accessibility roadmap

​We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website.  We plan to make the following changes to make the site more accessible:  
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• At the moment it is not easy for keyboard users to access the drop-down menus listed under our top-level menu headers. This makes the site hard to navigate and utilise for keyboard-only users.  By site launch we will create a site map (to complement our existing Site A-Z) and add clear links to each sub-page on the landing page of each site sub-section. We will look for a technical solution for this when we next review our content management software (Spring 2024).
  
  
• Although our pages are navigable when stylesheets are disabled, we will make improvements to pages that are less clear than others. We will seek ways to improve access to key pages (e.g. 'contact us', 'site map', 'A-Z', 'Privacy policy') from the site header and consider this issue when we review our CMS. We plan to make these page improvements in the coming months. 
  
  
• We will adjust the colour contrast of the text in the navigation bar to make it more accessible.  We plan to do this by December 2024. 
  
  
• We will check any existing video or audio content on the site is properly described and alternative formats provided or signposted. Video ‘play’ buttons will be to be added to all video content as a separate link where a ‘play’ icon has been included in the video image.  We plan to do this work by December 2024. 
  
  
• Any new website editors will be trained in good practice in relation to accessibility: writing clear link descriptions, non-visual instructions, use of header elements, addition of alt text to images, colour contrast checking, updating of the site map/A-Z and use of the WAVE accessibility tool to check new pages. We will do this before new editors work on the site.
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• Creating accessible documents: we will inform our staff about the creation of accessible Word and pdf documents so all documents on the site meet current standards relating to header fonts, link descriptions, accessible instructions, and include descriptions of images, charts and tables. This will be an ongoing piece of work. 

​Last updated 1st August 2023.