Accessibility
Some of the things we have done to make our website more accessible
We have worked hard to make sure that our website can be used by as many people as possible. For instance we have built-in some quick methods to change how you can view our website. We have also included general help on this page for all visitors to our website.
For people who prefer a medium or high contrast
Some people find it easier to read a web page if there is a higher contrast between the background and the text. We have built this function in to our website so that if a visitor selects a different contrast all our web pages will remain in that view during the same session providing the user has “accepted cookies”.
Click on the main Accessibility button 
at the top of the homepage.
Then choose the option from these that suits you best. 
The middle button with a brown background will give you a medium colour contrast between the background and the text; the button with the black background on the right will give you a high contrast between the background and the text; and the button on the left with a white background will take you back to the original (default) view.
If you prefer to completely personalise the contrast for all websites, you can change the settings in your browser, or on your computer system. These settings will remain until you next change them – should you feel the need to do so. You can find instructions on how to change the contrast on your computer here and how to change the contrast in your browser on the section of the BBC website called “My Web My Way”.
For people who like to increase the size of the text
A lot of users prefer to view the text on websites in a larger size than normal. We have built this function in to our website so that if a visitor decides to change the size of the text, all our web pages will automatically display the same text size during the user’s session. This will only happen if a visitor to our website has “accepted cookies”.
Temporarily change the size of text on your screen
You can also use your keyboard, or keyboard and middle mouse wheel (if you have one), to change the size of the text when viewing text using most browsers.
Larger text: [Ctrl] and [+] or [Ctrl] and mouse wheel forward.
Smaller text: [Ctrl] and [-] or [Ctrl] and mouse wheel back.
The above method will make everything on screen larger/smaller including images.
Permanently changing the size of text in your computer settings
You can also change the setting on your computer, or through your browser, so that you always have the size of font that you prefer for all websites. You can change it back again any time you wish. You will find instructions on how to change the size of the font on your computer and how to change the size of the font in your browser on the section of the BBC website called “My Web My Way”.
For people who cannot hear very well or are deaf
We may occasionally place audio or video content on our website. Where possible we include subtitles for the deaf or hard of hearing visitors within the video. For those which don't already have subtitles but play via Youtube you can add subtitles by clicking on the CC icon at the bottom of the video. Please contact us via Comms support if you experience any difficulties with audios or videos and we will do our best to support you.
For people who cannot see very well or are blind
There are many different types of sight impairment including colour blindness and macular degeneration and we have done our best to ensure that users with vision impairment will have an equivalent experience to other users when visiting our website.
Apart from adjusting the size of the text as given earlier under the heading “For people who like to increase the size of the text”, it is possible to magnify sections of the screen where a user is currently focussed. There is specialist software that will enable users to magnify the screen and some systems have this function available. For instance, if a computer is running Windows 7 there is a built-in magnification program which will allow a user to either magnify where they are currently focussed or magnify the entire screen.
Downloading documents from our website
Throughout our website you will see links to our documents which you can open, or download onto your computer. We have converted all the / the majority of documents on our website to PDF (portable document format). This means you will be able to read these documents if you have Adobe Reader installed on your computer regardless of the software you use to create your own documents.
Adobe Reader is the name of the free software that can open PDF documents. If it is not already installed on your computer you will need to download Adobe Reader and follow the instructions to install this software. The latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader has incorporated accessibility features. For example, you can hear a PDF document read aloud or scroll a PDF document automatically. You can access these features in the Edit Preferences menu once you have downloaded a PDF to your computer.
When things don’t work as they should
We have worked hard to ensure that our website meets current accessibility guidelines, and we have done our best to consider all our visitors’ needs.
However, if you are experiencing any difficulty with accessing the content of our website please do not hesitate to contact us for Comms support or phone us on 020 8401 3959 and we will do our best to support you and address any issues you raise.