policies

Recite Me Accessibility Policy

Date – 07/02/24

Created by– Avneet Jagpal

Department– Product

Version– 1.0

Purpose statement

This policy states how Recite Me will work to make sure services it provides going ahead will be accessible. The minimum standards of WCAG must be met before the products are sent out to clients. It also highlights how Recite Me will make sure the services it provides are easy for end users to engage with.

This policy has been written to make sure that a consistent approach will be applied to Recite Me products. All our products must be fully accessible and adhere to WCAG 2.2 guidelines in 2024.

At Recite Me we thrive on the below values:

To make sure we build an all-inclusive culture.
We value each individuals need and aim prioritise these needs.
We adjust and understand individual client needs.
We make sure the services we provide at the upmost standards of accessibility.

Who is this policy aimed at?

This policy is provided to our clients so that they can understand how Recite Me drives an accessible culture and the products we will be providing will also be accessible.
We will also use this policy in house, so our colleagues will aim to adhere to WCAG2.2 guidelines and follow these to create accessible services for our clients.
Partners and network.
Website and internal communications.

Scope of policy

The Accessibility Policy applies to all products and services which run in a web browser or mobile application. As well as all external communications to our clients.

Accessibility checker
Accessible toolbar
External communications such as sales, marketing etc.
Microsoft Office formats, such as documents, spreadsheets and slides
PDFs

Accessibility legislation and standards

Accessibility is covered by five pieces of legislation:

Our testing approach

We conduct testing on our products using three key areas-

Automated Checks via our toolbar and scanner.
Manual auditing via a check against the WCAG2.2.
Assistive technology check using screen readers and speech recognition.
Mobile testing

Manual testing

We know that automated testing finds only 30/40% of issues hence we need to run manual checks to be extra sure we are tackling all the accessibility issues. Manual testing is conducted using the criteria based on the WCAG2.2 Guidelines. We run through testing to make sure we are abiding by the WCAG principles being Perceivable, Operable, Understandable and Robust.

Assistive software testing

Products and services must undergo technical testing with each of the following types of assistive software.

Screen reader
Speech recognition

Screen reader

Screen readers are used by people who are blind, visually impaired or have difficulty reading.

A screen reader must be able to read the content of the product.

The most common screen readers are:

JAWS
NVDA
VoiceOver (Apple)

Screen magnifier

Screen magnifiers are often used by people who are visually impaired but have sufficient useful sight to access digital content.

The most common screen magnifiers are:

ZoomText (produced by Freedom Scientific)
Apple Zoom

Voice recognition software

Voice recognition software is used by people with mobility impairments. Anybody who has difficulty using a mouse or keyboard may use voice recognition software.

The most common voice controllers are:

Dragon Naturally Speaking (produced by Nuance)
Voice Control (Apple)

Mobile testing

We will be testing our products with mobile devices to make sure that the services work in the correct manner on the device. As our users might be using the service on a mobile device hence, we will make sure that it is correctly accommodated.

We will follow a mobile testing checklist to make sure we are adhering to the accessibility standards.

Accessibility Statement

An accessibility statement must be created for every product.
This should be accessed via a link in the footer in the user interface.

For a statement to be valid, teams must include all the information outlined in the GOV.UK Model accessibility statement.

The accessibility statement must be updated if any of the following apply:

The published version of WCAG changes
The compliance status changes
A defect with the product is raised
The product version is upgraded. New release is deployed.
The accessibility statement is 12 months old.

Escalation process for non-compliance (Clients)

An escalation process is followed if issues are raised that need to be escalated.

Reach out using our accessible mailbox via accessibility@reciteme.com
The team will check for the issue and prioritise to fix accordingly.
The client will be informed with the outcome.
Once fix is made a retest of the issue would be done accordingly.

Version control

Version number: 1.0
Date published: January 2024
Drafted by: Avneet Jagpal
Reviewed by: Alison Wilson, John Abbott, Michael Halpin
Approved by: Business Team
Review dates: January 2025

This policy will be reviewed yearly or earlier if there is a significant change to legislation.