Accessibility statement

Middlesbrough Council is committed to making its online resources accessible to all visitors. We aim to continually review our web pages and modify them to ensure that they are accessible for all users. Our content is checked for plain English and we aim to use a written style that is straightforward and understandable.

We have provided a number of features to allow you to tailor Middlesbrough Council’s website to suit you.

Text size

If you have a visual impairment you can increase the size of the text by using the links at the top of the page.

Text reader

We have enabled our web site to be used with Browsealoud software. This allows you to access all content including PDF documents in a language and speed of your choice. You can control word pronunciation by highlighting the text you would like to hear.

Speech enabling our website provides an additional way of accessing content for people who find it hard to read. This includes those with dyslexia or learning difficulties, and anyone with a mild visual impairment.

You can use Browsealoud in a number of web browsers these are shown in the list below.

• IE4 upwards
• All MSN versions
• All CompuServe versions
• All AOL versions
• Mozila
• Firefox
• Netscape 4 upwards

Download Browsealoud for free

Access keys

The website uses several access keys. These are keyboard shortcuts which enable easy access to web pages for keyboard users. The list below shows the access keys used on the Middlesbrough website.

• S Skip to content
• 0 Accessibility
• 1 Home page
• 2 A to Z
• 3 Sitemap
• 4 Search
• 6 Help
• 7 Complaints
• 8 Copyright
• 9 Contact us
• C Consultation
• K Key Documents
• N News
• O Online Services
• P Privacy Statement
• T Terms of Use
• W What’s On

Structure

Every page on the website is structured using HTML headers to ensure the best possible experience for users who use JAWS/Opera or other screen readers. We also use Cascading Style sheets (CSS), this allows us to enforce consistent presentation of the web pages which includes text size and font type face.

Images

All images used in the Middlesbrough Council website use ALT text, (alternative text for images) so that users who switch off images in their browser can still access the content throughout the website.

Accessibility Resources

The following external links will help you make the web more accessible to you.
http://www.gawds.org/
http://www.shaw-trust.org.uk/page/3/59
http://www.w3.org/WAI/

Contact us

If you are having difficulty accessing any areas of the website or if you have any suggestions as to how we can improve the accessibility of this website, please let us know by sending an email to webmaster@middlesbrough.gov.uk