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OUCAGS Known Website Accessibility Issues

 

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons: 

Issues with Images

  • Some images do not have a meaningful text alternative and therefore people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1.

By September 2021, all images will have meaningful text alternative. Purely decorative images will have blank alt text.  

  • A small number of images include text as part of the image and therefore people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.5.

By September 2021, any image containing text will have a suitable text alternative that includes the appropriate image text.  

 

Issues with navigation, structure, links and keyboard operability

Navigation

  • Not all page titles adequately describe the page topic or purpose, which can result in people with cognitive disabilities being unable to quickly orientate themselves within the site and identify the purpose of the page without interpreting its entire contents. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.2. 

All page titles will be reviewed and any necessary amendments completed by September 2021. 

 

Structure

  • Not all headings are hierarchical and a small number of are redundant when styling is removed, making the site more difficult to access for users of assistive technology such as screen readers. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1. 

We are working with our developers to implement fixes for structural issues over the coming months. 

 

Links

  • Some links use text that is not meaningful or is out of context, which can result in users of screen readers not being able to understand the link without reading the surrounding text and users of speech recognition software being less able to target links accurately using voice commands. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4. 
  • Not all links with the same functionality are labelled consistently which can result in increased cognitive load for people with cognitive disabilities, causing them to become confused and unable to quickly orientate themselves within the site.

This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.2.4.

All links will be reviewed and any necessary amendments completed by September 2021.  

  • Some links to external sites open in a new browser window and some open in the same browser window making the site behaviour unpredictable, which can result in the site being less accessible for people with some cognitive disabilities and people who use screen readers. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.2.2.

All links to external websites will be reviewed and will open in a new browser window by September 2021. 

 

Keyboard operability

  • The Home Page carousel does not have obvious controls for users to stop the auto-rotate, which can cause people with cognitive disability that affect focus and concentration to be distracted making the site less accessible. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.2.2.
  • Some menus, links, buttons, and other controls cannot be operated using the keyboard alone, which can cause problems for people who are blind, have low vision and/or hand tremors. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1. 

We are working with our developers to implement fixes for these keyboard operability issues over the coming months.

 

Issues with contrast and visual characteristics

  • Some pages use visual characteristics (shape and location) to communicate instructions, which means that users who are unable to see or recognise information communicated using sensory characteristics are unable to perceive that information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.3. 

All pages with be reviewed and necessary amendments completed by September 2021. 

 

Issues with language and content

  • The line height, spacing between paragraphs and letter and word spacing cannot be changed without loss of content or functionality. This means that people with low vision, dyslexia or cognitive disabilities may struggle to read the text, or lose content or functionality. 
  • When using mobile or tablet devices, it may not be possible to dismiss or interact with some extra content (i.e. pop-up images) without moving focus or it disappearing. This may cause problems for disabled or sight impaired users as pop-up content may be accidentally triggered or pop-up content may not stay on the screen. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.13. 

We are working with our developers to implement fixes for these issues over the coming months.  

 

Issues with Content Management System (CMS)

  • The CMS code is being checked to ensure that it meets the robust accessibility criteria 4.1.1, 4.1.2 & 4.1.3. 

This will be done as part of an accessibility upgrade of the Haiku Content Management System to be completed by January 2021.  

 

Disproportionate burden

We do not consider any of the accessibility issues to be a disproportionate burden and aim to make the site fully compliant by September 2021. 

 

Content that is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

Third-party content

Our site includes third party content and functionality. This may direct you to a related service, link to another site or supporting documentation. We are not responsible for the accessibility of third-party content or to other sites we may link to.

Examples include:

  • YouTube videos
  • Equator network
  • The Academy of Medical Sciences
  • UKRI Medical Research Council
  • UK Foundation Programme

We will provide an accessible alternative to any third-party content that isn’t compliant.  

 

Third party platforms

We often create content which is hosted on third party platforms. This includes:

  • content we create for social media
  • video that we host on YouTube

We are responsible for ensuring the content we supply meets accessibility requirements; however, we are not responsible for the accessibility of the platform itself.  

 

Video content

This site has pre-recorded video content that was published before 23 September 2020, which is exempt from the accessibility regulations.  

 

Archived content

This site contains archived content, which is exempt from the accessibility regulations. The archived content consists of internal announcements and external news stories published prior to 23 September 2018, but which have not since been updated.  

 

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We want to provide the best possible experience for all our website visitors. To achieve this we will: 

  • Correct known issues
  • Check for accessibility all new features in the Haiku Content Management System (used to create this website) before they are made available
  • Check all new content for accessibility
  • Ensure that all content editors are trained on accessibility
  • Schedule periodic accessibility checks 

 

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 8th September 2020. It was last reviewed on 8th September 2020.

This website was last tested in August 2020. The test was carried out by the Oxford University Clinical Academic Graduate School Website Editor using a carefully chosen sample of pages and content types. The CMS has been audited for accessibility by the suppliers and the University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division Web Team.

The webpages were assessed manually using a combination of the following methods: