This AbilityNet webinar (23 July 2020) highlights what to do with your accessibility statement in light of the upcoming Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations (PSBAR) deadline (September 23), Include speakers: AbilityNet senior accessibility consultant, James Baverstock Alistair McNaught of McNaught Consulting George Rhodes of All AbleUK Nick Jarvis-Smith from the Department for Education

1. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
HE/Public sector update: Is your
accessibility statement ready yet?
Alistair McNaught, McNaught Consulting
George Rhodes, All Able
Nick Jarvis-Smith, Department for Education
James Baverstock, AbilityNet
Annie Mannion, AbilityNet (host) Thursday 23 July 2020, 1pm (BST)

2. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
• Live captions during the webinar – MyClearText
• Slides are available at www.slideshare.net/abilitynet
• Slides, a transcript and recording will be made available
• Please use the Q&A window to ask questions
• Feedback form to ask any follow up questions post-webinar
Welcome

3. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
• Alistair McNaught, McNaught Consulting
• George Rhodes, Accessibility Consultant, All Able
• Nick Jarvis-Smith, Department for Education
• James Baverstock, AbilityNet
• Annie Mannion, AbilityNet (host)
Today’s speakers

4. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
“We support people of any age,
living with any disability or
impairment, to use technology
to achieve their goals at home,
at work and in education.”
AbilityNet: A Digital World Accessible to All

5. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
• HE/FE accessibility statement before Public Sector
Bodies Accessibility Regulations deadline (23
September 2020)
• VLEs/library resources statements
• George Rhodes’ research into UK public sector
statements
• Covid-19 focus on essential services
• Q&A
Today’s session

6. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
• @Mark
Poll 1.
How confident are you that your accessibility statement
is compliant?

7. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
Accessibility statements: the basics
James Baverstock, Senior Accessibility Consultant, AbilityNet

8. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
• Providing an accessibility statement is a requirement of the
Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No.2)
Accessibility Regulations 2018 (PSBAR)
• By 23 September 2020 all public sector websites need a
statement to comply
• Deadline will not be extended due to COVID-19
Why are we talking about accessibility statements?

9. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
• Provide a detailed, comprehensive and clear
accessibility statement on the compliance of their
websites and mobile applications
• Regularly reviewed and updated
• Published in an accessible format in an easy to find
location on the relevant website
• Including the required content
Accessibility statement requirements:

10. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
• Name of the public sector body and the website/app the statement applies to
• A compliance statement: Fully compliant / Partially compliant / Not compliant
• Details of non-accessible content
• Why it is not accessible
• Indicating accessible alternatives
• Explaining any claims for disproportionate burden
• When the statement was prepared and updated
• Feedback mechanism and contact information
• Details of the Enforcement Procedure
What MUST be in the statement

11. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
• Sample accessibility statement to help
you write a statement for your own
website or app
• Some of the wording is legally required,
so make sure you include that in your
statement
• https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati
ons/sample-accessibility-statement
GOV.UK sample accessibility statement

12. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
Purpose of accessibility statements
What users
want
• Help users access your site
• Help users gain alternative formats
• Help users understand what parts of
the site they may struggle to access
• Help users report access issues
What
enforcement
needs
• Help users report issues to external
body
• Technical compliance reporting

13. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
• Sign-post support
• Explain built-in tools and options
• Develop technology strategies
• Manage expectations
• Facilitate early requests for alternative
formats and reasonable adjustments
Opportunity for student engagement

14. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
Beyond the website: Virtual learning
environments (VLEs), course content,
ebooks and journals
Alistair McNaught, McNaught Consulting

15. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
Improving the daily
digital experience.
• VLE,
• course content,
• ebooks & journals.
Beyond the website

16. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
Stage Luck Tokenism Standards Ownership Partnership
Typical quote “With luck
we won’t
have any
disabled
learners”
“We’ll help
you get DSA
funding”
“All our
systems meet
WCAG 2.1
AA”
“We train staff to
use digital tools
and resources to
maximise learner
independence”
“Disabled students
co-design courses &
assessment
approaches.”
Maturity
level
Low Minimalist Medium Active High
McNaught / AbilityNet Accessibility Maturity model
Putting it into context - maturity

17. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
Stage Luck Tokenism Standards Ownership Partnership
Typical quote “With luck
nobody will
notice we
didn’t write
one.”
“We did a
basic check
then copied
the GDS
example.”
“We adapted
the GDS
example
substituting
our own
findings.”
“We supported
platform owners
in embedding
long term
improvements.”
“We put the user
experience at the
centre, helping
them get maximum
experience from
our accessibility.”
Maturity
level Non-
intelligent.
Non-
compliant.
Compliant. Committed Transformative
Putting into context – mature statements

18. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
Mere compliance offers little real benefit to disabled users:
For example: 1
“…you should be able to navigate most of the website using just a keyboard.”
Example 2:
“Some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard and
screen reader software – you can contact us using the details below to ask for
alternative formats.”
Critiquing compliance

19. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
Our interactive infographics are difficult to navigate using just a
keyboard and screen reader software:
• Disability: what does the pay gap look like?
• Ethnicity: what does the pay gap look like?
• Gender: what does the pay gap look like?
• Timeline of our achievements
We do offer alternative formats. If you need information on this website in a different format
please contact our general enquiries team.
Better examples

20. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
• Formative - how I exploit accessibility features.
• Actionable - where I’ll hit problems and how I’ll work around them.
• Compliant - GDS audit will be satisfied.
• Transparent - auditing, remediation, disproportionate burden etc.
• Supportive - contact details, response times, links to DIY support.
From statements to FACTS

21. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
VLE statement
Fine art
Images
Engineering
Equations
Media
studies
Videos
Business
studies
Graphs
Medieval
literature
Scanned
text
A spectrum of statements

22. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
Welcome to the course! We aim to make everyone as
productive as possible with online content - for
example, you can ... Not all our resources and activities
work as well as we want yet. The problems we know
about are ... Please contact [Tutor name & details] for
support/alternatives if you need them. Found issues we
didn’t list? Let [Name/details] know. We're doing this…
to improve digital accessibility. There are some things
we can’t improve because ... but these DIY tips may
help you. Contact … if you need further support. We’ll
aim to sort or support within …days. Need to escalate a
complaint? – here’s the route. NB: the VLE has its own
accessibility information.
Course
• Scope, ownership
• What works (“You should be able to”)
• How accessible this website is (“You could struggle
because”)
• Feedback / contact information / Reporting problems /
Enforcement
• Technical information about this website’s accessibility
• Non-accessible content and what you’re doing about it…
• Non accessible but improving (what issues? fixed by
when?)
• Non accessible and Disproportionate Burden
• Non accessible and out of scope.
• What we’re doing to improve accessibility
• Testing process and Preparation of this accessibility statement
Items
Sample statement structure (course level)

23. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
A flow diagram
Flow diagram by
McNaught
Consultancy Ltd.
Testing criteria
from GDS.
See also GDS
sample statement.

24. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
• Knowing your technical accessibility – AbilityNet FE/HE bundle.
• Accessibility statement mapper service – McNaught consultancy.
• Accessibility statement support - AllAble
• Accessibility statement badging – textBox Digital / AllAble
• Accessibility Maturity support – AbilityNet / McNaught
• Implementing accessibility: auditing and objective setting – Jisc
• Dealing with third party accessibility statements – Jisc blog
Support services

25. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
Essential services: statements research
George Rhodes, Accessibility Consultant, All Able
Nick Jarvis-Smith, Department for Education

26. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
• I have looked at 1824 UK
accessibility statements and
other guidance pages. There
are some common pitfalls to
avoid.
Accessibility Statements

27. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
• Do not claim
disproportionate burden;
• Without evidence
• For things that are
actually exemptions
• Excessively to get out
of any/all commitment
Disproportionate burden

28. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
• Follow the GDS guidance. GDS has a sample accessibility
statement for websites which covers the legal requirements and
gives instructions on completing the template.
• For regulation documents:
• The PSBAR regs you must comply with is No.952
• The model accessibility statement
Government Digital Service (GDS)

29. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
• xxxx
Compliance increases October 19 to May 20

30. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
• UN Definition includes: the hospital sector, electricity services, water
supply services, police and the armed forces, firefighting services,
public or private prison services, provision of food and air traffic
control.
• UK Government Covid-19 guidance included: Supermarkets and
other food shops, Medical services (e.g dental surgeries, opticians
and audiology clinics, etc), Pharmacies and chemists, Veterinary
surgeries and pet shops, Post offices and High street banks.
Essential Services

31. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
• “The Regulations do not apply to websites or apps of organisations
which are not public sector bodies (for example, they do not apply to
private companies such as supermarkets or banks, even if those
companies are providing an “essential service”). Nor do they apply
to providers of “essential services” generally. Rather, they apply to a
subset of Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) which both falls
within the Regulations’ definition of a “public sector body” and which
provides services that are essential to the public.”
Essential Services Freedom of Information Request

32. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
• We completed testing on the websites of the four main UK
supermarkets.
• The testing included: Automated Testing, Manual Testing using
Accessibility Assistive Technology Software (namely a screen
reader) and finally we completed analysis of their Accessibility
Statements.
Research on Supermarkets

33. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
• One supermarket provides no information on accessibility support
• Another supermarket provides a short message about its commitment
under the Equality Act 2010.
• One supermarket provides more technical information about how the
website is built, and links to its ‘facilities for shoppers with disabilities’
page.
• Finally, one supermarket provides a better statement: includes tips,
information about the standards it works towards and, most importantly,
a clear contact route for people experiencing accessibility issues.
Accessibility Statement Findings

34. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
• To read more on our research please visit the blog on
AbilityNet website:
• Hope that our work can promote productive discussion
around what can be done next to enhance accessibility of
essential services
Closing thoughts

35. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
• @Mark
Q&A
Please use the Q&A window (not the chat window)
You’ll be directed to a feedback form at the end of the broadcast
Slides, transcripts and a recording of this webinar will be made available

36. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
• Training: 10% discount code for webinar attendees: HEStatement10
• Book now: www.abilitynet.org.uk/training
• Our Digital Accessibility Services – includes Accessibility Statement
mapper
• www.abilitynet.org.uk/accessibility-services/digital-accessibility-he-and-fe
More help

37. Public Sector/HE Update – Is your accessibility statement ready yet?
• @Mark
Thank you
• AbilityNet enewsletter: abilitynet.org.uk/newsletter
• Next webinars 11 and 18 August and HE update 22 September:
abilitynet.org.uk/webinars