Accessibility Statement
Accessibility Statement for the School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences (PPLS) staff intranet
Website accessibility statement inline with Public Sector Body (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018
This accessibility statement applies to:
This website is run by the School of Philosophy Psychology and Language Sciences 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 300% without the text spilling off the screen;
- using your browser settings, change colours, contrast levels and fonts while retaining most functionality;
- experience no time limits when using the site;
- utilise tooltips at all points throughout the website.
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:
How accessible this website is
We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:
- some parts of the website may not be fully compatible with screen readers, in particular the organograms;
- speech-to-text assistive technology is not necessarily able to reach all parts of the website;
- alternative text is not present on all non-text content;
- not all links indicate whether they open a new window;
- colour contrasts do not necessarily meet the recommended Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 AA standard;
- users may not be able to access all content by using the keyboard alone or solely through tabbing;
- italicisation and continuous capitals can be found in some areas of the website.
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 staffhub@ed.ac.uk
- telephone 0131 650 3965
- 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.
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 staffhub@ed.ac.uk
- telephone 0131 650 3965
- 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 School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences and 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
- The way the content is presented affects its meaning, and a correct reading sequence is not programmatically determined
- There may not be sufficient colour contrast between font and background colours, especially where the text size is small
- Information is conveyed as an image of text rather than as text itself, making it not compatible with screen readers and other assistive technology
- Visual information to identify user interface components, such as keyboard focus, do not always have a sufficient contrast ratio
- Users are taken to new external links without warning to the user
- It is not possible to use a keyboard to access all the content
- There are not several ways to reach particular parts of the site due to incorrect labelling
- Input errors are not automatically detected, whereby suggestions for correction are not known or provided to the user
- Content is not robust enough that it can be interpreted by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies
Unless specified otherwise, a complete solution, or significant improvement, will be in place for those items within our control by June 2022.
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
We are not currently claiming that there is any content outwith the scope of the accessibility regulations.
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
We will continue to address the accessibility issues highlighted to deliver a solution or suitable workaround. Unless specified otherwise, a complete solution or significant improvement will be in place for those items within our control by June 2022.
As noted above, due to the complex nature of the information displayed and the content type, specifically mapping, it may not be possible to resolve all accessibility issues. However, 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 3rd November 2021. It was last reviewed on 3rd November 2021.
This website was last tested in October 2021. This website was tested by the University of Edinburgh’s Disability Information team in October 2021, using the Internet Explorer (19041.1052) alongside Mozilla Firefox (78.11.0esr), Microsoft Edge (91.0.864.59) and Google Chrome (91.0.4471.124) browsers. Internet Explorer is still commonly used by disabled people, due to its accessibility features and compatibility with assistive technology, as shown in a UK government survey:
UK Government Assistive Technology Browser Survey
However, a more recent world-wide usage levels survey for different screen readers and browsers shows that Chrome is increasing in popularity and is now the favoured browser for screen readers.
WebAIM: Screen Reader User Survey 2021
Because of this, and due to many websites not being designed for Internet Explorer, we also tested on Firefox, Chrome and Edge to ensure breadth and variety. Moreover, Edge is the technical replacement for Internet Explorer, which in all likelihood will not be fully supported by Microsoft in the future.
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.