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Accessibility statement for the Kew Data Portal website

This accessibility statement applies to the website at https://data.kew.org/

This website is run by Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and is partially compliant with WCAG 2.0 Level A assessment and is looking to incorporate elements of WCAG 2.0 Level AA to improve accessibility.

How accessible this website is

This website is owned and operated by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. We’ve also tried to make the text on our websites as simple as possible to understand. Sometimes we use scientific language to explain our work. When we do this, we try to offer an explanation in plain English, or link to content elsewhere on our websites that will provide more information.

Some accessibility non-compliance issues include: -

  • Images are missing text descriptions
  • Information is indicated using colour alone
  • Content doesn't reflow to adapt to small viewport sizes
  • Non-text content has insufficient colour contrast
  • Text has insufficient colour contrast
  • Interactive controls can't be used with a keyboard
  • Interactive controls or components don't have an accessible role, state or name Status messages aren't announced by screen readers

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille: Email: info@kew.org

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of these websites. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact: info@kew.org.

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’). Further guidance is available from the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018. This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Disproportionate and Undue burden

Due to the nature of the Collections, some data is historically incomplete or unavailable. Where possible, Kew will work to resolve accessibility issues raised by Users however this may represent disproportionate or undue burden to achieve full compliance. In these cases, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew will provide details, on request, on why full compliance is not achievable.

Non-accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

This Data Portal is a key part of the Digitisation Project which is committed to opening up access to Kew Collections.

Comment

Kew Statement

Status

Images are missing text descriptions

Older documents may not be compliant with accessibility standards.  Kew’s Collections contain image data back to 1840s, with many images not including verified textual descriptors. To ensure historical integrity, text has not been added however textual descriptions are available at complementary sites. Feedback from users will be assessed and re-evaluate if the user need is proven.  A strategy will then be developed to assess how textual contact can be authentically added to historical records.

Undue Burden to apply to historical content.

 

Will be applied to future content

Decorative images are missing an alt attribute

Older documents may not be compliant with accessibility standards. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). When we publish new documents, we'll make sure these all meet accessibility standards or create these documents as HTML pages.

Undue Burden to apply to historical content.

 

Will be applied to future content

Lists aren't marked up as HMTL lists.

Older documents may not be compliant with accessibility standards. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). When we publish new documents, we'll make sure these all meet accessibility standards, or create these documents as HTML pages.

Undue Burden to apply to historical content.

 

Will be applied to future content

Page regions aren't defined or labelled

This is being investigated and rectified

Part of software maintenance plan

Form labels aren't associated with their related form fields

 

Older documents may not be compliant with accessibility standards. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). When we publish new documents, we'll make sure these all meet accessibility standards, or create these documents as HTML pages.

Undue Burden to apply to historical content.

 

Will be applied to future content

Checkboxes aren't grouped or labelled

This is being investigated and rectified

Part of software maintenance plan

Tables headers aren't marked up

This is being investigated and rectified

Part of software maintenance plan

Tables are used for layout purposes

This is being investigated and rectified

Part of software maintenance plan

Visually obscured content is available to a screen reader and keyboard

This is being investigated and rectified

Part of software maintenance plan

Information is indicated using colour alone

Colour contrast may not be sufficient on some webpages which could make these pages difficult to read for some users with visual impairments. This fails WCAG: 2.1 success criterion 1.4.3 (minimum contrast).

Undue Burden to apply to historical content.

 

Will be applied to future content

Content doesn't reflow to adapt to small viewport sizes

Some content will not be easy for screen readers to process correctly. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). When we publish new content, we'll make sure that this meets accessibility standards.

Undue Burden to apply to historical content.

 

Will be applied to future content

Non-text content has insufficient colour contrast

Some content will not be easy for screen readers to process correctly. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). When we publish new content, we'll make sure that this meets accessibility standards.

Undue Burden to apply to historical content.

 

Will be applied to future content

Focus indicators have insufficient colour contrast

Some content will not be easy for screen readers to process correctly. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). When we publish new content, we'll make sure that this meets accessibility standards.

Undue Burden to apply to historical content.

 

Will be applied to future content

Content or hover or focus isn’t dismissible, hoverable or persistent

Some content will not be easy for screen readers to process correctly. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). When we publish new content, we'll make sure that this meets accessibility standards.

Undue Burden to apply to historical content.

 

Will be applied to future content

Information is indicated using colour alone

Older documents may not be compliant with accessibility standards.

Undue Burden to apply to historical content.

 

Will be applied to future content

Interactive controls can't be used with a keyboard

Some menus are not accessible using a keyboard so people using a screen reader may find navigating some pages on our website difficult. This fails WCAG: 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1 (keyboard).

The Advanced search link can be used with a mouse but not with a keyboard because the link (a) element doesn’t have an href value.

 

Part of software maintenance plan

Keyboard focus can't be moved away from an interactive component

Some content is not accessible using a keyboard so people using a screen reader may find navigating some pages on our website difficult. This fails WCAG: 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1 (keyboard).

Part of software maintenance plan

Title attribute on empty HTML tag

When we publish new documents, we'll make sure these all meet accessibility standards, or create these documents as HTML pages.

Part of software maintenance plan

Focusable elements don't have a visible indication of focus

Some content will not be easy for screen readers to process correctly. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). When we publish new content, we'll make sure that this meets accessibility standards.

Part of software maintenance plan

 

Status messages aren't announced by screen readers

This is being investigated and rectified

Part of software maintenance plan