Accessibility Statement

Accessibility statement for www.abilitynet.org.uk

This accessibility statement applies to www.abilitynet.org.uk.

We have developed this website to ensure that it is usable by everybody, regardless of age or disability. Our site is developed to comply with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.2 Level AA and we keep the site under review to improve both its accessibility and usability.

This website is run by AbilityNet. We have built our website to be accessible with common assistive technologies and different ways of using websites. This means that you can:

  • Navigate the menus and all interactive functionality without a mouse and using assistive technology such as a screen reader.
  • Increase the font size or zoom in on content.
  • Navigate a page using headings throughout our written content. We also use plain English principles to make our content clear and easy to understand.
  • Consume media content with captions or transcripts for videos and audio content.
  • Navigate our websites with assistive technology via embedded landmarks and ARIA functionality.

Our site includes My Computer My Way, a free resource that helps you customise your computer to make it easier to use. This includes guidance on accessing the wide range of accessibility and personalisation tools built into computers, tablets and mobile phones. My Computer My Way will help you adapt your technology to make it easier to use for all websites, not just ours.

We do not provide built-in accessibility tools as we believe it is more important to support everyone’s personal device settings and assistive technologies.

How accessible this website is

Whilst we have endeavoured to ensure the accessibility of our site, there are some known limitations. These are documented below, along with suggested workarounds, and/or our long-term strategy for addressing these limitations.

The following are some potential problems that we are working to improve:

  • Embedded video and audio players can sometimes be difficult to use with assistive technology.
  • PDFs and documents are not always accessible.
  • We aim to provide captions and/or transcripts with all our videos but that might not be available for older videos.
  • We do not provide audio descriptions for videos but aim to provide visual content in alternative formats where possible.

If you encounter any content that you cannot access, then please contact us and we will provide you with an accessible alternative.

We make use of third-party resources such as audio and video players to embed content in our website. Wherever possible we will ensure these are conformant.

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format please contact us via:

Our contact us page

Email enquiries@abilitynet.org.uk

Call us on 0300 180 0028 (UK Office Hours)

Please note: calls to us on the above number cost no more than a national rate call to an 01 or 02 number and count towards any inclusive minutes in the same way as 01 and 02 calls, and AbilityNet does not receive any money from these calls

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

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We welcome your feedback on using the AbilityNet website. If you have experienced any accessibility challenges, please let us know. Your information will help us improve the website for all users. You can contact us via:

Email accessibility.services@abilitynet.org.uk

Call us on 0300 180 0028 (UK Office Hours)

Please note: calls to us on the above number cost no more than a national rate call to an 01 or 02 number and count towards any inclusive minutes in the same way as 01 and 02 calls, and AbilityNet does not receive any money from these calls

Any feedback we receive will be dealt with by our Accessibility Planning Manager and we aim to get back to you within 5 days (if a response is requested).

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).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

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

Compliance status

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

Non-accessible content

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Audio and video

  • We use the PodBean audio player to embed audio content within pages. This is keyboard accessible, and partially screen reader accessible. There are some issues with the labelling of controls for screen reader users however, including that the download and share buttons are not labelled. (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2)
  • We use the Facebook video player to embed archived live video streams. The Facebook video player is partially conformant. Player controls are well labelled. There are some unlabelled items within the player that appear in the focus order. (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2)

Documents

Downloadable documents and PDFs may not be fully accessible. We are working to ensure those still in use are available in an accessible format and are moving away from using PDF format for future documents.

Web content

  • Some informative images and functional images do not have a textual description specified. Some decorative images are missing a correct empty alt attribute. Other decorative images have been given alternate text that may be regarded as redundant. (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1)
  • Some checkboxes in forms are not correctly grouped for correct announcement by screen readers. (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1)
  • Some text on the site is not correctly marked up as paragraphs. (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1)
  • Some visual headings, lists and tables are not marked up correctly for announcement by screen readers. (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1)
  • Some of our forms are missing explicit auto-complete attributes on form fields. (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.5) 
  • Some error states in our event booking widget rely on colour alone. (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.1)
  • Some text on the site (including error message text) does not contrast sufficiently with the background. (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.3)
  • Some information in the podcast widget is truncated when the page is reflowed. (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.10)
  • Some informative images in the event booking widget do not contrast sufficiently with the background. Some custom focus indication in the event booking widget does not have sufficient contrast. (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.11)
  • There is an anchor tag within our event booking widget which is not keyboard accessible. (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.1.1)
  • Keyboard focus is not correctly handled for the modal used for our event booking system. (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.3)
  • There are some hidden and inoperable elements on the site which incorrectly receive keyboard focus. (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.3)
  • Some links on the site do not communicate their purpose. (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.4)
  • Some icon links do not meet the minimum touch target requirement of 24 by 24 pixels. (WCAG success criterion 2.5.8)
  • There is a button within our event booking widget which incorrectly activates automatically when it receives focus. (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 3.2.1)
  • There are error messages in our event booking widget which are not described with text. (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 3.3.1)
  • There are interactive elements in our event booking widget which do not have a permanent label. (WCAG success criterion 3.3.2)
  • Some iframes on the site do not have a descriptive title for assistive technology. (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2)
  • There are some tabs which lack appropriate announcements for assistive technology. (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2)
  • Some input fields have incorrect additional information programmatically specified. (WCAG success criterion 4.1.2) 
  • Some buttons and links do not have accessible names for assistive technology. (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2)
  • Some input fields in our event booking widget have an inappropriate accessible name. (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2)
  • Some interactive elements in our event booking widget rely on a placeholder for the accessible name. (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2)
  • There is a link in our event booking widget which lacks a programmatically determined role. (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2)
  • The disabled state of some links, the expandable state of an element, the current state of the progress bar and dynamic calculations in our event booking widget are not programmatically determined. (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2)
  • Some items in the breadcrumb navigation are incorrectly defined as the current item for assistive technology. (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2)
  • A non-interactive element in our event booking widget has an incorrect role determined. (WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 4.1.2)

Disproportionate burden

We do not provide audio descriptions for videos as this would be a disproportionate burden to produce and not all video players support the additional audio description track. Where possible we provide visual content in accessible format alongside the video. (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.2.5)

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

Audio and video

Some recorded webinars and videos from before September 2020 do not have captions as they were not created at the time of recording. (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.2.2)

When videos are hosted on YouTube then automatic captions are available and we aim to improve these where possible. If you encounter a video without captions and need assistance accessing the content, then please get in contact and we will provide a transcript.

Documents

Downloadable documents and PDFs published before September 2018 may not be fully accessible. We are working to ensure those still in use are available in an accessible format and are moving away from using PDF format for future documents.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

Our site is regularly reviewed with manual audits by our Accessibility Consultants. In addition, we carry out user testing that includes users with disabilities. Testing with real users gives us valuable feedback about the real-world accessibility of our site.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 20th September 2019. It was last reviewed on 15th January 2024.

This website was last tested in December 2023 against the WCAG 2.2 standard. The test was carried out by AbilityNet.

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