Disproportionate Burden Assessment — Undergraduate Open Day Booking Form
Background
We've carried out a disproportionate burden assessment on our Undergraduate Open Day booking form.
The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications)(No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 require public sector bodies, subject to various exemptions and conditions, to:
1. Make public sector websites and mobile applications accessible.
2. Provide an accessibility statement.
The accessibility regulations state that a public sector body does not need to meet the accessibility requirement if this would put a disproportionate burden on them, provided that a disproportionate burden assessment is undertaken.
This disproportionate burden assessment relates to accessibility issues identified in our Undergraduate Open Day booking form.
The Undergraduate Open Day booking form is provided via a third party software product as part of the University's OneUni student management system solution provided by TechnologyOne.
The current form does not meet WCAG 2.2 AA standard for the following reasons:
WCAG 1.4.7 Focus Visible
A visible focus helps users know which element has keyboard focus and where they are on the page.
When an element gets focus there should be a visible border around it. Highlighting the element that has keyboard focus or is hovered over can provide information like whether the element is interactive or the scope of that element.
Operating systems have a native indication of focus, which is available in many browsers. The default display of the focus indicator is not always highly visible and may even be difficult to see especially on coloured backgrounds.
Issue: The focus is not visible on the link for the privacy webpage.
WCAG 1.4.10 Reflow
Reflow or ‘responsive web design’ helps users with low vision who may need to enlarge text on a webpage and read it in a single column without scrolling in more than one direction. It also helps users who are viewing the page on a mobile device.
If a page does not support reflow it can appear smaller and more difficult to use or content may be cut off.
Navigation menus often collapse into fewer items or into a single menu button to take up less space. All content and functionality must still be fully available.
Issue: At 400 per cent and in mobile view, the webpage does not reflow correctly.
WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast (minimum)
Poor colour contrast makes it difficult for someone with sight loss to see the content properly. If there is a big difference between the background and foreground colours it should be much easier to see the difference between them.
Issues:
- Grey pale text across the webpage does not have sufficient colour contrast.
- The orange text for 'Here' and the privacy link does not have sufficient colour contrast.
- White text for submit button does not have sufficient colour contrast
WCAG 1.4.4. Resize Text
Visual text, including text-based controls can be scaled so that they can be read directly by users with visual impairments without using assistive technology such as a screen magnifier.
Text must be able to be resized up to 200 per cent without loss of content or function.
Issue: At 200 per cent, the content is cut off and is not fully visible for the users.
Benefits of Creating an Accessible Version
The benefits of creating an accessible version of the form is that the form would be fully accessible for all users including people with visual or motor impairments.
Burden
We are working with the third party provider of the software system to achieve full WCAG 2.2 AA compliance within the form. Due to our dependence on a third party, we cannot yet provide a definitive timescale for these enhancements.
Currently, replacing the form in its entirety with an alternative web form to administer Open Day booking submissions would represent a disproportionate burden due to time and other practical constraints, some of them relating to event safety (please see assessment below).
Assessment
The current form provides some necessary functionality for administrative purposes which cannot be replicated by replacing the current form with an alternative form. The form integrates with a core database which, among other functions, enables us to ensure safety of large scale events by managing capacity limits effectively.
The burden is one of time (not cost) to develop, implement, and integrate an alternative with equivalent functionality. We intend to work with the suppler to make the enhancements to the existing form but cannot yet place a definitive timescale on this.
Reasonable adjustments have been made for users who would benefit from changes to or replacement of the form. Equivalent accessible alternatives are available because users can register a place at an Open Day by email or telephone. These alternatives are accessible from the Open Day booking webpages encoded in HTML which is accessible to all users.