Escape and not trap keyboard focus. (WCAG 3.3.8, WCAG 2.1.1) See CAPTCHA and logins and pop-ups and chat widgets.

Common mistakes

• Pale grey body text on a cream background.
• The phone number only inside an image banner.
• The activity calendar posted as a phone photo of a printed page.
• A tour form whose only error is a red border.
• Auto-playing video with sound on the homepage.

A 15-minute check you can do today

1. Zoom your homepage to 200% on a laptop and check nothing overlaps or gets cut off.
2. Find and tap the phone number on a phone, one-handed.
3. Request a tour using only Tab, Shift+Tab, Space and Enter, and leave one required field empty to read the error. Our keyboard test explains what to look for.
4. Open this month's activity calendar and check the text can be selected or read aloud.
5. Run a free homepage snapshot to catch missing alt text, unnamed buttons, missing labels and low-contrast text.

Platform steps: WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, Webflow. If a marketing agency or corporate team runs your site, send them the questions to ask your web designer. Our scan is automated, so it finds only part of the barriers on this page and doesn't test family portals, virtual tours or PDFs for you. Related: medical clinic websites, property management and apartment websites, accessibility statement template.

This is general technical guidance, not legal advice, and it doesn't certify compliance with the ADA or any law.

Want the fixes written for you?

Start with a free homepage snapshot. The $149 Fix-Pack scans up to 10 pages and gives copy-paste fixes for your platform within 48 hours, with a 14-day refund promise. See a sample report first.

This is general technical guidance, not legal advice, and it does not certify compliance with the ADA or any law.

Related guides

• Car dealership website accessibility: inventory search, vehicle pages, finance forms and test drives
• WCAG 2.2 explained for small-business websites
• Squarespace accessibility fixes: alt text, contrast, forms and more
• Wix accessibility fixes: a practical checklist

All guides

This guide is general technical information, not legal advice. Following it does not certify ADA or any legal compliance. Automated checks find only part of accessibility barriers.