Accessibility statement
One of the many challenges faced by blind and partially sighted people is online accessibility. We aim to ensure that our own website is easy to use for all and demonstrates best practice in accessibility.
Testing by visually impaired users
We worked closely with some of our blind and partially sighted library members throughout the website design process from the original concept, through to user testing. Adjustments were made based on user testing to make the navigation smoother for blind and partially sighted people, and for screen readers specifically.
We recognise that we won’t have got it all right straight away, and aim to continually improve accessibility. Please let us know your suggestions.
Accessibility guidelines
This site has been designed and constructed to comply as far as possible with W3C’s WAI accessibility A, AA and AAA guidelines. This means that the site can be navigated using the tab button and by pre-defined access keys. We also focused on colour contrast, ALT tags, font sizes, accessible text and text-alternatives for audio and video content. We have adjusted and customised third-party plugins to bring them in line where possible.
Screen Readers
The site can also be read through screen readers such as:
- VoiceOver (Mac)
- Jaws (Windows)
- Window-Eyes (Windows)
- Emacspeak (Linux)
Images
All content images on this site are provided with descriptive ALT attributes. Where images contain important information, such as graphs and charts, alternative information is provided in the form of in-line descriptions of tabular data.
More information on accessibility
You can find more information on accessibility by clicking the web accessibility links below:
Disability Discrimination Act (UK)
Section 508
W3C Web Accessibility Initiative
