Accessibility statement

At Sound and Music, we believe that all of our websites and platforms should be made available to and be enjoyed by all.

We have worked hard to ensure that our website is accessible and in turn created a user friendly experience for all visitors to our site.

We have created an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy, and we have set out the following objectives:

  • To increase recruitment to reach a greater diversity of people across our programmes including, but not exclusively, people with disabilities or who identify as disabled
  • To ensure marketing, communications and content, both physical and digital, is accessible, jargon-free, engaging and relevant to target audiences, thus encouraging a diversity of audiences and users

Accessibility Review

In 2019 we commissioned an Accessibility Review of all of our websites, undertaken by Goss Consultancy.

This report set out to explore the accessibility of our digital platforms to people with disabilities and beyond. This report aimed to evaluate the current situation and to facilitate future improvements to our websites and digital communication as part of the organisation’s wider equality, diversity and inclusion aims.

The report contained:

  • Information on the potential barriers that people with disabilities can experience when using websites
  • Outlines Inclusive Design Principles and accessibility standards that, when followed, ensure websites and digital communications are accessible and inclusive
  • A review of the accessibility of our four core websites (including www.soundandmusic.org) alongside example email newsletters, and provides initial review and recommendations for improvements

The review suggested we:

  • Improve the consistency of user experience and accessibility between our digital platforms
  • Ensure future web development requirements conform to accessibility standards
  • Content added to the website should be quality assured for accessibility
  • Colours and fonts used in digital resources and websites should be reviewed for readability, contrast and consistency
  • Emails and digital communications should contain a consistent heading structure and alternative text for images to improve accessibility
  • Ensure forms and documents, provided to stakeholders and audiences, meet accessibility standards or alternative, accessible formats are made available

 What we have done, so far:

  • Designed our website to be responsive, so that it works equally on computers, phones, and tablets
  • Allowed for you to scale the site easily as you zoom in, making easier to use
  • Reviewed the language we use, making it simple and easy to read
  • Created consistent navigation structure, so it is easy to tell where you are, and how to get elsewhere
  • Worked with designers and developers with accessibility awareness

We have also referred to the Paciello Group Inclusive Design Principles and Microsoft Inclusive Design Toolkit, which aligned to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, to improve accessibility, usability and inclusion of our websites and digital content.

The accessibility of our websites and work is a high priority for us and it will remain an essential part of our ongoing developments.

If you have any questions about accessibility please contact us: info@soundandmusic.org

Adjust your computer

Below we have provided some information that can support you to adjust your computer, as there are some changes you can make, that makes website, including ours, easier to see and use on your computer, mobile phone, or tablet.

This information has been taken from the Arts Council England Accessibility Statement & Advice*

If you have dyslexia, or difficulty reading content

You may find that changing the colours on screen, using larger text, or using a different font, will be helpful.

The following links describe some ways you can adjust your device:

If you have a vision impairment

You may find some content difficult to read onscreen.

A free option, which is built into the majority of devices, is the ability to zoom in on content.

On a computer, this can be done in your web browser by holding down the control key (ctrl), and then using the mouse wheel to zoom in and zoom out.

Keyboard users can do the same by using ctrl and + to zoom in, and ctrl and – to zoom out.

Further reading that may be useful:

We have provided further guidance below.

Text resizing

We recommend to use your browser’s built-in text zoom functionalities to increase the text size of our website.

You can do that by following the instructions below.

• PC / Internet Explorer 6

From the top menu bar, select View and point to Text size

• PC / Internet Explorer 7

From the menu bar underneath the search field, select Page and point to Text size

• PC / other browsers

Increase text size: Hold down the CTRL key and press +
Decrease text size: Hold down the CTRL key and press –

• Mac / all browsers

Increase text size: Hold down the Command key and press +
Decrease text size: Hold down the Command key and press –

Additional resources

You can also take a look at My Computer My Way, a resource developed by AbilityNet with support from Microsoft and the BBC as a source of accessibility help for all computer users.

This unique resource explains all the accessibility features available in popular desktop computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones, including Windows, Mac OSX, iOS, Android and Windows Phone.

All of these devices have features that enable people to adapt their computer to suit their needs.

Take a look at My Computer My Way to find out more about what features you could be using.

Accessibility for the future

We recognise that websites change over time; they evolve as content is added, behaviour changes, and features are amended or removed.

We know that it is essential to ensure accessibility is at the forefront of this process.

We will do everything we can to make our websites more usable and accessible for everyone and we will carry out regular reviews of our work.

We will aim to:

We welcome your feedback so that we can continue to improve our website.

If you have any ideas for improvements or are finding difficulties using our website please contact us: info@soundandmusic.org

Acknowledgement

By using this website you acknowledge that you have read the Terms and Conditions and the Data Protection and Privacy Policy and that you consent to the collection of information from you and use of such information, including through the use of Cookies.

Contact us

If you have any questions, please contact us at:

Sound and Music
Oxford House
Derbyshire Street
Bethnal Green
London
E2 6HG

www.soundandmusic.org
info@soundandmusic.org

The Organisation for New Music and Sound – (trading as Sound and Music)
A company limited by guarantee registered in England under number 6581022

Last updated: September 2020