Website accessibility
Accessibility statement
Our accessibility statement covering the use of this website inline with Public Sector Body (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
This website is run by the School of Social and Political Science at The University of Edinburgh. It uses the open source Omeka content management system. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this site. 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 just a keyboard
- navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
- listen to most of the website using a screen reader
- experience no time limit upon use
How accessible this website is
We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:
- It may be difficult to use this site with screen readers
- It may not be possible to access all content by using the keyboard alone
- Not all media will have a transcript or be subtitled
- Not all colour contrasts meet the recommended Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA standard
What to do if you cannot access parts of this website
If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, audio recording or braille please contact the School IT Information Helpline by email at sps.support@ed.ac.uk.
We will consider your request and get back to you within 5 working days.
How to report accessibility problems with this website
We’re 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 let us know by email at sps.support@ed.ac.uk.
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
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 service’s accessibility
The University of Edinburgh is committed to making its website and the websites it hosts accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
Noncompliance with the accessibility regulations
We are aware that several items on our website do not comply with the WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria. Some of these issues are due to the Omeka content management system and third-party themes/plugins we use. Omeka have stated that they are working to improve outstanding accessibility issues. Some examples of noncompliance on our website are:
- Not all non-text content has a text alternative
1.1.1: Non-text Content - The order of heading tags is not ordered correctly on all pages. Heading levels are occasionally skipped
1.3.1: Info and Relationships - There is not sufficient colour contrast between font and background colours. This occurs for the text for some visited links.
1.4.3: Contrast (Minimum) - It is not possible to access all the content using a keyboard only.
2.1.1: Keyboard - There are unlabelled form controls with titles. The site features songs which must be accessed via an audio player which has no label. There is a search bar on the website intended to allow users to search site content, but this has no label.
1.1.1: Non-text Content
Content that is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
Our older PDFs do not meet accessibility standards - for example, they may not be structured so they are accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value).
WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value)
The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs published before 23 September 2018 if they are not essential to providing our services.
Regulations for PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018
As we add content to our website we will run accessibility tests on current content and aim to replace any we find which is not accessible.
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
We will continue to address the accessibility issues highlighted. Where issues are within our direct control, we will work to provide a significant improvement by September 2021. We will prioritise the issues we have identified with the use of keyboard navigation and with the use of Screen Readers with the aim of resolving these as quickly as possible.
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 20 September 2020. The test was carried out on a sample of pages by the website administrators in September 2020. We carried out testing using WAVE WebAim in Firefox and Chrome browsers.