The University of Oxford is committed to providing an accessible digital presence that gives members of the public and members of the University community full access to University information, courses and activities.
A SharePoint Online site at Oxford University, when used as an intranet, is covered by the recently-introduced government digital accessibility regulations for public sector bodies.
This means that sites can be used by as many people as possible, including those with:
- impaired vision
- motor difficulties
- cognitive impairments or learning disabilities
- deafness or impaired hearing
This is as important for internal-facing sites as it is for public-facing sites, as these are internal websites which disabled employees working at the University may use.
All new sites published after 23 September 2019 need to be accessible and publish an accessibility statement, so this will cover all new intranets built on SharePoint Online at Oxford University.
Built-in accessibility features in SharePoint Online
SharePoint Online comes with a number of accessibility features built-in, which means you, as a user, don’t have to do any additional work for them to be available on your site.
What you need to do
Although SharePoint Online has many accessibility features, it is your responsibility, as a Site Owner, to make sure the content in your site is accessible to those who will be using and visiting it.
The advice in the links below gives guidance for creating accessible content.
Digital Accessibility at Oxford University
The same advice for creating accessible content for intranets in SharePoint online applies as it does for external websites created in Mosaic. There are several pages on University websites about creating accessible content that complies with the digital accessibility regulations:
Other resources for making your site accessible
For further information and guidance about digital accessibility for universities and public sector organisations, please visit the following sites:
Accessibility Statement
There is an Accessibility Statement for SharePoint Online. If your SharePoint Online site has any content that you think is not accessible, you need to create your own Accessibility Statement explaining any areas that are not compliant and what you are doing to make them compliant. You can use the general SharePoint Online Accessibility Statement as a template, and include items that are specific to your site.
