Accessibility
Our Site aims to be as inclusive and accessible as possible. This means that Our Site is designed so that as many people as possible find it easy to use, understand, navigate and interact with.
The sections below outline some of the features of Our Site that help to make it more accessible. Links are also provided to other websites where you can find more information, tips and techniques.
You can also view the Australian Government's digital guide to Accessibility and Inclusivity (external link).
The video below provides an overview of some key features of Our Site that may help you to use it and find the information you need.
International standards
A group called The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has developed international standards for website accessibility. These are called the International Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) (external link). Our Site is currently compliant to level Double A of the WCAG 2.1 guidelines.
Screen readers
Many blind or vision impaired people use screen readers to read websites. Our Site has been designed so that it can be easily read by a screen reader.
You can find more information about screen readers on the Vision Australia website (external link).
Text size
You can toggle the size of the text on Our Site if you need to make it bigger simply by clicking on the ‘Toggle Text Size’ button in the top right menu bar on every page.
You can also use the zoom function on your own device or browser. You can find information on how to do this on WikiHow (external link).
Colour contrast
The colour contrast used on Our Site meets international standards for accessibility. This means that it should be clear and easy for most people to read.
Vision Australia has a Colour Contrast Analyser tool (external link) available for free download.
Optimised for all devices
We recognise that many people now view websites on lots of different devices, including smart phones, laptops, tablets and desktop computers. This website has been designed to be easy to use on all of these different devices and in different browsers and operating systems.
Accessible documents
Wherever possible the resources that you can download from the Our Site website are either accessible or have an accessible alternative available (usually a Word document). This means that the documents have been edited to ensure that they are easy to read and use by a wide range of users.
Accessible videos
All of the videos created specifically for Our Site (including the video stories) have closed captions and descriptive transcripts. Some also have Auslan interpretations.
Most of the videos on Our Site are YouTube videos which which means you can turn captions on by clicking the CC button at the bottom of the screen. You can also control the size and colour of the captions and set up your account to always display captions.
Watch the YouTube video (external website) to learn all about captions and subtitle settings:
Easy Read
Our Site includes translation of almost every page into Easy Read. Easy Read uses simple and easy to understand language and images.
You can view a page in Easy Read by clicking on the ‘Easy Read’ button in the top right of the menu bar on most pages.
Easy English
Our Site includes resources that have been translated into Easy English. Easy English documents are written in simple, everyday words and supported with meaningful and clear images. They are usually designed to be printed out and read as hard copy documents.
You can find Easy English documents in the Resources section of most pages, as well as a full list on the Translations page.
Auslan
Auslan is short for Australian sign language. Auslan has been developed by and for Australians who are deaf or hearing impaired.
A selection of videos on Our Site include Auslan translations. Links to all of these can be found on the Translations page.
Languages other than English
Unfortunately we are not able to translate all of the content of Our Site into languages other than English. We have, however, translated some very important documents on the rights of women with disability into over 10 different languages. You can find these translated documents on the Translations page.
Web tools for people with disability
There are many tools available to help people with disability use the internet.
The Centre for Inclusive Design has information on its website about accessible browsers and how to find accessible online content (external link).
The BBC Accessibility website (external link) has information on how to make a website more accessible by changing browser, computer, keyboard and mouse settings. It covers Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems.