Accessibility

This accessibility statement applies to the website https://www.rca.ac.uk

This website is run by the Royal College of Art (RCA).

We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

• Change colours, contrast levels and fonts.
• Zoom in up to 400% without the text overlapping for most content.
• Navigate most of the website with a keyboard only.
• Listen to most of the website using a screen reader.
• Navigate most of the website using speech recognition software.

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible, for example:

• Some content is presented with insufficient colour contrast.
• Resizing some content to 200% zoom causes meaningful content to be lost.
• Some interactive elements cannot be focused or activated with a keyboard.
• Some pages are present with an incorrect or illogical heading structure.
• There are images that have a missing text alternative, or provide a text alternative that does not fully describe the content.
• Some video embeds do not have alternative formats such as audio description or a transcript.

A full listing of known issues with our web pages that may affect users with disabilities is available in the Non-accessible content section below.

If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, please get in touch.

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:

• Email: websupport@rca.ac.uk
• See our Contact us page.

We’ll consider your request and get back to you within three working days.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’).

If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

The Royal College of Art is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations:

Images, videos and non-text content

• Some informative and functional images have inappropriate text alternatives for assistive technology users (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1). 
• Some decorative images have redundant text alternatives for assistive technology users (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1). 
• Some decorative icons are not hidden from assistive technology on iOS (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1). 
• Some video-only content does not have an alternative format such as audio description or a transcript (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.2.1). 
• There are images that contain embedded text (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.5). 

Colour and contrast

• Some text within webpage and video content does not have sufficient contrast with the background (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.3).
• Some functional non-text content and custom element boundaries do not have sufficient contrast with the background (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.11).
• Some custom focus indication does not have sufficient contrast with the background (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.11).

Page and content structure

• Some text is displayed visually as a heading but is not marked up as such for assistive technology (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1).
• Some text uses heading semantics inappropriately where it is not acting as a heading (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1).
• On some pages, the heading structure is inconsistent with the visual structure of the page (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1).
• Some unordered lists and description lists are not marked up semantically (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1).
• Some unordered lists within carousels are malformed (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1).
• There are elements that use list semantics inappropriately (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1).
• There is some text content that does not have an appropriate language attribute (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 3.1.2).
• The current page is not programmatically identified for assistive technology in the navigation breadcrumbs (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2).

Keyboard, screen reader and pointer navigation

• There are off-screen elements which are included in the reading order for assistive technology (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.2).
• Some carousels and accordions do not have a meaningful reading order for assistive technology (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.2).
• There are some error messages which are not included in the reading order for assistive technology (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.2).
• Some links are not keyboard focusable (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.1.1). 
• Some interactive elements, such as checkboxes, are not keyboard focusable (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.1.1). 
• Some interactive elements cannot be activated with a keyboard (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.1.1). 
• The keyboard focus order for some content negatively impacts the meaning of the content (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.3).
• Some background elements inappropriately receive screen reader focus when modal dialogs are active (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.3).
• The keyboard focus does not return to the triggering element after some modal dialogs are closed (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.3).
• Some components have no visible focus indicator when receiving keyboard focus (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.7).
• The target size for pointer input does not meet the minimum size requirements for some elements (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.5.8).

Form controls

• There is additional information not associated with some input fields for assistive technology which is necessary to understand the fields (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1). 
• The autocomplete attribute has not been used on some input fields when collecting information about the user (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.5).
• Some error messages that appear when the user navigates away from form fields do not have a programmatic call-to-action for assistive technology (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 3.3.1).
• Some labelling of checkboxes is not visible on the screen (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 3.3.2).

Reflow and resizing content

• Resizing some content to 200% zoom causes meaningful content to be lost (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.4).
• Reflowing some content causes content and functionality to be lost (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.10).

Interactive components

• The accessible name of some tabs does not include the visual name (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.5.3). 
• Some interactive controls, such as buttons and a search input, are missing an accessible name (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2). 
• The accessible name is overridden inappropriately on some elements (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2). 
• Some interactive controls, such as links, are missing an accessible role (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2). 
• There are tabbed interfaces with missing or malformed Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2). 
• The current slide is not programmatically identified for assistive technology in some carousels (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2).
• There are expandable elements where the expanded and collapsed states is not programmatically identified (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2).
• Menu semantics are used inappropriately for some navigation functionality (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2).
• Some dynamic search results are not programmatically identified for assistive technology (WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.3).

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

• Pre-recorded audio and video published before 23 September 2020.
• Live audio and video when this is kept on the site for less than 14 days.
• PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018.
• Maps (essential information is provided in an accessible address format).
• Third-party content outside of the control of the RCA.

We are committed to continuously improving the accessibility of this website.

We will update this statement when fixes are in place for known issues listed in the Technical information about this website’s accessibility section above.

This statement was prepared on 30 October 2024. It was last reviewed on 31 October 2024.

This website was last tested from 20 September 2024 to 27 September 2024.

The test was carried out by AbilityNet, testing with Firefox and NVDA on Windows and Safari and VoiceOver on iPhone.

Our website portfolio includes related websites with the rca.ac.uk domain, including various Schools, programmes, research projects, student profile sites and more.

Accessibility statements for each of these websites are published locally on each site.