Accessibility
Our plans on making our web experience accessible.
THIS WEBSITE IS RUN BY MID DEVON DISTRICT COUNCIL. WE WANT AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS WEBSITE.
Mid Devon District Council endeavours to make this website as accessible as possible to everyone, including those with disabilities and those who use assistive technologies to browse the web. Some of the ways in which we strive to achieve this are as follows:
CHANGING COLOURS, FONT, TEXT SIZE AND OTHER SETTINGS
All modern browsers allow you to change colours and font sizes. We’ve tried to create a site which doesn’t get in the way when you change these settings.
For advice on changing settings, check out the BBC’s accessibility pages.
You can choose your operating system (e.g Windows), your Browser (e.g Internet Explorer) and the problem you’re trying to fix. You’ll then get lots of relevant advice on accessibility settings.
SCREEN READERS
A screen reader is a program which reads out the information displayed on your computer to you. Screen Readers can be useful to enable blind and partially sighted people to browse the internet and carry out other tasks using their computer.
There are a variety of Screen Readers available via the internet. The following websites contain information regarding accessibility software and resources:
PLAIN ENGLISH
We try to write in plain English and avoid jargon. If you don’t understand something, please let us know.
HOW ACCESSIBLE THIS WEBSITE IS
We know some parts of this website aren’t fully accessible:
- Link text is too generic.
- Information presented as Images is not accessible using a screen reader.
- Images don’t contain correct alternate text descriptions.
- Link identified only by colour.
- Pages contain hyperlinks with the same label but point to different locations that can cause confusion.
- No option to skip repeated content.
- No top-level heading on the page.
- Colour contrast is insufficient.
- Element not highlighted on focus.
- Audio that auto-plays must have a means to stop it.
- Audio Description or Media Alternative not provided.
WHAT TO DO IF YOU CAN’T ACCESS PARTS OF THIS WEBSITE
If you need information on this website in a different format please contact us using the details below:
Email: leisure@middevon.gov.uk
Call: 01884 234320
Letter:
Culm Valley Sports Centre
Mid Devon District Council
Meadow Lane
Cullompton
Devon
EX15 1LL
We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 2 days.
REPORTING ACCESSIBILITY PROBLEMS WITH THIS WEBSITE
We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems that aren’t listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements please contact us by using the contact us for reporting accessibility issues form, emailing leisure services leisure@middevon.gov.uk or phoning 01884 234320 to discuss the issue with an advisor.
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 IN PERSON
We provide a relay assistance service for people who are D/deaf, hearing impaired or have a speech impediment.
Our offices have audio induction loops, or if you contact us before your visit we can arrange a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.
Find out how to contact us by phone or visiting us in person.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION ABOUT THIS WEBSITE’S ACCESSIBILITY
Mid Devon District Council 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.
NON-COMPLIANCE WITH THE ACCESSIBILITY REGULATIONS
LINK TEXT IS TOO GENERIC
Link text is too generic for example “click here” and “more” which don’t indicate what they are used for. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4 Link Purpose.
Mid Devon aims to fix these issues by renaming the links to more meaningful descriptions as soon as possible by September 2020.
INFORMATION PRESENTED AS IMAGES NOT ACCESSIBLE USING A SCREEN READER
Some of the pages in our site display complex data in image format. This is inaccessible for screen readers. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.5 (Images of Text).
Mid Devon aims to fix these issues by also showing the information in a more accessible format such as HTML by September 2020.
IMAGES DON’T CONTAIN CORRECT ALTERNATIVE TEXT DESCRIPTIONS
Some images don’t have an alternative text description which indicates that the image is used for decorative purposes. At the same time there is a mouse over text (title attribute) present on the image. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text Content).
Mid Devon aims to fix these issues by also showing the information in a more accessible format such as HTML by September 2020.
LINK IDENTIFIED ONLY BY COLOUR
Links are only identified by colour which makes them difficult to distinguish from other content. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.1 (Use of Colour).
Mid Devon aims to fix these issues by also showing the information in a more accessible format such as HTML by September 2020.
PAGES CONTAIN HYPERLINKS WITH THE SAME LABEL BUT POINT TO DIFFERENCE LOCATIONS THAT CAN CAUSE CONFUSION
There are pages in the website which contain links with the same label such as “Contact us” but point to different locations which can cause confusion as to where they lead. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4 (A) Different adjacent links that use the same link text may be confusing.
Mid Devon aims to fix these issues by renaming the links to more meaningful descriptions as soon as possible by September 2020.
NO OPTION TO SKIP REPEATED CONTENT
There is currently no way to skip blocks of content that are repeated. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.1 (Bypass Blocks).
Mid Devon aims to fix these issues by adding skip to content blocks by September 2020.
NO TOP-LEVEL HEADING ON THE PAGE
Pages don’t contain top level headings which identify the content of the page. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships).
Mid Devon aims to fix these issues by adding top level headings by September 2020.
COLOUR CONTRAST IN INSUFFICIENT
Some Text has poor colour contrast between the text and the background which can give problems for users with visual impairments, colour blindness or when the website is viewed from a device in a bright environment. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.3 (Contrast).
Mid Devon aim to correct text where the contrast is not sufficient by September 2020.
ELEMENT NOT HIGHLIGHTED ON FOCUS
Elements are not highlighted on focus which can cause navigation issues as it’s difficult to know which element is selected. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.7 Focus Visible.
Mid Devon aim to fix this issue by September 2020.
AUDIO THAT AUTO-PLAYS MUST HAVE MEANS TO STOP IT
Some media that auto plays on the site does not have controls to stop, pause or mute. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.2 (Audio that auto-plays must have a means to stop it).
Mid Devon aim to fix this issue by September 2020.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION OR MEDIA ALTERNATIVE NOT PROVIDED
Some media does not have an alternative such as a text description or transcript. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.1 (Ensure there is a text description of this audio).
Mid Devon aim to fix this issue by September 2020.
DISPROPORTIONATE BURDEN
We have not identified anything that qualifies as disproportionate burden as of yet, but we are still evaluating our sites and may update this when we identify issues.
CONTENT THAT’S NOT WITHIN THE SCOPE OF THE ACCESSIBILITY REGULATIONS
Many of our older PDFs and Word documents don’t meet accessibility standards – for example, they may not be structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value).
Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents. By September 2020, we plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages.
The accessibility regulations don’t require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.
Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.
HOW WE TESTED THIS WEBSITE
This website was last tested on 16th September 2019. The test was carried out by Mid Devon District Council using Site Improve.
We tested:
our main website platform, available at www.middevonleisure.com
