Our accessibility statement covering the use of this website inline with Public Sector Body (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 within the scope of the W3C Techniques and Failures for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0.
This web site is run by the University of Edinburgh School of Social and Political Science and is a School-supported service at the University of Edinburgh. This website is built on the open-source software applications Drupal 9. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this service. This means that for example using tools and techniques you should be able to:
- change colours, contrast levels and fonts
- zoom in up to 200% 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)
- The system will not time you out other than after periods of long inactivity
We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand and encourage staff and students to do the same with the content of their content. We provide training and guidance on how to write for the web and creating accessible content.
On WordPress sites functionality can be extended by the installation of existing plugins or the creation of new plugins. Site owners can change how individual blog sites look by installing existing themes or creating new ones.
Other accessibility statements
The University’s website accessibility statement is part of the guidance that addresses equality of access to University information and services.
Accessibility statement: Our commitment to accessibility
Customising the service
AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability:
AbilityNet - My computer my way
If you are a member of University staff or a student, you can use the free SensusAccess accessible document conversion service:
Information on accessible document conversion service - SensusAccess
How accessible this service is
We know some parts of our websites are not fully accessible:
- some parts may not be fully compatible with screen readers
- it is not possible to easily access all content by using the keyboard alone
- not all media will have a transcript or be subtitled
- some older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
- the colour contrasts of all themes won’t always meet the recommended WCAG 2.1 AA standards
- there is limited use of italics and continuous capitals
- spellchecker tools are not available in all areas
What to do if you cannot access parts of this service
If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, audio recording or braille please contact the School IT Information Helpline by email at sps.support@ed.ac.uk.
We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.
Reporting accessibility problems with this service
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 please let us know by email at sps.support@ed.ac.uk.
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
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 service’s accessibility
The University of Edinburgh is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
PDFs and other documents
Some older PDFs and Word documents may 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).
WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value)
The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.
Regulations for PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 11 May 2023. The testing was carried out by the Web and Systems team sampling a selection of pages.
We also regularly run reports using Little Forest, WebAIM WAVE Web Accessibility evaluation tools and other reporting tools. The testing is followed by manual prioritisation of any issues with key user journeys.
Additional guidance
Customising our site
With a few simple steps you can customise the appearance of our website to make it easier to read and navigate.
Display settings
In order to make our website easier to read and navigate, you can change display settings such as:
- text size
- colour and contrast
- screen magnification
Guidance on how to improve accessibility and customise your settings for internet browsers
Different browsers and operating systems provide varying ways of customising your experience so as to maximise accessibility. The following external links provide guidance on those customisations for each named browser:
Internet Explorer
This website has not been tested with Internet Explorer (IE). Microsoft has discontinued full support of IE.