Accessibility Statement

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/

 

This website is run by Action for M.E., on behalf of DecodeME run by the Project Team 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:

• zoom in up to 350% without the text spilling off the screen or loss of content;
• navigate to most content using a keyboard only
• using your browser settings, change most colours, contrast levels and fonts;
• 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)
• there is no flashing, scrolling or moving text;
• use the website without encountering any time limits.

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 this website is

We continue to improve our website to meet accessibility standards but we know some parts are not fully accessible:

• It is not possible to navigate to all content by keyboard only
• 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
• Not all links are formatted correctly to give a clear indication of their destination
• Tooltips are not present for all non-text content and alternative text is not always accurate
• There are areas whereby assistive technology such as voice recognition and screen readers do not work as well as others
• How a user is alerted to data input errors is not consistent
• There are captions that have not been human corrected.
• Not all non-text content has text alternatives

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: info@DecodeME.org.uk

 

• telephone: 0808 196 866 (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 for additional information 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 196 866 (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 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 to not comply with the WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria:

• Not all non-text content presented to users has alternative text
• 1.1 - Non-text Content
• All prerecorded videos have automated captions but these have not been manually corrected
• 2.2. - Captions Prerecorded
• There may not be sufficient colour contrast between font and background colours, especially where the text size is small
• 4.3 - Contrast (Minimum)
• Not all content can be reached by the keyboard
• 1.1. Keyboard
• Users are not alerted if a link will open a new window or pop up
• 2.2. On Input
• Content is not robust enough that it can be interpreted by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies (JAWS, Dragon, TalkBack and VoiceOver)
• 1.1 - Parsing
• 1.2 - Name - Role - Value
• 1.3 - Status Messages

 

Unless specified otherwise, a complete solution, or significant improvement, will be in place for those items within the Universities control by February 2024.

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

At this time, we do not believe that any content is outside the scope of the accessibility regulations.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We will continue to address the accessibility issues highlighted, working with the external developer, 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.

Unless specified otherwise, a complete solution or significant improvement will be in place for those items within the Universities’ control by February 2024.

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 22^nd February 2023. It was last reviewed on 22^nd February 2023.

This website was last tested in February 2023, being previously tested in November 2021. This website was tested by the DecodeME Administration Manager in February 2023, using the Google Chrome (110.0.5481.78) alongside Mozilla Firefox (78.0.2esr) and Microsoft Edge (110.0.1587.41) for comparative purposes.

 

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;
• Compatibility with iOS and Android accessibility functionality.

 

Accessibility Change Log

Resolved issues as of 20 February 2023

• Reduced the use of popups and added text “links open in a new tab” where appropriate to alert users to links that open in new tabs
• Enabled scaling to 500% in all web browsers (Edge, Chrome, Firefox)
• Improved data validation making it more consistent across different forms and clearly indicating which field contains errors
• Improved some colour contrast issues
• Improved the accuracy of alt text for some graphics
• Reduced the use of italics
• Improved accessibility for keyboard only users (only “Light/Dark” toggle button is not keyboard accessible)
• Improved accessibility and customisation for both Android and iOS users
• Provided audio recordings alongside blog posts to enable users to listen to the written content
• Improved compatibility with Dragon accessibility software – users can fill out the ‘Contact us’ form and newsletter signup form without problems
• Improved compatibility with JAWS accessibility software – the software can read the content of both ‘Contact us’ form and newsletter signup form correctly