Accessibility

Accessibility statement for East Durham College

https://edc.ac.uk/

This website is run by East Durham College.

We are aware that disabled people may have difficulty using our website, we are very sorry for this and wish to do everything we can to help you whilst we are working to resolve them.

If you find that you are unable to access any information on this website, please do get in touch using any of the following methods:

Call our Priority Helpline on 0191 518 8222

Follow this link to send us an Email: enquires@eastdurham.ac.uk

Use our accessible online chat details.

Or please use the form at the bottom of this page.

We aim to return all priority enquiries within 30 minutes during normal working hours.

How accessible this website is

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

  • The Virtual Tour cannot be used with assistive technology
  • The Pathways section on the courses pages cannot be used with assistive technology
  • Some of the images have Alt Tags that are either missing or incorrectly labelled
  • The website does not currently display correctly with the latest version of every browser
  • Some of the PDFs on this website are inaccessible

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, please contact us using the following information:

We’ll consider your request and get back to you within 1 working day.

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).

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

We provide a text relay service for people who are D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment. Please see further details below.

Our offices have audio induction loops, or if you contact us before your visit we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter. We have a small number of staff who are BSL qualified, however any such appointments would have to fit within their working patterns and may require at least 10 days notice.

Please contact us using the following information:

I am hearing-impaired and/or or speech-impaired – how do I make a text relay call?

To make a text relay call, you need to dial 18001 followed by the telephone number of the person you are calling.

You can access text relay using a range of equipment including textphones, PCs, laptops and smartphones.

To use text relay on a device such as a smartphone or computer you also need to download the free ‘Next GenerationText’ app from https://www.relayuk.bt.com or from a marketplace such as Google Play or the App Store. You can make a text relay call in a number of different ways and using a number of different devices. For example, you can use:

  • a standard landline or mobile telephone for the voice part of the call, and an internet-connected device (such as a PC, laptop, smartphone or tablet) to view the text;
  • a single device such as a smartphone. This will only work if you also have access to Wi-Fi, or if your device is able to handle a phone call and a 3G or 4G internet connection simultaneously.
  • For more information about which handsets can do this go to https://www.relayuk.bt.com. If you have a textphone, you can continue to use it, but you will not benefit from the enhanced features of next generation text relay, such as the ability to hear the other person’s voice and see the text at the same time.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

East Durham College 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 partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.1 A standard, AA standard and AAA standard. 

Non-accessible Content

A detailed audit of this website has been carried out and each page has been tested for the following areas. Each of these either directly or indirectly affect the accessibility of the website. 

  • Website Accessibility Errors Priority A
  • Website Accessibility Errors Priority AA
  • Website Accessibility Errors Priority AAA
  • Website Accessibility Errors for Screen Readers
  • Website Coding Errors that affect Search Engines
  • Website Coding Errors (W3C Standards)
  • Usability and Navigation Issues

In addition, a thorough manual evaluation of different aspects of this website has been undertaken.

If you would like a copy of the full accessibility report, please contact us using the details above.

The content listed below is non-accessible on one or more website pages for the following reasons:

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations (WCAG 2.1)

Priority A

Bad value for attribute autocomplete.
(Fails under WCAG 2.1 1.3.5 )

SVG elements with graphic role attributes must have an accessible name.
(Fails under WCAG 2.1 A 1.1.1 Section 508 (2017) A 1.1.1 )

The aria-labelled by attribute must point to IDs of elements in the same document.
(Fails under WCAG 2.1 A 1.3.1 Section 508 (2017) A 1.3.1 ARIA 1.1  )

PDFs must be tagged to be accessible by screen readers.
(Fails under WCAG 2.1 A 1.3.1 Section 508 (2017) A 1.3.1 Matterhorn 1.02 01-005 )

iframe and frame elements must have a title attribute.
(Fails under WCAG 2.1 A 2.4.1 Section 508 (2017) A 2.4.1 )

Use the lang attribute to identify the language of the page.
(Fails under WCAG 2.1 A 3.1.1 Section 508 (2017) A 3.1.1 Matterhorn 1.02 11-001 )

No space between attributes.
(Fails under WCAG 2.1 A 4.1.1 Section 508 (2017) A 4.1.1 )

Document title must not be blank.
(Fails under WCAG 2.1 A F25 Section 508 (2017) A F25 Matterhorn 1.02 06-004 )

alt text should not be an image file name.
(Fails under WCAG 2.1 A F30 Section 508 (2017) A F30 Matterhorn 1.02 13-004 )

Several links on a page share the same link text and surrounding context, but go to different destinations.
(Fails under WCAG 2.1 A F63 Section 508 (2017) A F63 )

Figures and images in PDF documents should have non blank ALT text, except for decorative images which should be marked as artefacts.
(Fails under WCAG 2.1 A F65 Section 508 (2017) A F65 Matterhorn 1.02 13-004 )

HTML form control has no accessible name.
(Fails under WCAG 2.1 A F68 Section 508 (2017) A F68 )

Each a element must contain text or an img with an alt attribute.
(Fails under WCAG 2.1 A F89 Section 508 (2017) A F89 )

All these issues we aimed to have resolved by 30th September 2023.

Priority AA

Control labels should be unique on a page, or be close to text providing context.
(Fails under WCAG 2.1 AA 2.4.6 Section 508 (2017) AA 2.4.6 )

Phrases in a different language should be in a span or div with a lang attribute. (Fails under WCAG 2.1 AA 3.1.2 Section 508 (2017) AA 3.1.2 )

Headings should not be empty.
(Fails under WCAG 2.1 AA G130 Section 508 (2017) AA G130 )

All these issues we aimed to have resolved by 30th September 2023.

Disproportionate burden

Not applicable.

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

General Website Content

PDFs

The PDF documents on this website may not be accessible. For example, they may be missing clear and simple document structure and missing text alternatives.

AAA Standard

Some pages have the following issues that fail the 'AAA' standard of the WCAG Guidelines. This is not currently a requirement but we include as it would be good practice to eliminate these in the future:

Audio description is provided for all prerecorded video content in synchronized media.
(Fails under WCAG 2.1 AAA 1.2.5 )

Sign language interpretation is provided for all prerecorded audio content in synchronized media.
(Fails under WCAG 2.1 AAA 1.2.6 )

Several links on a page share the same link text, but go to different destinations.
(Fails under WCAG 2.1 AAA 2.4.9 )

This page is hard to read for users with learning disabilities or reading disorders like dyslexia.
(Fails under WCAG 2.1 AAA 3.1.5 )

Avoid specifying a new window as the target of a link with target=_blank.
(Fails under WCAG 2.1 AAA F22 )

All these issues we aimed to have resolved by 31st December 2023.

The following issues may occur with screen readers:

iframe with title attribute doesn't work in some screen readers.

How this website was tested

This website was tested for compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines V2.1 level A, level AA and AAA using a variety of software, and extensive manual checking and testing.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We plan to identify and fix issues, which fail the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 A and AA standard by 30th September 2023.

We plan to identify and fix issues, which fail the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 A and AAA standard by 31st December 2023.

We will update the accessibility statement when issues are fixed or when we expect them to be fixed. 

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was originally prepared on 12th February 2023. The website was last review on 29th March 2023.

The review was carried out by Clive Loseby, with some additional support from two members of Access by Design’s Team of Disabled Testers. Access by Design

The full Audit, along with this Accessibility Statement, was prepared and produced by Clive Loseby, Access by Design. If you wish for a copy of the audit please contact us.

Page last updated 31st March 2023.

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