Accessibility Statement
Stanhope Simpson Insurance Ltd. is committed to making our website, our office and our service usable by everyone, including people with disabilities.
This statement sets out what we are working toward, what we know is not there yet, how to get information from us in a different format, and how to tell us when something on this site gets in your way.
What We Are Working Toward
We aim to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 at Level AA, the current international benchmark published by the World Wide Web Consortium. We have not yet completed a formal audit against it, so we describe this as a target rather than a claim of conformance. These are the things we aim for on every page we build or rebuild:
- Text alternatives for every image that carries meaning, so a screen reader can describe it
- Colour contrast between text and its background that meets the Level AA threshold
- Every function reachable with a keyboard alone, without needing a mouse
- Headings used in a logical order, so the page can be navigated by structure
- Layouts that reflow on a phone, a tablet or a half-width window without horizontal scrolling
- Link text that says where the link goes, rather than "click here"
- Form fields with visible labels and error messages that explain what to fix
- An accessibility check as part of building or rebuilding any page
Being honest about what is not yet right matters more than a conformance badge. These are the limitations we are aware of today:
- This site has not yet been through a formal third-party accessibility audit, so there may be barriers we have not found
- Pages and images published before we adopted this standard may not all meet it yet
- The embedded map on our contact page is a third-party component we do not control; the same address, hours and phone number appear as text on the same page
- Our contact and quote forms run on a third-party plugin, so parts of their behaviour are outside our control
- Some documents we link to, including insurer forms and questionnaires, are PDFs produced by other companies and may not be tagged for screen readers
- Other embedded content behaves according to the accessibility support its vendor provides
- If any of the above stops you doing what you came here to do, phone or email always works instead and we will handle it that way
In Person and On the Phone
Accessibility is not only a website question. Our head office is at 3845 Joseph Howe Drive, Suite 300 in Halifax, open Monday to Friday from 8:00am to 4:30pm. If getting to the office is the barrier, we will come to you or handle the whole thing by phone, email or video call — a good deal of our business already runs that way.
You are welcome to bring a support person or a service animal, and to ask for extra time on anything. Nobody has to explain why.
Information in Another Format
If something we produce is not usable to you in the format it is in, ask and we will provide it another way at no charge. That includes large print, plain text by email, a document read aloud over the phone, or a plain-language walkthrough of a policy wording instead of the wording itself. Insurance documents are dense at the best of times, and a plain-language explanation is something we are happy to give anyone who asks for it.
Tell Us About a Barrier
Tell us what page you were on, what you were trying to do, and what got in the way. If you use assistive technology, telling us which one helps us reproduce the problem. We read this feedback during business hours and will come back to you.
Email info@stanhopesimpson.com, call (902) 454-8641, or use the form on our contact page. If the form itself is the barrier, phone or email is always fine.
Where the Law Sits Today
We want to be straight about this rather than imply an obligation we do not have. Nova Scotia’s Accessibility Act sets a goal of an accessible province by 2030, but the standards adopted under it so far apply to government, municipalities and prescribed public sector bodies — not to private businesses like ours. The standard that will cover information and communication, including websites, is still being developed.
What does apply to us today is the Nova Scotia Human Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in the provision of services. We would rather get ahead of the standard than wait to be told, which is why this statement exists now.
How We Keep This Current
We review this statement when we make substantial changes to the site, and at least once a year. As the Nova Scotia standard takes shape and as we work through the limitations listed above, this page will change with it.
Last reviewed August 2026.