Accessibility Statement for the DecodeME Portal

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

This accessibility statement applies to: https://www.decodeme.org.uk/portal/  

The online web portal is part of the DecodeME website. Potential participants use this portal to fill out an online questionnaire before being selected as participants to the project. This website is run by DecodeME project team at the University of Edinburgh. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this portal. For example, that means you should be able to: 

  • zoom in up to 400% without loss of content without the text spilling off the screen; 
  • experience no time limits when using the site 
  • there is no moving or scrolling text 
  • you can navigate to some of the content by keyboard 
  • some of the content is accessible by screen readers
  • all non-text content has a text alternate  

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

 

Customising the Portal 

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 this Portal is 

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

  • Some colour contrasts might not fully meet the recommended Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 AA standard. 
  • Some parts of the application are not fully compatible with mobile accessibility functionality such as the ability to increase font size and colours. 
  • It is not possible for end users to fully customise the site to meet their needs 
  • Users are not always alerted when a pop up will appear. 
  • Pop ups contain information that are needed for the operation of the item. 
  • It is not possible to keyboard navigate to all content. 
  • There is no skip to main content option. 
  • Where a user has tabbed to could be clearer in some places. 
  • Spellcheck is not present for all content. 
  • The portal is not fully accessible with various forms of assistive software such as voice recognition software, screen readers etc. 

Feedback and contact information 

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

telephone: 0808 196 8664 (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, answerphone outside working hours)  

  • Post:  

DecodeME Study 

Institute of Genetics and Cancer 

University of Edinburgh 

Western general Hospital 

Crewe Road South 

Edinburgh  

EH4 2XU 

 

  • British Sign Language (BSL) users can contact us via contactSCOTLAND-BSL, the on-line BSL interpreting service. 

We also provide an alternative route to this portal by offering the option to fill out a paper-based questionnaire. We will send by post the questionnaire, the support information and a freepost return envelope, to anyone that wishes to participate in our study but cannot access the portal. 

We will consider your request for additional information or for a paper-based questionnaire 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: info@DecodeME.org.uk 
  • telephone: 0808 196 8664 (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, answerphone outside working hours)  
  • Post:  

 

DecodeME Study 

Institute of Genetics and Cancer 

University of Edinburgh 

Western general Hospital 

Crewe Road South 

Edinburgh  

EH4 2XU 

 

  • 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 portal’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 to not comply with the WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria: 

 

  • There may not be sufficient colour contrast between font and background colours, especially where the text size is small 
  • It is not possible to use a keyboard to access all the content 
  • There is no skip to main content option  
  • Errors showing in automated tests – missing or uninformative page title 
  • It is not always clear where you have navigated too using a keyboard 
  • Pop ups appear and users are taken to new browser tabs without the user being alerted.  
  • Data input errors are not always automatically detected and / or suggestions for correction are not given to users 
  • Content is not robust enough that it can be interpreted by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies 

 

 

Unless specified otherwise, a complete solution, or significant improvement, will be in place for those items within our control by May 2023. 

 

Some items are out of our control and lay with an external company, Qualtrics, who enable the use of the online questionnaire on our portal. We have alerted them to the accessibility issues that were found. Qualtrics Commitment to Accessible Products can be found here: 

 

Commitment to Accessible Products - Qualtrics 

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 

We are not currently claiming that there is any content outwith the scope of the accessibility regulations. 

What we’re doing to improve accessibility 

We will continue to address the accessibility issues highlighted to deliver a solution or suitable workaround. We continue consulting with DecodeME PPI SG (Patient and Public Involvement steering group) to address these issues in a seemly manner.  

We are currently in the process of preparing for the study launch and aim to start addressing accessibility issues once we launch openly to the public. Unless specified otherwise, a complete solution or significant improvement will be in place for those items within our control by May 2023. 

Some items are out of our control and lay with an external company, Qualtrics, who enable the use of the online questionnaire on our portal. We have alerted them to the accessibility issues that were found. Qualtrics Commitment to Accessible Products can be found here: 

 

Commitment to Accessible Products - Qualtrics 

 

Whilst 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 application 

Preparation of this accessibility statement 

This statement was prepared on 31st May 2022. It was last reviewed on 31st May 2022. 

This application was last tested in May 2022 by the DecodeME team. The site was tested on a PC, primarily using the browser Google Chrome (101.0.4951.67) alongside Mozilla Firefox (100.0.2) and Microsoft Edge (101.0.1210.53) for comparative purposes. Internet Explorer will go out of support on June 15, 2022.  

 

Also, a recent world-wide usage levels survey for different screen readers and browsers shows that Chrome is increasing in popularity and is now the favoured browser for screen readers. 

 

WebAIM: Screen Reader User Survey 2021 

 

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, Windows Magnifer, ZoomText, Dragon NaturallySpeaking, TalkBack and VoiceOver); 
  • Tooltips and text alternatives for any non-text content; 
  • Time limits; 
  • Compatibility with mobile accessibility functionality.