Accessibility

This Website has been designed to conform to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) guidelines for Triple-A level Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, including all Priority 1, Priority 2, and Priority 3 checkpoints defined in the Guidelines. The logo below indicates the conformance of every page of this Website to these guidelines.

In addition to conforming to the W3C guidelines, this site also conforms to the guidelines of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act which requires agencies and organisations to make information available to people with disabilities.

The conformance level of this Website has been validated by the following sources:

• The Watchfire WebXACT validator
• The Cynthia automated validator
• The Minervation validation instrument for health care web sites

This means that the pages of this Website are fully accessible to users with disabilities such as visual impairments.

The logo below indicates that the XHTML code used to make this Website is valid and correctly used to aid in the site's accessibility.

The logo below indicates that the CSS code, which is used to present the visual style and layout for this Website is valid and correctly used to aid in the site's accessibility.

Visuals

If you are having difficulty reading the text on this website due to it being too small, it is easy to increase the text size. You can increase the text size in your browser by following these instructions:

Internet Explorer:

1. Click the "View" menu at the top of the browser window.
2. Select "Text Size" from the menu.
3. In the sub-menu that appears select which text size you want to use, Smallest, Smaller, Medium, Larger, or Largest (Medium is the default).

Alternatively hold down the CTRL key on your keyboard and use the mouse wheel to increase/decrease the text size of this site.

Firefox:

1. Click the "View" menu at the top of the browser window.
2. Select "Text Size" from the menu.
3. Select "Increase" or "Decrease" to alter the size of the text.

Alternatively hold down the CTRL key on your keyboard and use the mouse wheel to increase/decrease the text size of this site.

To set the minimum size of text in your browser:

1. Click "Tools" on the menu at the top of your browser window
2. Click "Options" at the bottom of the menu
3. Select the "Content" tab and "Advanced"
4. Click "Minimum font size" and select your size
5. Click "OK"

Opera:

1. Click the "View" menu at the top of the browser window.
2. Then select text size you want to use (as a percentage of the original).

Alternatively hold down the CTRL key on your keyboard and use the mouse wheel to increase/decrease the text size of this site.

Netscape Navigator/Communicator:

1. Click the "View" menu at the top of the browser window.
2. Select "Increase Font" from the menu.

Netscape 6:

1. Click the "View" menu at the top of the browser window.
2. Then select text size.

Netscape 7:

1. Click the "View" menu at the top of the browser window.
2. Select "Text Zoom" from the menu.
3. In the sub-menu that appears select which text size you want to use.
4. Alternatively select "Other" and manually enter the text size (as a percentage of the original) that you want to use.

Hearing your computer

If you have a computer with Windows 2000 or XP you can use Windows Narrator, a basic screen-reading programme, to help you navigate around the website.

1. Click on "Start" > "Programs" > "Accessories" > "Accessibility"
2. Select "Narrator"
3. Narrator will read out on-screen instructions. Click "OK"
4. A new box will provide options 

Some users may not be able to use pointing devices such as the mouse, therefore in order to assist users' access to the main areas of the website, Access Keys have been built into the site.

The Access Keys on this website comply with the standards as defined by the UK Government. To view these standards click here.

The way in which the Access Keys are used depends on the browser you are using to view this site.

For windows systems if you're using Netscape 6+, Mozilla or Internet Explorer 4 then press Alt and the desired Access Key at the same time. If however you're using Internet Explorer 5 or 6, then press Alt and the desired Access Key followed by pressing Enter. For Macintosh based systems press the CTRL key and then the desired Access Key.

If the settings detailed on this page do not work, please contact your local IT support for further guidance.