Accessibility Statement for UCLan Students’ Union
September 2020
1.0 Introduction
When we create content we work to achieve and maintain WCAG 2.1 AA standards, UCLan Students’ Union is committed to making our websites and mobile applications accessible, in accordance with?The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018 No.952.
2.0 Our Website
This accessibility statement applies to the following Students’ Union websites*: www.uclansu.co.uk and it’s subsite www.freshers.uclansu.co.uk.
UCLan Students’ Union is also responsible for a partner website (www.pulsemedia-online.co.uk) which is currently going through a review and at this stage, comments noted in this statement apply to this site too.
*This excludes third party content provided as part of the site.
This website is run by UCLan Students’ Union and we aim for everyone who uses our website to be able to find, read and understand our content. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:
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Zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
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Navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
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Navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
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Listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)
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‘Read Only’ website view – no visuals like images or video, just text-based content
AbilityNet?has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.
2.1 Testing
This website was last tested by UCLan Students’ Union on 13th June 2020 and then again in August 2020. The second test was carried out by Preston Digital Foundation, the company working on our User Experience Project.
The initial testing was to help support the creation of a project brief for the Union to go to tender for a company to undertake the User Experience part of our wider website project.
The second round of testing is a more in-depth analysis on the site’s technical abilities and accessibility. The results of this testing will greatly inform our website review as we refresh the Union’s website on a new CMS and website provider.
We chose an external company to complete a more in-depth analysis and testing so we could have stronger expertise and an external outlook to our website functionality and accessibility.
We plan to launch our new website in January 2021 and expect accessibility to be considerably improved when it goes live. We will review and update our accessibility statement in early 2021.
3.0 Compliance
3.1 Compliance Status
This website is partially compliant with The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018 No.952, as we are currently working on a new Students’ Union website which is being designed with accessibility as a priority.
We have undertaken a User Experience project in order to meet, or exceed, current UK accessibility legislation. We expect the website project to be completed in December 2020 and launched in January 2021.
3.2 Non-Accessible Content
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Images or graphics which may not have alternative text for speech recognition.
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Speech recognition doesn’t recognise embedded, 3rd party video content (e.g. YouTube).
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Occasional responsive issues with some browsers like Safari and Opera.
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Image Optimisation to improve website performance.
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Removing the underline from links makes it hard for colour-blind users to see them.
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Radio Buttons with very generic labels need to be enclosed in a field set with a legend explaining the label.
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Colour contrast needs to be reviewed, as 8 colours have failed the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
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A lack of visual cues when hovering over images or buttons to let people know they can be clicked on.
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Some images contain important information such as date and times, users who cannot visibly access them won’t be able to obtain the information.
3.3 Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
PDFs and other documents:
Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents. By September 2020, we plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages.
The accessibility regulations?do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018?if they’re not essential to providing our services. For example, we do not plan to fix ‘Question of the Month – January 2018 Report’ as it is not an essential document.
Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.
Live Video:
We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations. However, for large scale live video productions like Students’ Union elections, we aim to have a BSL interpreter on screen and in the physical audience.
4.0 Preparation of this Accessibility Statement
This statement was prepared in September 2020. The declaration made in this statement regarding compliance with?The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018 No.952?is accurate and based on an evaluation of the website's compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG) to AA standard.
5.0 Feedback & Contact Information
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 contact us:scommunications@uclan.ac.uk.
If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:
We’ll consider your request and aim to get back to you in 5 working days. (Please note, during particularly busy times of the year it may take us a little longer than usual to get back to you.)
If you cannot view the map on our ‘contact us’ page, call us on 01772 89 3000 for directions.
5.1 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).
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