Accessibility

Ten per cent of web users have a disability that affects how they use their computers.

This includes people with:

visual impairments, for example, blindness or low vision
colour blindness
hearing difficulties, for example, deafness or hard of hearing
motor disabilities
cognitive and neurological difficulties, for example, dyslexia, dyscalculia, epilepsy and attention deficit disorder.

It is important to consider accessibility issues when designing websites so that people with disabilities can use them.

Under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and the Disability Discrimination Order (Northern Ireland) 2006, we also have a legal obligation to make our website accessible to all.

Our website and accessibility

Our website has been designed with accessibility in mind.

It complies with recommendations for UK government websites and Web Accessibility Initiative guidelines supplied by the World Wide Web Consortium.

Benefits of accessibility

There are many advantages to making our website accessible.

These include:

easier to use – clear navigation, well-written content and good colour contrast makes the site easier to use for everyone
bigger audience – making our site accessible means more people are able to visit it
environmentally-friendly – an accessible website reduces the need for alternate formats like large-print documents
it’s the right thing to do – an accessible website shows that we are committed to making our services available to as many people as possible.