Web accessibility statement
This statement applies to content published on:
Manchester Digital Exhibitions (Omeka S)
Other websites that also belong to The University of Manchester and use manchester.ac.uk sub-domains are managed locally and will publish separate statements with information relevant to them. These include websites of our academic Schools and research institutes, among others.
We want as many people as possible to be able to use our website and we are continually working towards improving its accessibility. We follow general principles of usability and universal design, and endeavour to meet level 2 (AA) of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2.
This website will allow you to:
- zoom in up to 200% without the text spilling off the screen
- navigate most of the website using just a keyboard or speech recognition tools
- listen to most of the website using a screen reader
- view essential audio-visual information (captions or transcriptions are provided in most cases)
How accessible this website is
We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible.
Please see the Technical Information section below for more detailed information on known accessibility issues.
Making changes to your device
AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.
Also, the University’s Disability Advisory and Support Service (DASS) website offers up-to-date information for prospective students and staff with specific learning difficulties, disabilities, sensory impairments, mental health difficulties and medical conditions.
Reporting accessibility problems with this website
Please contact us via the ‘Library Help’ pages if you require information on this website in a different format, have an accessibility query (including about content not within the scope of the accessibility regulation), identify any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements:
Please provide the web address (URL) of the page(s) in which you find the problem, a description of the issue and your name. We will consider your request and get back to you within ten working days.
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 a complaint about accessibility please let us know. If you remain unsatisfied, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
We are committed to making our website accessible, in accordance with the accessibility regulations. This website is partially compliant with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2, due to the instances of non-compliance and exceptions listed below.
Non-accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons:
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
- There is one instance of an empty link in the Universal Viewer. As the link contains no text, the function or purpose of the link is not clear to users. This may cause confusion for keyboard and screen reader users. (WCAG: 2.4.4)
- This website uses the Mirador viewer, which does not generate a descriptive <title> attribute for IIIF manifests embedded in an <iFrame> element. This could potentially make the purpose of the viewer unclear to users utilising assistive technology. We have reported this issue to the developers, and trust it will be resolved in a future release. (WCAG: 4.1.2)
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
PDFs and other documents
Some non-essential PDF documents that were published before 23 September 2018 may not be fully accessible. All subsequent PDF documents will comply with accessibility regulations.
Third party-content
This site is built upon a third-party platform; ‘Omeka S’. Omeka S have conducted their own accessibility testing process (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template), the results of which can be accessed from this web page:
This site also uses a third-party tool; ‘Universal Viewer’. The ‘Universal Viewer’ development team have published an accessibility statement which can be accessed from this web page:
This site also uses a third-party tool: ‘Mirador’. The ‘Mirador’ development team have issued guidance on accessibility for their contributors, which can be accessed from this web page:
This site also uses a third-party tool:
Maps and reproductions of items in heritage collections
This website contains maps and archival imagery that may not be accessible to all users.
While maps and reproductions of items in heritage collections are exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations we will continue to investigate ways to use emerging technology to improve the accessibility of our maps and heritage collections.
How we tested this website
This statement was prepared on 29 April 2021. It was last reviewed on 21 October 2024.
This website was last tested on 1 March 2024. The test was carried out by The University of Manchester Library. The scan report highlights any content that is not compliant with WCAG 2.2.
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
We have an ongoing programme of work to address any accessibility issues that are highlighted by our scans. We are continually working on our content and site structure and finding ways to make the site more intuitive and easier to navigate. We are developing guidelines on how to create accessible content to help those colleagues working on our websites.