Accessibility
The University of Oxford is committed to providing an accessible web presence that gives members of the public and members of the University community full access to University information, courses and activities offered publicly through the web. Our Equality Policy outlines our commitment to a culture which ‘maintains a working, learning and social environment in which the rights and dignity of all its staff and students are respected’.
This accessibility statement applies to the Oxford Simulation, Teaching and Research website: www.oxstar.ox.ac.uk.
OUR AIMS
This website is run by the Website Editor at the Oxford Simulation, Teaching and Research Centre.. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:
- change colours, contrast levels and fonts
- zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
- navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
- 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)
We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.
AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.
THE ACCESSIBILITY OF THIS WEBSITE
We are aware that some parts of our website are not fully accessible. These include:
- Not all images have a meaningful text alternative
- Some images include text as part of the image
- Not all page titles are unique or clearly indicate the page’s topic or purpose
- Some link text isn’t meaningful out of context
- Some links to external sites open in a new browser window and some open in the same browser window
- Some audio content is not accompanied by audio description or text alternative
- Some video content does not have fully synchronised captions
- Some video content that contains visual information is not accompanied by audio description or text alternative
- Some video or animation content may contain content that flashes more than three times a second
- When CSS styling is removed from some pages, the content may not be in logical order
- Some pages use shape, size, colour, or location to communicate instructions or information
- Older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
- We are working to address areas where our accessibility needs improvement. Please see ‘Known issues’ below for more details.
FEEDBACK AND CONTACT INFORMATION
If you need information on this website in a different format, please contact:
Website Editor,
Nuffield Division of Anaesthetics
Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences
University of Oxford
John Radcliffe Hospital
Oxford
OX3 9DU
Email: oxstar@ndcn.ox.ac.uk
We will consider your request and get back to you within 14 days.
REPORTING ACCESSIBILITY PROBLEMS WITH THIS WEBSITE
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, contact:
Website Editor,
Nuffield Division of Anaesthetics
Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences
University of Oxford
John Radcliffe Hospital
Oxford
OX3 9DU
Email: oxstar@ndcn.ox.ac.uk
OTHER ACCESSIBILITY RESOURCES
If you’d like more information about accessibility and resources for students, staff and visitors in Oxford more generally, please visit our Equality and Diversity pages. If you’re looking for information on building accessibility, please try the Access Guide or the University’s interactive map.
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).
TECHNICAL INFORMATION ABOUT THIS WEBSITE’S ACCESSIBILITY
The Oxford Simulation, Teaching and Research Centre is committed to making its website 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 version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliance and exemptions listed on our ‘Known Issues page’.
KNOWN ISSUES
NON-COMPLIANCE WITH THE ACCESSIBILITY REGULATIONS
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons:
ISSUES WITH VIDEO, AUDIO AND IMAGES
Video
- Not all video content has a transcript, making the content inaccessible to users who cannot see. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.1.
All video content added to the website after 23 September 2020 will have a transcript.
- Not all video or audio content has captions that are synchronised to the audio content of the video, making them inaccessible to people who cannot hear. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.2.
All video and audio content added to the website after 23 September 2020 will have captions.
- Not all video content has audio descriptions of important visual information that doesn’t have audio, making this inaccessible to people who can’t see. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.5.
All video content added to the website after 23 September 2020 will have audio description.
- Some video or animation content may contain content that flashes more than three times a second. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.3.1.
All video and animation content containing content that flashes more than three times a second will be removed or replaced with compliant content.
Audio
- Not all audio only files have a transcript, making the content inaccessible to website users who cannot hear. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.1.
All audio only files added to the website after 23 September 2020 will have transcripts.
Images
- Some images do not have a meaningful text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1.
All images will have meaningful text alternative. Purely decorative images will have blank alt text and infographics and charts will have a link to a full description of the content.
- Some images include text as part of the image, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.5.
All images containing text will have a suitable text alternative to include the image text.
ISSUE WITH NAVIGATION, STRUCTURE, LINKS AND KEYBOARD OPERABILITY
Navigation
- Not all page titles are unique and indicate the page’s 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 fixed.
- Tables do not have a table header row, making them less accessible to people using assistive technology. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1.
- Not all forms have labels indicating the purpose of the field that they relate to, which can result in people with reading difficulties having problems understanding the purpose of the content and users of screen readers being unable to easily navigate the form.
We are working with our developers to implement fixes for these navigation issues over the coming months.
Structure
- Not all headings are hierarchical, making the site more difficult for users of assistive technology such as screen readers to access. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1.
- Heading have on occasion been used to highlight information rather than for headings, making the site more difficult for users of assistive technology to use. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.3.1 and 2.4.6.
We are working with our developers to implement fixes for these structural issues over the coming months.
Links
- Some links do not use text that is meaningful 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.
All links will be reviewed and fixed.
- 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.
Keyboard operability
- Carousels do 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, USE OF COLOUR AND VISUAL CHARACTERISTICS
- Some elements have low contrast levels (e.g. image copyright), which can result in text being difficult to read, especially for people with low vision, poor eyesight or colour blindness. This fails the WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.4.3.
We are working with our developers to implement a fix for this issue over the coming months.
- Some pages use colour as the sole way to convey important information, which means that users who cannot see colour are unable to perceive the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.1.
- All pages with be reviewed and fixed.
- Some pages use visual characteristics (shape, size, colour or 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 fixed.
ISSUES WITH LANGUAGE AND CONTENT
- Where the language of all or part of a page isn’t English this isn’t defined in the html, which can result in screen readers being unable to correct read the text. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.1.1 and 3.1.2.
- 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. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.12.
- 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 DOCUMENTS, INCLUDING WORD FILES, POWERPOINTS, PDFS
- Many of the documents (Word and PDF) on this site do not meet accessibility standards, which could result in them not being fully accessible to users of screen readers.
Documents that are essential to the service we provide will be either converted to HTML pages or replaced with accessible versions.
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 in Autumn 2020.
DISPROPORTIONATE BURDEN
We do not consider any of the accessibility issues to be a disproportionate burden and aim to make the site fully compliant.
CONTENT THAT’S 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 link to.
This includes:
- YouTube and Vimeo videos
- Sound Cloud audio files
- Google maps
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 which we host on YouTube, SoundCloud or Vimeo
- data we supply to national databases
We are responsible for ensuring the content we supply meets accessibility requirements; however, we are not responsible for the accessibility of the platform itself.
DOCUMENTS (WORD & PDF)
This site has a number of Word and PDF documents which were published before September 2018. These aren’t essential to the service we provide and won’t be replaced. If you experience any difficulties accessing these documents, please email oxstar@ndcn.ox.ac.uk
VIDEO AND AUDIO CONTENT
This site has pre-recorded audio and 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.
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:
- Fix known issues
- Check all new features in the Haiku Content Management System (CMS), which is used to create this website, for accessibility before they are made available
- Check all new content for accessibility
- Train all content editors on accessibility
- Carry out periodic accessibility checks
PREPARATION OF THIS ACCESSIBILITY STATEMENT
This statement was prepared on 17 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 17 September 2020.
This website was last tested in August 2020. The test was carried out by the Communications and Public Engagement Manager at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences using a carefully chosen sample of pages and content types. The CMS has been audited for accessibility by the suppliers.
The pages were checked manually using a combination of the following methods:
- Checked against WCAG 2.1 guidelines, with a focus on the items in the Gov.uk’s WCAG 2.1 Primer Checklist.
- Viewed without style sheets
- Viewed on a small screen
- Checked using the WebAim’s Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool