Accessibility
This Accessibility Statement applies to the www.gsa.ac.uk website.
This website is run by The Glasgow School of Art. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website.
To ensure accessibility a simple WCAG 2.1 AA compliant temporary site built on webflow came on line in December 2023. The site is currently undergoing an audit and consultation process
This accessibility statement does not cover other platforms for example our Virtual Learning Environment, CANVAS, our Student and Staff Intranet and other platforms which each have their own accessibility statement.
We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website and are updating on a regular basis the website text to make it as simple as possible to understand. However, we know this website is not fully accessible in line with Public Sector Body (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations including:
· Older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software and we are updating or removing these on an on-going basis.
· Some images do not have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information
· Users cannot modify the line height or spacing of text
· Sign language translations are not available for pre-recorded videos
· Some links and menu items are not accessible using the keyboard.
Disproportionate burden
The GSA is working proactively to improve and resolve accessibility issues at www.gsa.ac.uk
In the short to medium term, meeting all of the regulations is a disproportionate burden.
The new site, externally audited for accessibility, will be designed to meet or exceed standards and will be online during 2023. The process for the site rebuild will include an external accessibility consultation and audit process, and user testing.
Reporting accessibility problems with this website
We are aware of the accessibility problems with this website and are working to resolve these where possible. If you would like to contact us about meeting accessibility requirements, email: marketing@gsa.ac.uk
If you need information on this website in a different format like large print, audio recording or braille:
· +44 (0)141 353 4500
We will review your request and get back to you within five working days.
If you cannot view the map on our ‘contact us’ page, call or email us at marketing@gsa.ac.uk for directions.
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 are not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
The Glasgow School of Art is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
Compliance status
This website is not compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard. The non-compliances and exemptions are listed below.
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
Our videos do not all currently have captions or audio descriptions. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.2 and 1.2.5.
We plan to look at options for adding captions to or replacing our archived videos over the next academic year (2024/25) as part of our new website.
Navigation and accessing information
WCAG2.1.1 Keyboard
Some menu items are not accessible using the keyboard.
Text spacing in some areas does not allow for adjustment of line height, paragraph spacing, and letter/word spacing.
WCAG1.4.5 Images of Text
Some images of text are present across the site in banners and thumbnails as this is student/graduate work involving typography. A solution to making these accessible, will be undertaken under the website review process. Where they are images with text that are not student/graduate work we are removing these on an on-going basis as they are located.
WCAG2.4.2 Page titles
Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on policies and governance such as board meeting notes published as Word/pdf documents. With the new website build, we plan to replace those on the site with accessible HTML pages or accessible PDFs.
The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.
We intend to look at solutions to alter all of the above as part of our current website development.
Live video
We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
Over the next academic year we are planning a new website presence in line with WCAG 2.1 AA guidance and to make improvements/enhancements to accessibility on any historic content wherever possible or remove historic content wherever possible and replace it with new accessible content. Accessibility protocols have been built into procedures for any site content going forward and this will be developed further for the new site to ensure we are where possible exceeding the guidance.
We will publish a roadmap for the introduction of the new site early in 2024.
Prior to the launch of the new website presence a smaller, temporary and more accessible website was launched in December 2023.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 11/12/23.
We used this approach to decide on a sample of pages to test based on most those most commonly used/accessed and pages of different types (e.g. programme information, student support information, subject area page using videos and imagery).
