Website Accessibility

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This is the website accessibility statement in line with Public Sector Body (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018

This website is run by SIDB which is part of the University of Edinburgh. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

• Change most of the colours, contrast levels and fonts
• Navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
• Navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
• Listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)
• Ensure no information is conveyed by colour or sound only

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

AbilityNet – My computer my way

With a few simple steps you can customise the appearance of our website to make it easier to read and navigate.

Additional information on how to customise our website appearance

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

• May not be fully compatible with screen readers
• May not be able to access all content by using the keyboard and sometimes it is unclear where the user has tabbed too. At present tabbing to some menus may obscure information on other menus.
• The carousel on the home page does not have a pause function
• Not all images have alternative text
• There is some use of small font size

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, audio recording or braille please contact:

Email: jane.wright@ed.ac.uk
Phone Peter Kind:  +44 (0)131 651 1145
Post: Hugh Robson Building, 15 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9XD

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements please let us know: 

Email: jane.wright@ed.ac.uk 

Phone Peter Kind:  +44 (0)131 651 1145  

Post: Hugh Robson Building, 15 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9XD 

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.

British Sign Language Scotland runs a service for British Sign Language users and all of Scotland’s public bodies using video relay. This enables sign language users to contact public bodies and vice versa. The service operates 24 hours a day.

British Sign Language Scotland service details

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS) directly.

Contact details for the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS)

The University of Edinburgh is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

The full guidelines are available at:

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

The following items to not comply with the WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria:

• It is not possible to use a keyboard to access all the content
  • 2.1 – Keyboard accessible
• Most tooltips disappear as soon as the cursor moves. Also tooltips are not always present for all icons and images.
  • 1.4.13 – Content on Hover or Focus
• Some content cannot be presented without loss of information when magnified to the maximum browser level
  • 1.4.10 – Reflow
• Some content cannot be presented without loss of information if the line height, paragraph spacing, letter spacing or word spacing is increased.
  • 1.4.12 – Text Spacing
• There is content that has moving, blinking or scrolling information that (1) starts automatically, (2) lasts more than five seconds, and (3) is presented in parallel with other content, there is a mechanism for the user to pause, stop, or hide it unless the movement, blinking, or scrolling is part of an activity where it is essential.
  • 2.2- Pause, Stop and Hide

Unless specified otherwise a complete solution or significant improvement will be in place by September 2020. We also plan to remove the use of italics and small text.

This system was last tested by the SIDB Centre Administrator via sampling the majority of pages across the website. We tested the system on a PC using the browser Internet Explorer (11) as this browser is most commonly used by disabled users due to its accessibility features and compatibility with assistive technology, as shown by the 

Government Assistive Technology Survey

We tested:

• Spellcheck functionality
• Data validation
• Scaling using different resolutions
• Options to customise the interface (magnification, font and background colour changing etc)
• Keyboard navigation
• Warning of links opening in a new tab or window
• Information conveyed in colour or sound only
• Flashing or scrolling text
• Operability if JavaScript is disabled
• Use with screenreading software (JAWS)
• TextHelp Read and Write (assistive software)
• Zoomtext (assistive software)
• Time limits
• Access to specialist help

We also tested a sample of the pages using an automated web accessibility checker – WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool

We will test this website with the University of Edinburgh’s Deputy Disability Information Officer to address these issues and deliver a solution or suitable workaround.

We will continue to monitor system accessibility and will carry out further accessibility testing as these issues are resolved. However, due to the complex nature of the information displayed it may not be possible to resolve all accessibility issues. If this is the case, we will ensure reasonable adjustments are in place to make sure no user is disadvantaged. We plan to have resolved the majority of accessibility issues by September 2022 at the latest.

This statement was prepared on 1st October 2021.