Accessibility Statement for the Internet of Things in Schools (in draft form)

 

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

This accessibility statement applies to: https://learn.iot.ed.ac.uk/

This website is run by Edina at the University of Edinburgh. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website e.g.  that means you should be able to:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts using your browser settings
  • zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
  • 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

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

 

Customising the website

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability. This is an external site with suggestions to make your computer more accessible:

AbilityNet – My Computer My Way

With a few simple steps you can customise the appearance of our website using your browser settings to make it easier to read and navigate:

Additional information on how to customise our website appearance

If you are a member of University staff or a student, you can use the free SensusAccess accessible document conversion service:

Information on SensusAccess

 

How accessible is this website?

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

  • keyboard navigation could be clearer in informing users where they have reached on a page;
  • pop-ups are a frequent feature of the site;
  • colour contrasts do not necessarily meet the recommended Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 AA standard;
  • not all links indicate whether they open as a new pop-up or browser window;
  • alternative text and tooltips are not present on all non-text content;
  • there are areas whereby assistive technology does not work as well as others.
  • There is movement that cannot be paused.
  • The banner image at the top of the page disappears when the page is magnified above 125%,

 

Feedback and contact information

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

  • email:  IS.Helpline@ed.ac.uk and put IOT in Schools in the subject heading
  • telephone: +44 (0)131 651 5151
  • British Sign Language (BSL) users can contact us via contactSCOTLAND-BSL, the on-line BSL interpreting service.

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

 

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We are 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 contact:

  • email:  IS.Helpline@ed.ac.uk and put IOT in Schools in the subject heading
  • telephone:   +44 (0)131 651 5151
  • British Sign Language (BSL) users can contact us via contactSCOTLAND-BSL, the on-line BSL interpreting service.

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

 

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 please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS) directly:

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

The government has produced information on how to report accessibility issues:

Reporting an accessibility problem on a public sector website

Contacting us by phone using British Sign Language

 

British Sign Language service

contactSCOTLAND-BSL 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, 7 days a week:

contactSCOTLAND-BSL service details

 

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

The University of Edinburgh is committed to making its websites and applications 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 (WCAG) 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

The full guidelines are available at:

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA standard

 

Non accessible content

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

Noncompliance with the accessibility regulations

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

Unless specified otherwise, a complete solution, or significant improvement, will be in place for those items within our control by July 2022.

 

Disproportionate burden

We are not currently claiming that any accessibility problems would be a disproportionate burden to fix.

 

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

The site contains maps that are not fully compatible with assistive technology. Currently, online mapping and mapping services sit out with the 2018 accessibility regulations.

“These Regulations do not apply to the following content of a website or mobile application of a public sector body—

(d) online maps and mapping services, as long as essential information is provided in an accessible digital manner for maps intended for navigational use;”  (The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018)”

The mapping service is not fully accessible, as it is not possible to interact with individual map features using assistive technologies. Although maps are currently not within the scope of the regulations, we will continue to strive to make the site as accessible as possible.

There is a lot of additional information available in different formats including maps

 

What we are doing to improve accessibility

We will continue to address the accessibility issues highlighted to deliver a solution or suitable workaround. Unless specified otherwise, a complete solution or significant improvement will be in place for those items within our control by July 2022.

While we are in the process of resolving these accessibility issues, or where we are unable, we will ensure reasonable adjustments are in place to make sure no user is disadvantaged. As changes are made, we will continue to review accessibility and retest the accessibility of this website.

 

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 20th October 2021. It was last reviewed by the IOT in Schools team on 1st December 2021

This website was initially tested by the University of Edinburgh’s Disability Information team in October 2021 using the Microsoft Edge (84.0.522.52), Mozilla Firefox (78.5.0esr), Internet Explorer(19041.1052)  and Google Chrome (86.0.4240.198) browsers. Internet Explorer is still used by some disabled users due to its ease of customization and compatibility with assistive technology but is becoming less popular as sites no longer support it.  For details on browser use, please refer to a UK government survey:

UK Government assistive technology browser survey.

However, Edge, Firefox and especially Chrome are considered the popular browsers when using a screenreader, as confirmed by current world-wide usage levels for different screen readers and browsers:

 

WebAIM Screen Reader User Survey 2021.

The aforementioned three browsers have been used in certain questions for reasons of breadth and variety.

We tested:

  • Spellcheck functionality;
  • Scaling using different resolutions and reflow;
  • Options to customise the interface (magnification, font, background colour et. cetera);
  • Keyboard navigation and keyboard traps;
  • Data validation;
  • Warning of links opening in a new tab or window;
  • Information conveyed in colour or sound only;
  • Flashing, moving or scrolling text;
  • Operability if JavaScript is disabled;
  • Use with screen reading software (for example, JAWS);
  • Assistive software (TextHelp Read and Write, ZoomText, Dragon NaturallySpeaking, TalkBack and VoiceOver);
  • Tooltips and text alternatives for any non-text content;
  • Time limits.

 

Change Log (Last updated 1/12/21)

 

  • 1.1 – Non-text Content  Not all non-text content presented to users has alternative text (Update 1/12/21 – almost all non-text content has alternative text now included)
  • 4.3 – Contrast (Minimum)  There may not be sufficient colour contrast between font and background colours, especially where the text size is small (Update 1/12/21 – the contrast ratios across the website have been improved)
  • 4.11 – Non-text contrast  Tooltips are not present for all icons and images and disappear when the cursor is moved. The purpose of each link cannot be predetermined by the link text alone (update 1/12/21 – this has been improved and will go for reassessment)
  • 4.7 – Focus Visible  The system has popup windows that appear without warning (Update 1/12/21 – the content that does this has been removed)
  • 1.1- Non-text Content  4.5 – Multiple Ways  3.2 – Meaningful Sequence  4.5 – Images of Text  Not all our PDFs and Word documents meet accessibility standards.( Update 1/12/21 – lesson guides and activities are now provided in HTML, word documents and PDFs to improve accessibility)
  • 2.2 – On Input  The system has popup windows that appear without warning (Update 1/12/21 – the popup windows have been removed from this website)