20 May 2021
Today is Global Accessibility Awareness Day, a day to get people talking, thinking and learning about digital access and inclusion.
Accessibility is about making sure that everyone can use our website and online services. In the UK about 1 in 5 people have a long term illness or disability and even more have a temporary or situational disability. Most of us have been in situations that might make accessing a website difficult, on a train, in a bright or noisy room, multitasking, walking down the street and many more.
So while accessibility is crucial for some and can be the difference between being able to access online services or not, by making sure our online services are accessible we’re improving the experience for everyone.
Accessibility regulations
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are a standard for website accessibility and these are now part of the recent accessibility regulations. Over the last year, we have been working to make sure that our website meets the regulations. We’re not there yet, but we have been making improvements.
- We use an automated tool to check for accessibility issues across the whole site and carry out some manual testing
- Staff who have responsibility for updating our website have been trained in producing more accessible content
- We’re working through our PDF documents, many of which are not accessible. All our privacy policies, which up to now have been published as PDFs, are being converted to web content
- Our Digital Plan has been published as webpages instead of as a document which may not be accessible
- We’ve launched a Digital Inclusion Network that brings together expertise and resources from across the city to help engage and support those who might be digitally excluded
- Accessibility is considered when we are introducing new online services
We know we still have some work to do and will continue to design online services with accessibility in mind. Our accessibility statement has more information about how accessible this site is and is reviewed regularly.
If you have any comments or want to find out more email digital@plymouth.gov.uk