Accessibility

At Aberdeen, we believe that websites and digital services should be accessible and easy to use by anyone, regardless of ability, age, or technology.

This means that all customers and clients, including those with permanent or temporary disabilities, visual or hearing impairments, cognitive, and/or motor disabilities can use our websites and digital services.

We are continually working towards improving our websites and digital services to increase the accessibility and usability to ensure everyone can use them as they would expect to.

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the main international standards organisation for the World Wide Web. The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) develops technical specifications, guidelines, techniques, and supporting resources that describe accessibility solutions. These are considered international standards for web accessibility.

We follow the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1) in order to ensure our websites and digital services technically meet the expected requirements.

We are constantly working to make our websites as accessible and inclusive to the widest possible audience.
Our aspiration is to be fully AA level compliant with WCAG 2.1. 
By following and adhering to the WCAG, our aim is to make our web content and user interfaces perceivable, understandable, operable, and robust for all  of our users.

This means that:
• Website text is as simple as possible to understand.
• Text alternatives ("alt text") are used to convey the purpose of Images, illustrations, charts, etc.
• Sufficient colour contrast is used to help with readability and colour alone is not used to convey information.
• Interactive elements are easy to identify and use.
• Navigation options are clear, consistent, and can be carried out using speech recognition software.
• Most of the website can be read aloud by a screen reader.
• The scale of the page content can be increased up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen.
• Transcripts and captions are provided for multimedia content.
• Instructions, guidance, and feedback for submissions or error messages are clear and easy to understand.

We have created and will continue to evolve a digital Design System which is a library of accessible and inclusive components, styles and common design patterns.
This allows us to build accessible websites and digital services from the beginning of any new development.
It is also important for us to continually check and evaluate our services. We do this by:

Completing accessibility audits using automated checker tools.

Carrying out accessibility expert manual evaluations.

Running user testing with people that have diverse abilities.

While we aim to make our websites as usable and accessible as possible for everyone, there are areas that are not to the level of accessibility that we would expect. We plan to put this right over time.
Areas of our websites and digital services that may not be fully accessible:

Documents that are in PDF format are not fully accessible to screen reader software.

Not all images have alternative text descriptions.

Some documents have poor colour contrast.

Some areas of our websites, platforms and online forms may not be fully navigable using just a keyboard or when using a screen reader.

We understand the importance of accessibility and providing digital services that are inclusive and usable for everyone. 
Accessibility is ever evolving and as digital services and customer needs also continue to change, we need to take this into account and evolve at the same pace. The following are plans we have in order to do this:

We will consider accessibility as an equal requirement when developing new and existing  products and services that are available online.

We will  continue to evolve and develop our Design System to provide accessible, inclusive and usable digital  services.

Continue to run user testing with a diverse audience to ensure all abilities, ages, and demographics needs are accounted for.

We will raise awareness and experience of accessibility with staff through communications and training.

Our products and services are for everyone. Whether you have accessibility needs or want some extra help, we are here to support you.

There are several ways we can make it easier for you to communicate with us and ways that you can adapt your device / web browser to make our websites and digital services easier to use.

Support for users who are blind or have low vision

I need large print, braille or audio formats of your document

We offer a choice of formats for key documents and letters. These include large print, braille and audio formats.  To make a request, please email helpinghand@aberdeenplc.com.

I need advice on making my web browser more accessible

Our website works best in Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Safari and Mozilla Firefox. Where possible, we recommend you use the latest version of a browser.

If you’re finding our website difficult to read, increasing the text size or magnification of your screen, or using text-to-speech technology could help.

• Increase text size or magnify your screen

To increase the text size or magnify your screen, go to the ‘Settings’ menu on your internet browser.

Depending on which browser you use (e.g. Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome), you’ll find the option to increase the text size on the ‘Appearance’ section of the Settings page. You can also find the ‘Zoom’ function on the ‘Appearance’ section or in the main internet browser settings menu and this allows you to magnify your screen.

• Text-to-speech

Most browsers will also have a text-to-speech function within their ‘Settings’ menu that will read out the text on the screen as well image descriptions.

You can find out more about the accessibility controls and features for the most common browsers below:

• Microsoft Edge accessibility support (link opens in a new tab)
• Google Chrome accessibility support (link opens in a new tab)
• Safari accessibility support (link opens in a new tab)
• Mozilla Firefox accessibility support (link opens in a new tab)

Support for users who are deaf, hard of hearing or speech-impaired

I have difficulty hearing or speaking over the telephone

You can contact us using Relay UK (provided by BT).

To use this service, you’ll need to download the Relay app (link opens in a new tab) to your computer, laptop, tablet or android smartphone. You’ll find more information and full instructions on the Relay UK website (link opens in new tab).

When you use this service, you’ll be connected to a Relay Assistant who will join the call. They will interpret by reading out the text you’ve typed into your phone or other device.

Please be assured that the Relay Assistants are bound by confidentiality and any details you share with them, such as identification details or financial information, are secure and protected.

I need to talk to you using sign language

We accept calls where customers use a Sign Language Interpreter (SLI) to speak on their behalf.

We ask for the SLI's name or badge number to check they are registered via the NRCPD website (link opens in a new tab) (link opens in new tab). Once verified, we can continue the conversation and take your instructions via the interpreter.

More support on making the web work for you

AbilityNet (link opens in new tab) is a UK charity with a global perspective that provide online resources to help individuals with any disability, of any age, to use all kinds of digital technology.

They  provide advice on making your device easier to use if you have an impairment or disability and have created some simple 'how to' guides (link opens in a new tab).

It’s important that our website is accessible to all our customers. If you experience any issues using our website or have accessibility questions, please get in touch by email: Globaluxteam@aberdeenplc.com.