Accessibility

<p>This website is run by Arts University Plymouth. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:</p><ul><li>change colours, contrast levels and fonts</li><li>zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen</li><li>navigate most of the website using just a keyboard use the site across multiple devices and browsers</li><li>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)</li></ul><p>This website’s default language is English (UK) and we have made the website text as simple as possible to understand. We recommend using your web browser’s in-built translation service to read our pages in another language. We recommend <a href="https://translate.google.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><strong>Google Translate</strong> </a>(compatible with Chrome, Firefox and most devices).</p> <p><strong><a href="http://google.co.uk/accessibility/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google's Accessibility sit</a></strong><a href="http://google.co.uk/accessibility/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><strong>e</strong></a> provides guides and resources to access the web and <strong><a href="https://mcmw.abilitynet.org.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">AbilityNet</a></strong> has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.</p>

<p>We know some parts of this website and it's associated staff and student portals are not fully accessible:</p><ul><li>Some video embeds may not include subtitles, but our recommended browser Google Chrome has built-in video captioning for content. Alternatively, we recommend toggling on Youtube and Vimeo’s closed captions. There is an option to obtain an auto-transcript via link on the video.</li><li>Some pages may not be suitable for keyboard users: Active Focus does not adequately highlight position on page.</li><li>There is no built-in zoom function on the website but browser zoom functions can be used.</li><li>Legacy content and auto-generated documents, such as course specifications are in PDF format and not fully compliant due to issues with the reading order, bullet points and tables.</li><li>PDFs may not be fully compatible with some screen reader software and do not meet accessibility standards.</li><li>Some buttons may not meet the text to background contrast ratio of 4:5:1. </li></ul>

<p>We are committed to improving accessibility for all on our university website and internal portals. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, please email <strong><a href="mailto:web@aup.ac.uk">web@aup.ac.uk</a></strong> and state what issues you are reporting and what you would like us to do.</p>

<p>If you need information on this website in a different accessible format like large print, easy read, audio recording or braille please contact <a href="mailto:web@aup.ac.uk"><strong>web@aup.ac.uk.</strong></a> We’ll consider your request and get back to you in five working days.</p> <p>If you cannot view our campus maps please <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/contact">contact us over the phone, email or live chat</a> for directions.</p>

<p>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 <strong><a href="https://www.equalityadvisoryservice.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS)</a></strong>.</p>

<p>Arts University Plymouth is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No.2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.</p>

<p>The university website is not compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the exemption listed below.</p>

<p>With our new external website currently in Beta Mode it would be a nugatory task for the Digital Content Editor and external agency to audit the existing website only for it to be immediately superseded by the new website. Taking cost and time into account it was agreed that this would be a disproportionate burden. However, any changes to make it more accessible have been made where possible.</p> <p>The university's internal portals are partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1, due to the non-compliances listed below.</p>

<p>The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons:</p><ul><li>Some of our video content does not have captions. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.2 (captions (pre-recorded).</li><li>Some of our video content may not have an audio description or media alternative. This fails WCAG 1.2.3 (Audio Description or Media Alternative (pre-recorded).</li><li>Some parts of our internal pages are not fully navigable using just a keyboard. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1 (Keyboard).</li><li>Some parts of our website may contain language that a screen reader may not understand fully and these are currently being reviewed. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.1.4 (abbreviations).</li><li>Some text does not have a contrast ratio of 4:5:1 with the background. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.3 (Contrast (Minimum).</li></ul>

<p>The content listed below is non-compliant for the following reasons:</p><ul><li>Active Focus does not adequately highlight position on page. </li><li>Assistive technology, such as screen readers should be able to identify text that is highlighted or important but does not always do so. </li><li>Solution to these issues lies within the coding of the pages (through Google) that provide the university's internal portal environment so cannot currently be rectified.</li></ul>

<p><strong>PDFs and other documents</strong></p> <p>Some of our older PDF or Microsoft Word documents do not meet accessibility standards - for example, they may not be structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value). Contact information has been provided to request an alternative format.</p> <p>Work is underway to replace those areas not meeting the success criterion with alternative documents such as HTML pages when the new website is complete and by the end of January 2021.</p> <p>The accessibility regulations <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018/952/regulation/4/made" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 </a>if they’re not essential to providing our services. Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards or Google Document ‘view only’ will be used instead.</p> <p><strong>Live video</strong></p> <p>We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018/952/regulation/4/made" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations</a>.</p> <p><strong>Third-party software</strong></p> <p>The external website utilises third-party plug-ins and widgets including Intercom Live Chat, Unibuddy, Casengo, and Mailchimp. Providers are selected with accessibility best practice in mind but WCAG 2.1 AA conformance for third-party content sits outside of the author’s control. </p> <p><strong>Virtual Tours</strong></p> <p>The university website features a 360 click-and-drag virtual tour of the university campus. Industry-wide there are currently no coherent tools to help screen readers navigate and launch hotspot content. Commissioning a bespoke solution would pose a disproportionate burden on the university and so users requiring an assisted tour of spaces throughout the university should contact <a href="mailto:liaison@aup.ac.uk"><strong>liaison@aup.ac.uk</strong></a> to arrange an alternative format (e.g personal walk-through over video call).<br /></p>

<p>Throughout 2020 the university has invested in the development of a new public website, improving CMS capabilities and user experience. The new website will have WCAG 2.1 best practice embedded to ensure users can effectively interact with all content. The external web developer and design agency, together with the university will ensure Perceivable, Operable, Understandable and Robust criteria is met through a combined approach of automated and manual in-house auditing. In the interim we are correcting high-priority issues on our ‘old’ pages and providing contact information for alternative format requests. </p> <p>The new website, developed with the WCAG 2.1 Accessibility Guidelines in mind, is expected to be complete in October 2020 when it will be subject to a further in-house accessibility audit.</p> <p>All video content on the internal website is being reviewed and transferred to auto-captioning for embedding. </p> <p>As part of our continuous review cycle, internal website pages are reviewed and updated for accessibility. University staff receive development training to improving accessibility and students are being provided with guidance on how to use assisted software and design for accessibility. </p>

<p>Arts University Plymouth’s websites were tested through September 2020. The test was carried out by the university, based on a sample of all site pages and with the assistance of individual departments using both manual testing and testing through Google Chrome Lighthouse. All flagged priority issues were investigated and addressed where possible.</p> <p>This statement was prepared on 18 September 2020. It was last reviewed on <strong>25 September 2020</strong>.</p>