Accessibility Statement for PeaceRep
Website accessibility statement in line with Public Sector Body (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018
This accessibility statement applies to:
peacerep.org
This website is run by PeaceRep: The Peace and Conflict Resolution Evidence Platform (formerly Political Settlements Research Programme) in the School of Law at The University of Edinburgh. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this application. For example, that means you should be able to:
- change colours, contrast levels and fonts
- zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen
- navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
- experience no time limit upon use
We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand. However, some of our content is technical and academic, and we use technical and academic 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:
- It may be difficult to use this site with screen readers
- Access to all content may not be possible by using the keyboard alone, with the point of navigation not immediately clear, and the main menu subheadings not navigable by keyboard
- Not all PDF documents are fully accessible
- Not all videos have transcripts or captions
- Some interactive content is not fully accessible, including our interactive infographics
- Not all colour contrasts meet the recommended Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA standard
- Images on pages do not always have alternative text, although some are purely decorative
- Some heading elements are inconsistent and out of order
- Italics is used in referencing
- Some links open new tabs or browser windows without warning
Feedback and contact information
If you need information on this website in a different format, including accessible PDF, large print, audio recording or braille, please contact the PeaceRep Research Programme:
- Email: peacerep@ed.ac.uk
- Mail: PeaceRep, Edinburgh Law School, The University of Edinburgh, Old College, South Bridge, Edinburgh, EH8 9YL
- British Sign Language (BSL) users can contact us via Contact Scotland BSL, the on-line BSL interpreting service.
We will consider your request and get back to you within 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 the PeaceRep Research Programme:
- Email: peacerep@ed.ac.uk
- Mail: PeaceRep, Edinburgh Law School, The University of Edinburgh, Old College, South Bridge, Edinburgh, EH8 9YL
- British Sign Language (BSL) users can contact us via Contact Scotland BSL, the on-line BSL interpreting service.
We will consider your request and get back to you within 5 working days.
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 websites and applications 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 do not comply with the WCAG 2.2 AA success criteria:
- Not all PDFs and Word documents meet accessibility standards.
- Not all video and audio content has text alternatives.
- The order of heading tags is not ordered correctly on all pages. Heading levels are occasionally skipped and used inconsistently.
- In some places there is not sufficient colour contrast between font and background colours.
- It is not possible to use a keyboard to access all the content. The main navigation subheadings are not accessible by keyboard. The interactive infographics cannot be navigated by keyboard only.
- On some pages, keyboard focus is not visible.
- The purpose of links cannot always be determined from the link text alone.
We aim to improve our website’s 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 November 2024. The site is fully within 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 do not believe there is any content that is not within the scope of the regulations.
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
We will continue to address the accessibility issues highlighted. Where issues are within our direct control, we will work to provide a significant improvement by November 2024 and aim to resolve all issues by April 2025. We will prioritise the issues we have identified with the use of keyboard navigation, the use of screen readers, and PDF and video accessibility with the aim of resolving these as quickly as possible.
We have completed testing using automated tools and partial manual testing. This website is on a waiting list for full manual testing, and we will update this statement accordingly with the results and aim to resolve issues as quickly as possible.
While we are in the process of resolving these accessibility issues, or where we are unable, we will ensure reasonable adjustments are in place to make sure no user is disadvantaged. As changes are made, we will continue to review accessibility and retest the accessibility of this website.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 31 January 2024. It was last reviewed on 31 January 2024.
This website was tested by the PeaceRep communications team in January 2024, primarily using Firefox and Chrome browsers.
Recent world-wide usage levels survey for different screen readers and browsers shows that Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge are increasing in popularity and Google Chrome is now the favoured browser for screen readers:
WebAIM: Screen Reader User Survey
We carried out automated testing using WAVE WebAim as well as partial manual testing. We tested a sample of pages that represent most of the various page formats found on this website, including Home, About, Publications Database, Infographics, and News.
We tested:
- Scaling using different resolutions
- Options to customise the interface (magnification, font, background colour)
- Keyboard navigation
- Warning of links opening in a new tab or window
- Information conveyed in colour or sound only
- Use with assistive software e.g Read&Write
- Text alternatives for any non-text content