• The legislation seems very much in terms of what is practical and appropriate rather than fixed standards - which is good in a way but it means we have to think...
• For that reason, do we know people in astronomy who have access issues?

My impression is that these are most likely to be

1. Dyslexia
2. Limited vision (ie not total blindness necessarily, although that would be no barrier to quite a lot of astronomy e.g. theory...)
3. Limited manual dexterity

but I don't know!

Maybe at some point we could send out an email...

Also, Starlink or PPARC might have information, although there is nothing obvious on the web sites. Many of these links have been provided by AntHolloway

Links:

Cambridge page - see under Technical Guidelines/ Validation and accessibility

Manchester page possibly not accessible from non-Manchester accounts but the ManchesterDyslexiaPage seems useful enough to attatch, although some links may not work. I reproduce below some of the external links from the Manchester pages.

Accessibility guidelines and checklists

W3 pages - very useful-looking.

(Section 2.4 of UK Govt web site guidelines - see checklist and links at bottom.

Accessibility validation

Toronto site Looks user-friendly, comprehensive and free

Bobby will cost for anything useful.

Free but 'beta'

WC3 general html validation

Articles

link from an IT Week article about access rights

Report on the accessibility of the BBCi site

Policy

WC3 summary of UK Policy and links: UK Govt handbook, see also Guidelines above

Manchester policy reproduced from internal pages:

An institution is required to take `reasonable adjustments' to ensure discrimination is avoided.

In assessing what is a 'reasonable' adjustment - educational institutions will have to consider:

• Whether the adjustment would affect academic standards

• Whether the financial resources are available for the adjustment

• Whether making the adjustment or additional provision is practical

• The effectiveness of the adjustment or additional provision

• Whether the adjustment would cause disruption to others

• Whether the student, or others, should provide the additional provision or services

• The importance of the service to which access is being sought

For more information about legislation pertaining to Web accessibility see the Web accessibility legislation links.

-- AnitaRichards - 06 Mar 2003