Accessibility Statement

Website accessibility statement inline with Public Sector Body (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018

This accessibility statement applies to: https://pathways.is.ed.ac.uk.

This website is run by the Learning Applications Development Team, Information Services Group at the University of Edinburgh. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

• Use the website without encountering any cognitive function tests
• Use the website without encountering any activity timeouts
• Use the website without having to repeat information

We've also made the website text as simple as possible to understand. However, some of our content is technical, and we use technical terms where there is no easier wording we could use without changing what the text means.

Customising the website

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability. This is an external site with suggestions to make your computer more accessible:

AbilityNet - My Computer My Way

With a few simple steps you can customise the appearance of our website using your browser settings to make it easier to read and navigate:

Additional information on how to customise our website appearance.

If you are a member of University staff or a student, you can use the free SensusAccess accessible document conversion service:

Information on SensusAccess.

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

• User errors are not always identified and described to the user
• Some elements, including error messages and focus indicators, do not meet WCAG 2.2 AA minimum contrast ratio thresholds
• The website cannot be magnified up to and including 200% without loss of content
• Reflow is not supported up to 400% magnification
• Some information is conveyed by colour only, including links that are not underlined by default
• Some content cannot be reached by keyboard alone
• Keyboard navigation is sometimes illogical and unintuitive
• Focus indicators are inconsistently identified
• Some focus indicators are obscured by platform-authored content
• Not all images have alternative text
• The website is not fully compatible with assistive software such as screen readers
• There is dragging movement without a keyboard alternative
• All tooltips are not accessible by keyboard or by assistive software
• Link hypertext is not always meaningful
• Some links may open in a new tab without alerting the user of this
• Some content can only be accessed using a dragging movement
• The website is not fully compatible with landscape orientation
• Videos may not have human-corrected transcripts and captions
• Videos may not have audio descriptions
• Text as an image may be found on the website
• There may be flashing, scrolling, or moving elements that cannot be paused

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:

• Information Services online contact form: Get Support Form
• Email: IS.Helpline@ed.ac.uk
• Telephone: 0131 651 5151
• British Sign Language (BSL) users can contact us via Contact Scotland BSL, the on-line BSL interpreting service.

We'll consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We are 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 contact:

• Information Services online contact form: Get Support Form
• Email: IS.Helpline@ed.ac.uk
• Telephone: 0131 651 5151
• British Sign Language (BSL) users can contact us via Contact Scotland BSL, the on-line BSL interpreting service.

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

Contacting us by phone using British Sign Language

British Sign Language service

Contact Scotland 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 from 8.00am to 12.00am, 7 days a week.

Contact Scotland BSL service details

Technical information about this website's accessibility

The University of Edinburgh is committed to making its application/website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

The full guidelines are available at:

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA standard

Non Accessible Content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Noncompliance with the accessibility regulations

The following items to not comply with the WCAG 2.2 AA success criteria:

• Not all non-text items have alternative text
  • 1.1.1 - Non Text Content
• Information, structure, and relationships conveyed through presentation cannot be programatically determined or are not available in text, e.g.
• elements that are not contained in <ul> or <ol> tags
  • 1.3.1 - Info and Relationships
• The site is not fully compatible with landscape mode
  • 1.3.4 - Orientation
• Colour is used as the only visual means of conveying information
  • 1.4.1 - Use of Color
• Some elements, including focus indicators, do not have sufficient contrast ratios
  • 1.4.3 - Contrast (Minimum)
• Text cannot be resized up to 200% without loss of content
  • 1.4.4 - Resize Text
• The website does not reflow up to 400%
  • 1.4.10 - Reflow
• The website cannot be fully operated with a keyboard
  • 2.1.1 - Keyboard
• Components do not always receive focus in a logical order
  • 2.4.3 - Focus Order
• Links are not all formatted with meaningful hypertext
  • 2.4.4 - Link Purpose (In Context)
• Focus indicators may not always be clear
  • 2.4.7 - Focus Visible
• Focus indicators may be obscured by platform-authored content
  • 2.4.11 - Focus Not Obscured (Minimum)
• Some tooltips require dragging movements
  • 2.5.7 - Dragging Movements
• Links do not alert the user before opening a new tab
  • 3.2.2 - On Input
• Elements, such as error messages, are not consistently identified
  • 3.2.4 - Consistent Identification
• Input errors are not all described to the user in text
  • 3.3.1 - Error Identification
• Content is not robust enough that it can be interpreted by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies. E.g. there are nested interactive controls, some form elements do not have labels, some frames do not have an accessible name and Some elements so not only use permitted ARIA labels
  • 4.1.2 - Name, Role, Value

Students and staff upload content directly into Pathways and it is not possible to guarantee it is accessible despite guidance being provided. For example:

• Not all media may have human-corrected transcripts, captions, and audio descriptions
  • 1.2.1 - Audio-only and Video-only (Prerecorded)
  • 1.2.2 - Captions (Prerecorded)
  • 1.2.5 - Audio Description (Prerecorded)
• Some text may be as presented as an image
  • 1.4.5 - Images of Text
• There may be moving or flashing content the end user cannot pause
  • 2.2.2 - Pause Stop Hide
  • 2.3.1 - Three Flashes or Below Threshold
• Headings and labels may not describe topic or purpose
  • 2.4.6 - Headings and Labels

We aim to improve our websites accessibility on a regular and continuous basis. See the section below ('What we're doing to improve accessibility') on how we are improving our site accessibility.

We are working towards solving these problems and expect several improvements by July 2027. The site is fully under our control.

Disproportionate burden

We are not currently claiming that any accessibility problems would be a disproportionate burden to fix.

Content that's not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

At this time we believe no content is outwith the scope of the accessibility regulations.

What we're doing to improve accessibility

Preparation of this accessibility statement