Website accessibility for people with disabilities
We have tried to make our website as user-friendly as possible for everybody. However, we are always looking to improve and would like to know if there’s anything else we can do to make the site better for people with disabilities.
If you find it difficult to use any of our pages, please contact us. We will make every reasonable effort to either remove the barrier or provide the information in a more suitable format.
We have recently achieved the Royal National Institute for the Blind's See It Right Standard, which ensures our site can be accessed by everyone, regardless of ability or technology used. Read more about the See It Right Standard (new window).
We are also working towards ensuring that this Website conforms to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative's 'Double-A' standard (new window).
BrowseAloud
Our website offers a link to BrowseAloud (new window). This is a free tool that speech enables website content. It offers a practical website access service to people with reading difficulties and those who find it easier to listen to, rather than read the content of our website.
It assists in the navigations of our website for the following sections of the population:
- Those with low literacy and reading skills
- Those where English is not their first language
- Dyslexic people
- Those with mild visual impairment
You can download the Browsealoud software onto your computer, which will then allow you to hear the text on our site in spoken word.
This software is free to use and requires no registration.
Once you have downloaded it you simply go to any site that is speech enabled with Browsealoud and use your mouse or keyboard to select the text that you want to be read.
It will read the text to you one sentence at a time.
You can also set the type of voice, it's pitch, speed and volume to your own preferences.
Resizing text
If the text is too small for you to comfortably read, you can resize it following the instructions below for the two major browsers:
Internet Explorer 4
- Choose View at the top of your web page and select Internet Options
- Choose Accessibility in the bottom right hand corner
- Tick the two boxes that say Ignore font sizes specified on web pages
- Click OK, then OK again
- You can then alter the text size using View at the top of the website page and selecting Text Size
Internet Explorer Version 5 and later
- Choose Tools at the top of your web page and select Internet Options
- Choose Accessibility in the bottom right hand corner
- Tick the two boxes that say Ignore font sizes specified on web pages
- Click OK, then OK again
- You can then alter the text size using View at the top of the website page and selecting Text Size
All other browsers should be able to resize the text directly from the menu bar. Please see your browser help pages if you are having problems.
Opening in a new browser window
Links to external websites and some downloadable documents, including PDFs, will open in a new browser window. We inform you of this within relevant parts of our website.
Low graphics pages
Although not strictly text-only, these pages are quicker loading and useful if you do not need images or have a slow connection.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts control various browser functions and are a useful and quick way of navigating through a website.
For the majority of browsers, the Tab key can be used to navigate forward through the links (use the Shift & Tab to go backwards) and Enter to activate the link.
Other keys can also be used and these will vary depending on the browser and operating system you are using. To find the shortcuts for your browser, follow these steps:
Internet Explorer - Press your F1 key to open the online help and in the index type 'keyboard shortcuts', select the required option and click 'display'.
Netscape Navigator - Press your F1 key to open the online help and in the index type 'keyboard'.
Downloadable documents
Where possible we try to provide structured downloadable documents in multiple formats that many people can use, including pdf and rich text format. If a downloadable document prevents you from accessing information due to a disability, please contact us with a description of the document, what the problem is, and what we could do to help.
Some documents in PDF format require Adobe reader. Download Adobe (new window) Reader for free.
How to print PDF documents in large print
If you wish to print a PDF document in large print, please follow the simple print instructions below:
- Firstly select the PDF file you wish to open
- Select File
- Select Print
- Under the ‘Copies & Adjustments’ section (on the right) – select the box titled ‘Expand small pages to paper size’
- Select the number of copies required
- Select OK
Adobe Acrobat
'Adobe helps make electronic information (such as PDF's) more accessible to people with disabilities including but not limited to: blindness, low vision, hearing, or motor impairments.'
The latest version of Acrobat Reader includes accessibility support for people with visual impairment or motor disabilities. You can download this version for free from the Adobe (new window) website.
If you are interested in the accessibility features supported in Acrobat Reader, visit Adobe's Accessibility site at access.adobe.com (new window)