Accessibility Statement

This website has been designed in order to be accessible to all users, and to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA).

The DDA was passed in 1995 (updated 1999 & 2004) to end the discrimination facing many disabled people, including when using the Internet. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) were set out by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) in 1999 to give checkpoints for accessible web design that complies with the DDA.

This website follows the Priority 1 and 2 guidelines relating to accessibility as set out by the WC3. Please see below for a summary of how the site meets these terms, as well as the Priority 3 guidelines.

Further information regarding the DDA can be found at the Disability Rights Commission. The World Wide Web Consortium have many good resources on making the Internet accessible, as well as on their push for global web design standards.

Accessibility

Priorities

Priority 1

A Web content developer must satisfy this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it impossible to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint is a basic requirement for some groups to be able to use Web documents.

Priority 2

A Web content developer should satisfy this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it difficult to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint will remove significant barriers to accessing Web documents.

Priority 3

A Web content developer may address this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it somewhat difficult to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint will improve access to Web documents

Main Guidelines

1. Provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content
2. Don't rely on color alone
3. Use markup and style sheets and do so properly
4. Clarify natural language usage
5. Create tables that transform gracefully
6. Ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully
7. Ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes
8. Ensure direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces
9. Design for device-independence (image maps)
10. Use interim solutions
11. Use W3C technologies and guidelines
12. Provide context and orientation information
13. Provide clear navigation mechanisms
14. Ensure that documents are clear and simple

Summary of how this site follows Priority 1 Guidelines

1. The content on all pages is readable without the style sheets, colour, scripts and applets (1, 6)
2. All images, animations and buttons have alternative "alt" descriptions that can be read by screen readers (1)
3. Any multimedia containing important information has an alternative flat-image or text-only version (1)
4. All tables used for layout have captions to clarify their layout-only use (5)
5. The pages do not rely on colour for navigation (e.g. "click on the green button to proceed") (2)
6. The site uses the simplest and most straight-forward language possible (14)

Summary of how this site follows Priority 2 Guidelines

1. This site uses style sheets (CSS) to format text and layout (3, 11)
2. In a few instances absolute positioning is used, but content is still readable without the positioning (3)
3. No pop-up or new windows are opened (10)
4. All link phrases make sense when read out (14)

Summary of how this site follows Priority 3 Guidelines

1. The primary natural language of the site is identified (4)
2. All tables have summaries of their content or their use only for layout purposes (5)

At present, this site does not follow all of the Priority Three guidelines, nor offer a text-only version of the site. However, we strive to make the website accessible to all. If you are not able to view any crucial content of this site please contact us.