Accessibility Statement

This accessibility statement sets out the standard this website is built to, what currently meets it, what honestly does not yet, and how to tell us when something blocks you. An accessibility statement that only lists successes is marketing. This one lists the gaps as well, with dates, because the gaps are the part that actually affects somebody trying to buy a snow blower.

The standard this accessibility statement commits to

This accessibility statement commits us to Level AA of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, version 2.2. That is the international benchmark referenced by accessibility law in most Canadian jurisdictions and it is the right target for a retail site.

Level A alone would make this accessibility statement worthless. It permits contrast ratios that are unusable in bright light and allows keyboard traps in places. Level AAA is not a realistic target for a whole commerce site and pretending otherwise in an accessibility statement would be dishonest.

In Ontario the applicable law is the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, and the business guidance is published at Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act guidance. Other provinces have their own frameworks at different stages. We apply one standard nationally rather than the minimum required by each province, because a customer in Saskatchewan should not get a worse experience than a customer in Toronto.

An accessibility statement is not a certificate. This site is not certified by a third party. No credible certification exists for a living commerce site that changes weekly, and any badge claiming otherwise is decoration. What we can offer is a specific description of what has been tested and when.

What already meets the accessibility statement

Everything in this section of the accessibility statement has been checked with a keyboard, with a screen reader, and with automated tooling. Automated tools catch perhaps a third of real problems, so all three matter.

• Keyboard operation. Every interactive element on the home page, the shop, the product pages, the cart and the checkout can be reached and operated with a keyboard alone. Focus is always visible and never trapped.
• Contrast. Body text, headings and button labels meet or exceed the AA contrast ratios. The ember accent used for buttons was darkened during the 2026 redesign specifically because the first choice failed against white.
• Image alternatives. All 549 product images in the catalogue carry alternative text describing the machine or the part, not the filename. Decorative graphics are marked so screen readers skip them.
• Headings. Every page has exactly one level one heading and a logical structure beneath it, so a screen reader user can navigate by heading rather than reading everything.
• Motion. Everything that animates respects the reduced motion setting in your operating system. The falling snow, the scroll reveals and the counters all stop when you ask them to.
• Zoom and reflow. The site reflows to a single column at 400 percent zoom without horizontal scrolling.

Content is never conveyed by colour alone. Stock status says the words in stock rather than relying on a green dot, and the comparison tables in our buying guides use text values rather than coloured cells.

What does not conform yet

An accessibility statement earns its keep in this section. Being specific matters more than being reassuring.

The manufacturer PDF problem is the worst of these and the one least within our control. A scanned manual is an image of text and a screen reader cannot read it. Our fix is to stop relying on them: we are publishing the specifications as ordinary web pages so the information exists in an accessible form even when the PDF does not. If you need a manual read out and it is a scan, contact us and we will send you the content as plain text.

The depth finder on our home page is operable by keyboard using the arrow keys and it announces its value, but it currently has no way to type a number directly. That is a real limitation for some users and a number entry field is planned.

What this accessibility statement was tested with

An accessibility statement should name the tools, because a claim tested in only one screen reader tells you very little.

We test with VoiceOver on macOS and iOS, with NVDA on Windows, and with keyboard only navigation in Chrome, Firefox and Safari. We check contrast with a colour contrast analyser rather than by eye. We test reflow by zooming to 400 percent rather than by resizing a desktop window, because those are different things.

What we do not have is a formal programme of testing with disabled users, which is the single most valuable form of testing and the thing most small retailers skip. We are saying so rather than implying a rigour we do not have. If you use assistive technology and would be willing to walk through a checkout with us, the contact page reaches a person and we would genuinely value it.

Buying without a mouse, and without sight

The practical question behind this accessibility statement is whether you can actually complete a purchase. Here is what that path looks like.

By keyboard. Tab moves forward, shift and tab move back, enter activates. The product rail on the home page scrolls with arrow keys as well as by dragging. Every form field at checkout has a properly associated label, so tabbing into it announces what it wants.

By screen reader. Product pages are structured so the name, price and stock state are read before the description. The long specification tables have proper header cells, so a screen reader can announce which column a value belongs to instead of reading a wall of numbers.

By phone. If any of that fails, we will take the order manually. Write through the contact page with the machine you want and your postal code and we will arrange it. Nobody should have to fight a website to buy a snow blower, and needing help is not a smaller order.

Choosing the right machine is a separate accessibility question. Weight and pull start effort matter enormously if you have limited strength. Electric start removes the pull cord entirely, and our electric snow blowers and battery snow blowers ranges are far lighter than a comparable gas machine. Ask us and we will size on physical effort rather than only on driveway length.

Written content, plain language and units

An accessibility statement that stops at code is incomplete. Accessibility is not only a technical property. Content that cannot be understood is inaccessible whatever the code does.

We write in plain language, expand an abbreviation on first use, and avoid industry shorthand where an ordinary word exists. Where a technical term is unavoidable, such as impeller or auger, we explain it the first time it appears on the page rather than assuming.

Measurements appear in the unit Canadians actually use for the thing being measured: inches for clearing width because that is how every manufacturer labels it, centimetres for snowfall because that is how forecasts report it. Mixing systems is confusing, but so is insisting on one where the other is standard.

Link text describes its destination. You will not find read more here, because a screen reader user listing the links on a page needs each one to make sense on its own. Our best snow blowers in Canada and snow blower price guide are linked by name for exactly that reason.

How to report a barrier

If something on this site stops you, tell us. Use the contact page and include the page address, what you were trying to do, what happened instead, and what you were using. That last detail matters more than people expect: a problem in NVDA with Firefox is often not a problem in VoiceOver with Safari.

Our commitment under this accessibility statement is a reply within two business days acknowledging the report and telling you whether it is something we can fix quickly or something that needs scheduling. If it is a barrier that stops you completing a purchase, we will process the order manually in the meantime rather than leaving you waiting for a code change.

We do not ask you to prove a disability, explain your circumstances, or justify the request. A report that something is hard to use is enough.

If our response is inadequate, provincial accessibility and human rights bodies accept complaints directly and at no cost. Nothing in our terms and conditions restricts that, and we would rather you escalate than give up.

How this accessibility statement is maintained

The barriers in this accessibility statement are reviewed at the start of each snow season, when traffic is highest and problems affect the most people. Any new page or component goes through a keyboard pass and a contrast check before it goes live, which is why the 2026 redesign shipped with the accent colour already corrected rather than corrected afterwards.

When a barrier is reported, it goes onto the same list rather than into an inbox. The table above is the list. If you reported something and it is not there within a fortnight, chase us.

Third party components are the hardest part to control, and the payment step is the clearest example. We do not write it and we cannot patch it. What we can do is choose a provider that takes it seriously and change provider if they do not, and the current arrangement is described on the payment and security page.

Related pages: the privacy policy for what we do with anything you send us in a barrier report, the cookie policy for the consent controls and how they behave with a keyboard, and the returns and refunds policy if a machine turns out to be unmanageable once it arrives.

Common questions