Introduction

The British Science Association recognises the importance of accessibility in a digital environment. They are committed to providing an accessible digital experience for all users, including people with disabilities.

Steps towards WCAG compliance

The British Science Association has partnered with global accessibility specialists GrackleDocs to undertake a high-level accessibility assessment conducted against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 as published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The assessment focused on identifying key barriers that may prevent people with disabilities from accessing and interacting with the digital content effectively. While this assessment was not a formal WCAG 2.2 audit of the website, it outlined key findings, examples of observed issues, and the impact of these issues on end users.

These issues in the assessment included:

• Keyboard access:
  • A lack of keyboard access to some items within the menu
  • Poor visible focus keyboard indicators for some items within the menu
  • Illogical focus order in the Event Timetable
• Colour Contrast: There are colour contrast issues for some text.
• Movement: There is no way to stop, pause or hide the background image in the
  banner

At present, the British Science Festival website does not conform to WCAG 2.2 Level AA. However, accessibility is a key priority, and we continue to work with and advise the Association in their efforts as they make progress towards a more accessible website. The British Science Association continues to implement fixes across the site based on the assessment indicating progress towards, and a commitment to the eventual compliance of the website with WCAG 2.2 (Level AA).