NIHR ARC North Thames (ARC NT) strives to ensure that our digital environment is as accessible as possible, and that our website caters to people with a variety of digital needs and challenges.
The ARC North Thames digital environment includes our website, digital materials we produce such as videos, audio recordings and online courses (e-learning), and digital documents such as PDFs.
How accessible is this website?
The ARC NT website was developed by WPNC using Umbraco.
We want as many people as possible to be able to use the ARC NT website. This means it should be accessible to a wide range of users, including those living with conditions that may affect their digital experience.
You should be able to:
- understand the text used on the website. It should be clear and easy to read
- have access to images and video content. For example, you should be able to view videos on the device you are using and select subtitles with ease.
- search for anything you need on the website using the search box function
- 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
Some of our PDFs and Word documents don’t meet accessibility standards - for example, they may not be marked up so they’re accessible to a screen reader.
Web accessibility regulations don’t require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018, though we will make every effort to fix older documents, if they are essential to providing our services. For example, we don’t plan to fix documents related to old events.
We will ensure that any new PDFs or word documents we publish will be accessible with screen readers, or to provide an accessible webpage version of the documents.
Subtitles are automatically generated by YouTube for all of our videos, but we recognise that these are not always accessible. We do not currently automatically provide transcripts for all of our videos. If you require more accessible captions, or a transcript for a video, please contact us and we will do our best to meet your accessibility requirements.
We have an ARC NT Website Working Group, who meet up with the ARC Communications lead annually to review the functionality, design accessibility and user experience of the website. The Group discuss what works well and what needs to be improved, and their feedback is used to inform WPNC (our website developer) what changes need to be made.
We will be continuing our work with our Website Working Group to address any accessibility issues as they arise and improve website functions accordingly.
What is available to assist me with using this website?
There is a range of tools and software available that can assist people living with conditions that may affect how they access the website.
Microsoft and Apple both provide a variety of features that can assist you in navigating websites on your PC, MAC and tablet devices. Learn more about MAC’s accessibility features and Microsoft’s accessibility tools.
Other assistive technologies you may find useful include:
Screen readers
- Balabolka: read aloud or save text to a sound file so you can listen to it later.
- Orato: have your text read out loud and read along with word highlighting.
- NVDA: screen reader with advanced options (a free alternative to JAWS).
Coloured Overlay
- Ss Overlay: add a colour overlay to the screen with customisable transparency.
Magnifying glass
- Virtual Magnifying Glass: zooms the screen through a lens that follows your mouse
If there are other assistive technologies that you have found useful, please let us know and we can add them to this list.
What if I can’t access parts of this website?
If you need information on this website in a different format please contact us at arc.norththames@ucl.ac.uk.
Reporting accessibility problems with this website
If you find any problems that aren’t listed in this statement or think we’re not meeting the requirements of the accessibility regulations, contact us at arc.norththames@ucl.ac.uk.
Enforcement procedure
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the accessibility regulations. If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).
How we will continue to improve digital accessibility
ARC NT strives to ensure our website complies with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard. We aim to fix any issues which do not meet the accessibility regulations to the best of our ability by Jan 2023.
We will continue to review and test our website (arc-nt.nihr.ac.uk), and make changes according to the feedback and needs of RDS members and users. If you would like to provide us with feedback on the website, please do not hesitate to contact us by emailing arc.norththames@ucl.ac.uk.
This statement was updated in May 2022.