The statement covers this website (https://www.britishscienceassociation.org).

The purpose of the website to provide information, news and encourage partnership. It is run by British Science Association, who are committed to making this site as accessible as possible for persons with visual, hearing, cognitive and motor impairments.

Users are able to:

• change colours, contrast levels and fonts
• zoom in up to 200% 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
• navigate the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand. My Computer My Way has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

The British Science Association is committed to accessibility and will be auditing all of our organisational websites and platforms over the coming months. 

We are doing the following to improve the accessibility of this site, and the other websites and platforms we run:

• We have conducted an external audit to evaluate the current state of this site.
• We have had accessibility training to better understand existing accessibility issues that are currently present.
• We are planning to address the issues, based on the external audit, in the near future.

How accessible the website is

Although we constantly test our online platform to the WCAG 2.1 guidelines to ensure it works on both desktop and mobile devices, currently there are some barriers that may prevent disabled users access to the website, such as:

• Changes of content not communicated to screen reader users
  Users of assistive technologies are not made aware of dynamic status updates and changes of content. For example, a text indicating the number of results per page changes when the user activates the "Load more" element. This change is not communicated, so screen reader users will only know if the new content has appeared by inspecting the page.
• Error messages are not associated with incorrect input fields
  There are error messages which do not have a programmatic relationship with their relevant form fields. It means that screen reader users will not be informed of what the issue is when they navigate into one of those fields using the Tab keyboard key.
• Form fields are not associated with text labels
  There are form fields with visual text labels. They do not have a programmatic relationship with each other. It means that screen reader users will not know what is the purpose of such a field when they navigate into it using the Tab keyboard key.
• Links are distinguished using colour only
  Certain inline links are differentiated from the static text using colour only. For example, dark blue text is used to highlight a link within the block of text in black. The two colours do not meet the minimum contrast ratio requirement of 3:1. As such, users with colour-blindness may have difficulty finding links.
• The text does not have enough contrast ratio against the background colour.
  There are parts of the text which do not meet the minimum contrast ratio requirements. As such, users with low vision may find it challenging to read such a text

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in an alternative format, please contact us. We will consider your request and get back to you in 10 working days. 

• Email: [email protected]

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re 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 Louise Ogden:

• Email: [email protected]

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, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

The British Science Association is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance status

This website is not compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard. The non-compliances are listed below.

• Decorative images should have an empty alt attribute. This fails under: 1.1.1 Non-text Content (Level A)
• Link images do not describe the destination page. This fails under: 1.1 Non-text Content (Level A) and 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context) (Level A)
• Content has heading markup, but is not a heading. This fails under: 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A) and 2.4.6 Headings and Labels (Level AA)
• Information conveyed through the presentation is not replicated programmatically. This fails under: 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A)
• Layout tables need role="presentation". This fails under: 3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A)
• Data tables are missing table header markup. This fails under: 3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A)
• Landmarks are not used correctly on the page. This fails under: 3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A)
• List markup used on non-list items. This fails under: 3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A)
• List markup is misused. This fails under: 3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A)
• Form fields are not associated with text labels. This fails under: 3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A)
• An input has an incorrect programmatic purpose. This fails under: 3.5 Identify Input Purpose (Level AA)
• Required fields are not clearly marked. This fails under: 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions (Level A)
• Labels for form fields are missing or are not accurate. This fails under: 3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A), 2.4.6 Headings and Labels (Level AA), and 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions (Level A)
• When a user submits a form and an error is detected, non-sighted users aren't aware of the error notification. This fails under: 3.3.1 Error Identification (Level A) and 4.1.3 Status Messages (Level AA)
• Errors that apply to groups of controls need to be programmatically associated with that group. This fails under: This fails under: 3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A)
• Error suggestion is not clear. This fails under: 3.3.3 Error Suggestion (Level AA)
• Information is being conveyed using colour alone. This fails under: 1.4.1 Use of Color (Level A)
• Dynamic changes or status updates are not being conveyed to assistive technologies. This fails under: 1.3.3 Sensory Characteristics (Level A) and 4.1.3 Status Messages (Level AA)
• Colour contrast of text is insufficient for users with low vision. This fails under: 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) (Level AA)
• Colour contrast across borders of interactive elements is insufficient for users with low vision. This fails under: 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast (Level AA)
• Colour contrast on UI elements is insufficient for users with low vision. This fails under: 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast (Level AA)
• Content is not keyboard accessible. This fails under: 2.1.1 Keyboard (Level A)
• There is no indication of focus for keyboard users. This fails under: 2.4.7 Focus Visible (Level AA)
• Focus order is incorrect or illogical. This fails under: 2.4.3 Focus Order (Level A)
• Link text is not descriptive of the destination page. This fails under: 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context)
• Link path is broken (does not take the user to a new location). This fails under: 3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A)
• Code quality issues (parsing) mean that some of the content may not be accessible via software used by people with disabilities. This fails under: 4.1.1 Parsing (Level A)
• Expanding controls need appropriate name, role and value. This fails under: 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (Level A)
• An accessible label does not match the visual label. This fails under: 2.5.3 Label in Name (Level A)

We will begin addressing these issues in September 2020.

When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 25 August 2020. It was last reviewed on 23 November 2021.

This website was last tested on 20-25th August 2020. The test was carried out by Dig Inclusion Ltd (www.diginclusion.com).