Introduction

Lancaster University has to meet the requirements of PSBAR. We all have a responsibility to make sure the University meets them, and we may be breaking the law if our websites or apps don’t.

At least 1 in 5 people in the UK have a long-term illness, impairment or disability – many more have temporary disabilities. At the university, there are nearly 3,000 students who have a declared disability, and others may require adjustments but don’t declare it.

But following the accessibility guidance will not only help all those that use assistive technology such as screen readers, magnifiers, special keyboards or speech recognition software, it will also help to make your services quicker and easier to access, and information easier to understand for everyone.

What is the difference between accessibility and inclusion?

For digital content to be considered 'accessible' disabled users should be able to open and use it with a variety of assistive technologies or techniques such as a screen reader or by tabbing through instead of using a mouse. It should also work on a variety of platforms - Windows, Mac, tablet, phone etc.

'Inclusive' digital content means most people should be able to use it without asking someone for additional assistance. Inclusion generally refers to a broader range of people.

PSBAR is intended to make digital content accessible to people with a disability or impairment, but the benefits will encompass a broader range of people such as those whose first language isn’t English, or who simply work in a noisy environment. Well-designed content will help everyone be more efficient.

Who is responsible?

Almost everyone!

By law, anyone at the University who publishes information, or makes content or resources available via the web or mobile applications, is responsible for ensuring it’s accessible.

This includes any websites hosted by the University, learning materials hosted in Moodle, WordPress sites, and services provided via a web browser (see the section further down about what is and isn't included).

My content isn’t intended for the web

If you create digital content you must always assume that it might find its way to a website, even if that’s not the intention at the time you created it.

Regardless of the law, you should always make digital content such as Office docs accessible as they will almost certainly be read in a digital format. If you don’t you are putting disabled users at a disadvantage and that’s unfair.

This will enhance the quality of your work and save YOU time making the document accessible later.

There's further guidance for specific content types on their individual pages - see the What do you do? section on the home page.

What is and isn't included in the regulations?

What is included?

Sites, apps and content covered by the law include:

• Content on the main University website
• Websites published by individuals or research groups (e.g. using WordPress or other software)
• Learning resources such as Word docs, PDFs and PowerPoints uploaded to Moodle spaces.
• Audio/visual content
• Content on the staff intranet/student portal including content behind a login
• iLancaster content
• Other mobile applications
• Applications with web interfaces (such as expenses, online surveys, room bookings, etc.)
• Any website connected to Lancaster's teaching, research or business - regardless of where it's hosted. Avoiding the www.lancaster.ac.uk domain does not let us off the hook!

What isn’t included?

Following the accessibility guidance generally means that your services will be quicker and easier to access, and information easier to understand. However, there are content types that are currently excluded from the regulations:

• Pre-recorded audio and video files created before September 2020 - that are no longer being shared
• Heritage collections like scanned manuscripts.
• Maps (but you’ll need to provide an accessible alternative where needed).
• Third-party content that’s under someone else’s control if you didn’t pay for it or develop it yourself - for example, content created elsewhere that you refer to in your Moodle space. However, you still need to provide an adjustment for disabled users*
• Content on intranets or extranets (e.g. a news article on the Staff Intranet) published before September 2019, unless you make a major revision after that date).
• Archived websites if they’re not needed to access current services.

For specific guidance on different content types, see the ‘What do you do?’ section on the home page.

*You need to be careful about copyright infringement (ie you cannot alter and republish to everyone, but it is probably permissible to alter for use by a disabled person)