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Alma Accessibility Statement

Alma is Partially Accessible

The University of Cumbria take accessibility very seriously and want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. We are actively working to make the website more accessible to all people and compliant with World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) WAI’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1.

The Alma Platform is developed to meet the WCAG AA standards, for more information on the Alma Accessibility Page.

View our Accessibility Tools page to find accessibility tools and plugins to help improve your online experience.

You should be able to:

  • Understand the website text.
  • Zoom up to 200% without the need to use the scroll bar or lose content.
  • Change colours and contrast levels using browser extensions.
  • Navigate the site using different methods including a search facility.
  • Clear keyboard Focus.
  • Page titles are both unique and descriptive
  • navigate all the content using just a keyboard
  • be able to understand hyperlink destinations from the text description
  • navigate to all headings on the page using assistive technology
  • use text to speech tools to access content
  • Consistent navigation

How accessible is Alma?

  • When Zoomed to 300% & 400% the left and right scroll bar is needed as the page does not reflow
  • some of the colours and contrasts fail the WCAG guidelines
  • you cannot skip to the Main Content

 

What to do if you can’t access parts of this website

Self-help options

Alternative Formats

The University subscribes to an alternative formats service Sensus Access. This service will transfer most files into a chosen format e.g. an inaccessible PDF can be transferred to an accessible PDF, or a Word document can be transferred to sound. This service can be used directly by Students using their University email address. Alternative Formats

Assistive Technologies

You can access specialist assistive software on PCs and laptops throughout the university and also download free web based tools to enable you to fully interact with content. To find out more visit the assistive software page or download the AT Bar for free. 

University of Cumbria Support

If you are unable to access content or interact with the interface and would like an alternative accessible format, please contact us to discuss the most suitable options.

We will review your request and communicate with you in 7 days.

Reporting Accessibility Problems with this Website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. You can help us by reporting any barriers you encounter and contribute to our Accessibility Improvement plan. however if you find any problems that aren’t listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, please contact itservicedesk@cumbria.ac.uk.

 

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 web based system’s accessibility levels

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

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

There is further information included in the ExLibris Support Accessibility page including the supplier's assessment using a Voluntary Product Accessiblity Template (VPAT).

 

Non accessible content

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

1. Non-compliance with accessibility regulations

  • Zoom 300% and 400% requires the use of the left/ right scroll bar rather than reflowing the text. This makes interacting with enlarged text difficult and in some cases inaccessible to those with a sight impairment. This contravenes the 1 – 1.4.4, 1.4.5, 1.4.10 guidelines
  • Some colours and contrasts fail the required levels making it more difficult to view some text and reduce the user experience. Areas affected include:
    • Tasks Widget
    • Links in Alma Admin Sidebar

This is a 3rd party issue and we are in communication to improve/ correct the issue. This is being monitored via our improvement action plan, which is monitored and updated yearly. This contravenes the WCAG2.1 – 1.4.1, 1.4.3, 1.4.11 guidelines is a system issue managed by the 3rd party. We are however sharing the issues with the software provider and are hoping to correct the areas in contravention. This issue has been added to our accessibility Action Plan and will be monitored and updated yearly.

  • There is no Skip Links option available when using the keyboard to improve the user experience. This means that more tab strokes are needed to navigate the page, which impacts on the user experience This contravenes 1 -  2.4.1 and is a 3rd party issue. We are, however, communicating with the System Owners regarding this function and have added it to the Accessibility Action Plan, which is monitored and updated annually. The changes needed to achieve AA WCAG Guidelines and meet the Web Accessibility Regulations will be achieved through a planned accessibility improvement action plan to be reviewed and updated a minimum of 12 monthly. 

2. Disproportionate Burden

  •  We are exploring correcting issues at the moment before considering disproportionate burden

3. Content that’s not within the Scope of the Accessibility Regulations

  • None

How we tested this Website

We tested the most visited pages both manually and with the use of accessibility testing software such as Wave, a web accessibility evaluation tool WAVE and Accessibility Insights. This system was last tested on December 2024 by University of Cumbria.

 

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We are continuously working to improve the accessibility levels of Alma. A Basic Accessibility Check is carried out each year followed by a more detailed accessibility check, both assessments highlight the areas needing improvement. The identified issues are added to the system improvement action plan with a timescale for improvement or 3rd party communications on improvement.

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