Accessibility

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Accessibility statement

This statement applies to content published on the www.invasivespecies.scot domain.

This website is run by NatureScot. 

It is designed to be used by as many people as possible. For example, you should be able to:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts
  • zoom in up to 300% 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
  • listen to most of 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.

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

How accessible this website is

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

  • some pages and document attachments are not clearly written
  • some pages have poor colour contrast
  • some heading elements are not consistent
  • some images do not have good alternative text
  • some buttons are not correctly identified
  • some error messages are not clearly associated with form controls
  • some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
  • keyboard only users cannot skip to the main content 

How to request content in an accessible format

If you need information in a different format contact us and tell us:

  • the web address (URL) of the content
  • your name and email address
  • the format you need, for example, HTML or accessible PDF

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

If you have any difficulties accessing any areas of this website or have any queries or suggestions. Please send us your comments using our Feedback form.

Enforcement procedure

If you contact us with a complaint and you’re not happy with our response contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

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’).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

NatureScot is committed to making its websites 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.

Non-accessible content

The content that is not accessible against WCAG 2.1 AA criteria, is 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: 1.1.1 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) 

Heading markup is missing for headings. This fails under: 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A) and 2.4.6 Headings and Labels (Level AA) 

List markup is missing for list items.  This fails under: 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A) 

Landmarks are not used correctly on the page.  This fails under: 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A) 

An input has an incorrect programmatic purpose.  This fails under: 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A) and 1.3.5 Identify Input Purpose (Level AA) 

Labels for form fields are missing or are not accurate.  This fails under: 1.3.1 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), 3.3.3 Error Suggestion (Level AA) and 4.1.3 Status Messages (Level AA) 
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) 
 
Text cannot be resized without loss of content.  This fails under: 1.4.4 Resize text (Level AA) 
   
Content is not keyboard accessible.  This fails under: 2.1.1 Keyboard (Level A) 

Keyboard shortcuts cannot be turned off.  This fails under: 2.1.4 Character Key Shortcuts (Level A) 

There is no indication of focus for keyboard users.  This fails under: 2.4.7 Focus Visible (Level AA) 

The default focus indicator is not always clear.  This fails under: 2.4.7 Focus Visible (Level AA) 

Link text is not descriptive of the destination page.  This fails under: 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context) (Level A) 

Link text could be improved by providing some context.  This fails under: 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context) (Level A) 

Button text is missing. This fails under: 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions (Level A) and 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (Level A) 

Button text is not descriptive of purpose.  This fails under: 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions (Level A) and 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (Level A) 

Link text does not inform users of a change of context.  This fails under: 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context) (Level A) and 3.2.5 Change on Request (Level AAA) 

Telephone number provided in a text format.  This fails under: 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A) 

Alternative methods of finding content are not provided.  This fails under: 2.4.5 Multiple Ways (Level AA) 

Some of the text on the page is not in the primary language, but this has not been marked up in the code.  This fails under: 3.1.2 Language of Parts (Level AA) 

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) 

Components are missing appropriate name, role or value.  This fails under: 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (Level A) 

Frames are not programmatically identifiable.  This fails under: 2.4.2 Page Titled (Level A) and 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (Level A) 

Users have to scroll across two dimensions to access content.  This fails under:  1.4.10 Reflow (Level AA) 

Content is restricted when orientation changes.  This fails under: 1.3.4 Orientation (Level AA) 

Text is difficult to understand due to the text style properties.  This fails under:  1.4.12 Text Spacing (Level AA) 

There is no mechanism to dismiss additional content.  This fails under: 1.4.13 Content on Hover or Focus (Level AA) 

A down-event selects a function.  This fails under: 2.5.2 Pointer Cancellation (Level A) 

We plan to fix the majority of these issues by the 28 February 2021. When we publish new content, we will make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.

Content that is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

The following content does not need to comply with the accessibility requirements:

  • Third party content out with our control or not developed by NatureScot
  • Interactive maps and Story Maps
  • YouTube videos
  • PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018
  • PDFS containing map images
  • Live audio and video
  • Pre-recorded audio and video published before 23 September 2020

Improvements Road map for PDFs and other documents

Many documents are not accessible in a number of ways including missing text alternatives and missing document structure.

The site contains some documents published after September 2018. Every effort will be made to convert these to an accessible HTML format. Priority will be given to those that require immediate attention and with higher traffic volume.

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they are not essential to providing our services.

Other NatureScot Services

Each service has its own accessibility page, with details of how accessible the service is, how to report problems and how to request information in an alternative format. You can access these pages from the footer inside the service.

How we tested this website

This website was tested for compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 level A and level AA, using the services of an independent Accessibility advisory.

We used the Website Accessibility Conformance Evaluation Methodology (WCAG-EM) approach to decide on a sample of pages to test. This included the Home page and other representative pages including, standard content pages with embedded media such as images, videos, iframes, maps, image galleries, forms, listing pages, news pages, FAQ pages and gateway pages. 

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We plan to identify and fix issues according to the timescales shown for each area above.

This statement was prepared on 23 September 2020. 

It was last updated on 04 February 2021.

 

 

 

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