Accessibility Statement for BA Fashion 2021
This website is run by BA Fashion, Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London (UAL). This accessibility statement applies to bafcsm.com. We want as many people as possible to access this site. This website was conceived with the intention to give equal precedent to each student, and we equally want to make sure each user has equal access to all the great work.
This website uses HTML and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) to render content. We have also used technologies such as JavaScript on limited areas of the website such as the list of student portfolios.
A complete list of all the sections on this website and the links to each of them can be found in our site map (https://bafcsm.com/sitemap)
We commit to ensuring this website is as accessible as possible and we want as many people as possible to be able to use it. This means that you should be able to:
• access the website regardless of the device and browser you are using
• zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
• navigate some of the website using just a keyboard
• navigate some of the website using speech recognition software
• listen to some of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)
We have also tried to make the website text as easy to understand as possible although we recognise we have more work to do on this.
AbilityNet (https://mcmw.abilitynet.org.uk) has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.
A complete list of all the sections on this website and the links to each of them can be found at https://bafcsm.com/sitemap
How accessible this website is
We know that some parts of the website are not fully accessible:
• The images in our Portfolios are missing alternative (alt) text and are not accessible to screen reader users.
• The Student CV PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen readers.
• The website doesn’t have a skip to content link and, additionally, navigating to some of the content may be difficult for keyboard users. For example, the horizontal header layout and the process for finding student profiles may cause confusion when navigating the site with a keyboard.
• The website has a visual focus for some elements but in some cases this visual focus is missing which may cause a problem for keyboard users.
• The site doesn’t make use of headings and has no heading structure which will make it difficult for some users to navigate.
• Portfolio pages retain the same menu style as the home page and can cause difficulty in navigating logically.
Feedback and contact information
If you need information on this website in an alternative, more accessible format please contact Melanie Ashley, m.e.ashley@csm.arts.ac.uk. Please include details of the content you need and the required format or the service you are trying to access. We will then work with the team who own the content or the service to get you what you need. We aim to provide you with an initial response within two working days and will provide clear information about how we will deal with your request.
Reporting accessibility problems with this website
We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact: Melanie Ashley, m.e.ashley@csm.arts.ac.uk
We aim to provide you with an initial response within two working days and will provide clear information about how we will deal with your enquiry or complaint. If you feel we have not answered your enquiry or complaint satisfactorily, please contact us again. We will escalate your enquiry or complaint to Sarah Gresty, Course Leader BA Fashion, s.gresty@csm.arts.ac.uk, who will work with the team who provides the content or the service to get you a response.
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). (https://www.equalityadvisoryservice.com/)
Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person
For information about contacting us by phone or to arrange a visit to our offices please email bafcsm@arts.ac.uk or alternatively our UAL contact details:
University of the Arts London
272 High Holborn
London WC1V 7EY
United Kingdom
+44 (0)20 7514 6000
Monday – Friday, 8.30am – 5pm
More information about accessing our buildings is available from AccessAble. (https://www.accessable.co.uk/sites/university-services)
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
UAL 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 partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 (https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/) AA standard, due to the non-compliances, listed below.
• The images in our Portfolios are missing alternative (alt) text and are not accessible to screen reader users.
• The Student CV PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen readers.
• The website doesn’t have a skip to content link and, additionally, navigating to some of the content may be difficult for keyboard users. For example, the horizontal header layout and the process for finding student profiles may cause confusion when navigating the site with a keyboard.
• The website has a visual focus for some elements but in some cases this visual focus is missing which may cause a problem for keyboard users.
• The site doesn’t make use of headings and has no heading structure which will make it difficult for some users to navigate.
• Portfolio pages retain the same menu style as the home page and can cause difficulty in navigating logically.
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
• The portfolio pages and images may not have alternative (alt) text descriptions while other decorative and spacer images may not have null alternative text. This fails WCAG success criterion 1.1.1 Non-text Content (Level A).
• The website is missing a Skip to content link. We have not met WCAG success criterion 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks (Level A).
• Some areas of the website cannot be accessed using only a keyboard. We have not met WCAG success criterion 2.1.1 Keyboard (Level A).
• There are elements of the website that do not have a visual focus which may cause problems for keybard users. We have not met WCAG success criterion 2.4.7 Focus Visible.
• Many of the pages on the website don’t follow a logical heading order and in some cases pages don’t have any headings structure. We have not met WCAG success criterion 2.4.6 Headings and labels (Level AA).
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
We will be re-designing and re-coding parts of the website in early 2021. As part of that re-design we will work with and specialist accessibility organisation to ensure that the re-design we create meets the WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines. We also plan to user test the new designs with disabled users and use their feedback to make improvements to the final design.
We will add alternative text to all of our images including the images in our Portfolios.
We will addressing the use of Student CV PDF documents as they are not fully accessible to screen readers.
We will be adding a skip to content link.
We are also add a visual focus to all of the elements on the website.
We will review the use of headings to make the experience of the site easier to navigate for everyone.
We have both a short term and long term plans to addressing these issues. We will continue to audit the site and we welcome any user experience feedback.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
his statement was prepared on September 18th 2020 and addresses how we plan to go forward in making this website more accessible. This website was last tested on September 18th 2020. The test was carried out in house by employees of UAL.
We used the following automated accessibility tools, assistive technology and manual testing methods to test a sample of pages of our website. These included:
• WAVE from WebAIM
• Siteimprove Accessibility Checker
• VoiceOver for Mac
• Manually auditing the alt text of images
The selection of pages we tested were:
• The homepage
• Portfolio Pages
• About Page
• Credits Page
• Sitemap
• Various Links to sponsors, CSM website and links to Youtube and Instagram
