SparkPath: The Importance of Accessibility in Career Exploration
Welcome to SparkPath
SparkPath was founded to help students create extraordinary careers by exploring the real-world challenges that inspire them. Through the Challenge mindset, students discover the challenges they would like to work on through an interactive, discovery-based learning process that opens their minds to exciting possibilities.
SparkPath also provides educators with access to tools that enable them to monitor the progress of their students, and to communicate with students to help them achieve their future readiness goals.
Our Perspective
SparkPath’s mission is to empower educators with career tools and insights that change the lives of their students. To fulfill our mission we need to enable every student to take ownership of their future. Given that students with disabilities face additional barriers to preparing for their future, it is important for us to ensure we have a tool that meets their needs.
Therefore, our goal at SparkPath is to provide a barrier-free digital tool for all students, educators, counselors, career coaches, parents or persons. We continually strive to increase the accessibility and usability of our tool to ensure it adheres to the current guidelines. All accessibility related upgrades made are targeting the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
Our digital tool endeavours to conform to level Double-A of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. By conforming to these guidelines, we are committed as an organization to play our part to make accessibility for all a reality.
Our Conformance
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) defines requirements for designers and developers to improve accessibility for people with disabilities. It defines three levels of conformance: Level A, Level AA, and Level AAA. All content found in our digital tool is fully conformant with WCAG 2.1, Level AA. Fully conformant means that the content fully conforms to the accessibility standard without any exceptions.
As of November 11th 2021, all accessibility related upgrades made to our digital Career Exploration Challenge Cards (https://app.mysparkpath.com/), fully conform with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA. Upon completion of the Challenge Card process, users are presented with a downloadable PDF with the results of their engagement. A fully WCAG 2.1 AA conforming PDF is available when users complete the challenge for those that require it. Users can also repeat the Challenge Card process to revisit information shown on the three career-specific pages in the PDF, if necessary.
Requests for WCAG 2.1 AA compliance documents
Upon request, SparkPath will provide a copy of our Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) to any person. Please direct any inquiries related to our compliance documents to our Accessibility Advocate, JP Michel jp@mysparkpath.com
How to Contact Us
In light of the above, we are continually seeking out solutions that will bring our online services to a barrier-free level of web accessibility. If you experience any difficulty in accessing our tool, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Reach out to hello@mysparkpath.com with any feedback or comments you would like to share.
