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Accessibility

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 the School of Law based at 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 colours, contrast levels and fonts
  • zoom in up to 200% without the text spilling off the screen
  • navigate most of the website using only 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)

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

 

Customising our site

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

AbilityNet - My computer my way

 

The following links provide guidance on how to change your display settings, depending on your preferred browser:

 

Contacting us by phone using British Sign Language

British Sign Language service

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 from 8am to 12 midnight, 7 days a week. 

British Sign Language Scotland service details

 

How accessible this website is

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

  • Not all images have alternative text
  • Some pages cannot be zoomed to the maximum browser level without text overflowing
  • most older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
  • Some pages contain duplicate headings
  • You may not be able to access all content by using a keyboard alone, and it might be difficult to tell where you have navigated to on the page
  • Some heading levels are skipped
  • Some links contain no text

 

Feedback and contact information

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

Email: understanding.inequalities@ed.ac.uk

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

 

Report an accessibility problem

Please get in touch if you are experiencing any problems accessing our information and services online. You can contact us by emailing understanding.inequalities@ed.ac.uk

 

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

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 version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

 

Non accessible content

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

 

Some pages contain duplicate headings:

 

Not all form elements have corresponding label elements.

 

Some content cannot be presented without loss of information when magnified to the maximum browser level.

 

When text is zoomed to 400%, the user may need to scroll horizontally

 

It is not always clear where you have navigated to on the page

 

Some heading levels are skipped

 

Some links contain no text:

 

Enforcement procedure

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, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS). You can also refer to the government’s advice on enforcement.

 

Disproportionate burden

We are not claiming disproportionate burden with any part of the website at this time. We will make another assessment later this year.

 

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

PDF documents:

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services. For example, we do not plan to fix the translated downloadable print versions of the toolkit. The same information is available on the website which can be translated using browser tools.

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

 

How we tested this website

We tested:

  • Spellcheck functionality
  • 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
  • Use with screen reading software (ChromeVox)
  • Time limits

We also tested a sample of the pages manually using a web accessibility checker - WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation. This was completed by: Web Development Team and was conducted on a random selection of pages.

 

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This website was last tested in Sep 2020. The test was carried out by The University of Edinburgh, IS LTW Web Development Team.

We used a variety of pages to test, using samples of different types of content and different layouts. We used a combination of browsers. Chrome and Safari on Mac OS.

 

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We will continue to work with the Web Development Team 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.

 

This statement was prepared in Sep 2020. It was last reviewed in July 2023.