Accessibility statement for Spiral at Imperial College London

This statement applies to the Spiral platform at Imperial. It does not apply to content accessed via another domain/sub domain, or to those areas that we feature links to.

For other web addresses you should refer to the accessibility statement for that domain or sub domain.

This platform is run by Dspace (4Science) and Imperial College London.

We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts
  • zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen
  • navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
  • navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and Voice-over)

We have also made the website text as simple as possible to understand. AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

How accessible the platform is

DSpace is an international, open-source digital repository application that aspires to be as inclusive as possible for all users, including people with disabilities. As a community of users and developers who build and maintain this application, DSpace are dedicated to creating an accessible and interoperable user interface.  DSpace are guided by the recommendations of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and continually strive to meet and exceed these standards. Some of this content still may not be fully accessible, for example:

  • Some PDFs and other documents only partially compatible with screen readers.
  • Most video content that was uploaded pre-2020, does not have captions, transcriptions, or audio descriptions.
  • Some tables do not have row headers.
  • Some heading elements are not consistent.
  • Some elements have low contrast
  • Some error messages are not clearly associated with form controls.

You can find the details of inaccessible content below under non-compliance with the accessibility regulations section should you need any support at any part of your journey on our website.

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this platform in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille please email bs_academic_alerts@imperial.ac.uk.

We will consider your request and get back to you in seven working days. 
 
If you cannot view the map on our ‘contact us’ page, call us at +44 (0)20 7589 5111 or email us bs_academic_alerts@imperial.ac.uk for directions.

Reporting accessibility problems with this platform

We ask users who use DSpace to share any of their own accessibility findings/results with DSpace developers. Accessibility issues discovered are turned into bug tickets for developers to address in upcoming DSpace releases.

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person (Imperial)

We have installed DeafWatch transmitters across twenty-nine buildings at our campuses. 

The DeafWatch system works across multiple buildings, providing seamless but discreet day and nighttime fire alarm warnings for staff and students with a hearing impairment. Pagers are available via the College Fire Office and the Imperial's Disability Advisory Service

Please contact us on +44 (0)20 7594 8000 before your planned visit to arrange suitable support for your needs.

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).

Technical information about this platform’s accessibility

DSpace and Imperial College London are committed to making its platforms accessible in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Spiral Platform is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to ‘the non-compliances’, listed below.

Non-accessible content

Some documents and content are exempt from the regulations (such as live video content and PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services), so we do not currently have any plans to make them accessible. But if you need to access information in one of these document types, you can contact us and ask for an alternative format.

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

This fails 1.2.2. Closed Captions/subtitles criterion. Since the DSpace User Interface allows users to upload content, we cannot ensure the accessibility of user contributions.  DSpace has some features that allow administrators to make uploaded content more accessible, but some limitations do still exist

This fails 1.1.1. Non-text content criterion. DSpace are aiming to resolve this by 1 December 2025. 

All known DSpace accessibility issues are tracked in GitHub issue tracker with the "accessibility" label.

DSpace development is primarily volunteer-based, and therefore some accessibility tickets may be waiting on a volunteer to claim them. While we do our best to ensure critical issues are addressed quickly, non-critical issues may not receive attention until a volunteer gets to them. We accept code contributions from anyone (in the form of GitHub Pull Requests). 

If an issue is important to you and you have developers on staff (or can hire a service provider), please consider contributing a fix back to DSpace.  Please claim open tickets by commenting on the issue ticket - this ensures that no other institutions will duplicate efforts.

Disproportionate burden

Not applicable.

How this platform was tested

Development on DSpace is active and ongoing and DSpace use several methods to ensure accessibility for both existing and new development.  

  • We use design principles and coding standards informed by accessibility concerns as documented in User Interface Design Principles & Accessibility.
  • We run automated accessibility scanning tools (Axe by Deque) across the user interface in our end-to-end tests (run via Cypress). These automated tests run for every GitHub pull request submitted to our user interface codebase.
  • We ask institutions who use DSpace to share any of their own accessibility testing results with DSpace developers. Accessibility issues discovered are turned into bug tickets for developers to address in upcoming DSpace releases.
  • In 2021, we conducted an accessibility audit of the DSpace application with Deque to get specific feedback on our accessibility conformance. Their feedback has guided our design and coding standards mentioned above.
    Last updated.

This statement was prepared on 13 August 2024. It was last reviewed on 11 October 2024.