ShiningLamp Accessibility Statement

Last review date: June 23, 2024
Next planned review date: October 1, 2024

The Shining Lamp is dedicated to ensuring the accessibility of its website, intranet, and other communications and applications, facilitating seamless inclusion for People with Disabilities through accessible content and navigational controls. In our dedicated pursuit of this vital mission, the objective is to instigate a meaningful shift in the approach to Accessibility. This entails seamlessly integrating the wisdom of Baha'i Teachings with International Accessibility Standards WCAG 2.2 AA or above and following all current Best Practices.

Every time we add or modify content and features, we check Accessibility against the latest WCAG Standards. However, your actual experience may vary, and we encourage you to let us know via the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of any page if you encounter any Accessibility problems.

Our Shining Lamp organization began by meeting with Counselor Nwandi Lawson in February of 2022. During that meeting, we discussed various solutions to the discrimination, exclusion, and oppression that People with Disabilities face. One of the things we did was to study the letter written by The Universal House of Justice on July 22, 2020, to the Bahá’ís of the United States, addressing Racism. As we look for solutions to discrimination and oppression in our Teachings, we find in this guidance that, like Racism, Ableism is "a profound deviation from the standard of true morality. It deprives a portion of humanity of the opportunity to cultivate and express the full range of their capability and to live a meaningful and flourishing life, while blighting the progress of the rest of humankind. It cannot be rooted out by contest and conflict. It must be supplanted by the establishment of just relationships among individuals, communities, and institutions of society that will uplift all and will not designate anyone as other.”

Counselor Lawson suggested that we find like-minded individuals who could help us work toward our goals of removing discrimination, exclusion, and oppression in the form of Ableism as we collectively strive to remove barriers that prevent us from building Vibrant, Diverse, Inclusive, Accessible Communities!

In addition, the National Spiritual Assembly shared a letter dated December 13, 2023, which includes remarks excerpted from a letter dated October 27, 2023, written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice. These remarks clarify how we can approach community building, even in the face of such problems. The letter also emphasizes the importance of the Nine Year Plan, which provides a framework for action enabling individual believers committed to building unified and diverse communities to initiate their own community-building activities that can be havens for those seeking environments free from prejudice.

To achieve this goal, we have engaged in extensive collaboration with numerous People with Disabilities, actively immersing ourselves in their daily lives to gain a profound understanding of their most significant problems and priorities. We continue to include them and consult with them as this project evolves.

We review our content using non-keyboard input. Additionally, we ensure that it works on the widest possible range of devices. We test using all major Screen Reader technologies, including Jaws, NVDA, Narrator, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. We also test on multiple Operating systems and Browsers. We follow up by having People with Disabilities review new features and content by using their own Access Technology and offer feedback.

Existing web content produced by our organization is believed to meet the International accessibility standard of WCAG 2.2 AA or above, based on automated and manual testing, including feedback from People with Disabilities.

We will not knowingly publish inaccessible content on https://shininglamp.org. This does not encompass information or materials linked to references beyond our control. Nevertheless, we strive to be highly selective, ensuring that linked content is as accessible and inclusive as possible.

Acknowledging the significance of feedback from People with Disabilities, we openly welcome and encourage reports of any accessibility problems encountered with our content or navigation. Please utilize the convenient "Contact Us" link located at the bottom of any page on our website to submit your feedback. We are dedicated to thoroughly understanding the nature of all reported accessibility problems and promptly implementing solutions to ensure the quickest turnaround time possible.

In the event that we are unable to implement a quick solution, we will do everything possible to find an equitable solution to include you with a temporary workaround. If a temporary solution is untenable, we will remove the inaccessible content until a solution can be found.

We will review this policy on or before October 1, 2024. This policy was last reviewed on June 23, 2024.