Accessibility statement

Accessibility statement for National Army Museum websites

This statement primarily applies to the www.nam.ac.uk domain, but also references plans for the collection.nam.ac.uk subdomain.

These websites are run by the National Army Museum. We want as many people as possible to be able to use them and have therefore tried to make them simple to use with clear design and content. Visitors should be able to:

• zoom in up to 300% without problems
• navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
• navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
• use most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

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

How accessible this website is

Parts of this website are not fully accessible. For example:

• some heading elements are not consistently nested
• some images do not have good alternative text
• some interactive elements are not keyboard accessible
• some documents in PDF and/or Word format are not accessible

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format - such as accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille - please email info@nam.ac.uk. We will consider your request and reply within 20 working days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We're always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page, or think we're not meeting accessibility requirements, please email info@nam.ac.uk.

Enforcement procedure

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).

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

We have a multilingual visitor experience team. Staff members have undertaken autism awareness and dementia training.

Our main and group entrance are both accessible by wheelchair. Our main entrance is level access from the Royal Hospital Road, and our group entrance is accessed by ramp. We can also offer wheelchairs to use within the venue.

There is lift access to every floor of the Museum, from two centrally located lifts. Stairs are also available.

Fixed seating is available throughout the galleries. There is a mix of seating with and without arm rests available in all public areas, including the Café and outdoor area.

We have toilets on every floor, and disabled access toilets on the ground and lower ground floor. We also have a Changing Places facility on the ground floor. The toilets near the Café are unisex.

We welcome all assistance dogs.

Find out how to contact us for more information on the accessibility of the venue.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

The National Army Museum is committed to making this 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 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Some images do not have a text alternative. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content).

Some interactive elements are not fully keyboard accessible. This includes the controls on the audio player used in a small number of articles. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1 (keyboard).

Access to the buttons on listings cards may be unclear owing to the current solution for setting focus. This also relates to WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1 (keyboard).

Headings on some pages are not in a logical nested order, or heading levels are skipped. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (info and relationships), and requires a redesign of the overall typographic hierarchy.

The background image used on the 'Join the conversation' section sometimes results in insufficient colour contrast with foreground text. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.3 (colour contrast).

Disproportionate burden

We are initiating a complete overhaul of our online collection service, available through the subdomain collection.nam.ac.uk. We therefore deem it a higher priority at this time to proceed with the planning and development of this new service, with accessibility built in from the start, than to address the accessibility issues relating to the current service identified during the most recent audit. We have published a disproportionate burden assessment relating to this topic.

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

PDFs and other documents

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they're not essential to providing our services.

However, some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs and Word documents with information on how users can access or register for our services, or apply for jobs and volunteering roles.

We plan to undertake further training with regard to designing accessible PDF and Word documents, and to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages.

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Live video

We have no current plans to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

Reproductions of items in our collections

We have no current plans to provide transcripts of all archival documents and other collection items reproduced and displayed on the website because reproductions of items in heritage collections are exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

Our accessibility roadmap below shows how and when we plan to improve accessibility on this website.

Ongoing

• Monitor site for missing text alternatives on images
• Ensure that (non-live) audio and video content is accompanied by transcripts and/or subtitles
• Ensure that newly published PDFs and Word docs meet accessibility standards

Phase 1 - by March 2025

• Make audio player keyboard accessible
• Provide guidance on designing accessible PDFs and Word docs
• Resolve colour contrast issue on 'Join the conversation' section
• Redesign typographic hierarchy to support proper nesting of headings

Phase 2 - by September 2025

• Ensure any legacy PDFs and Word docs that are essential to providing our services meet accessibility standards or are replaced with accessible HTML versions
• Re-audit www.nam.ac.uk
• Initiate service overhaul of collection.nam.ac.uk

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 23 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 20 December 2024.

This website was last formally tested for compliance with WCAG 2.1 (level A and level AA) in January 2020. We carried out an access audit using an automated validator to check the website and content, as well as access user testing with assistive technology users. The audit and testing was performed by Shelley Boden in collaboration with Surface Impression.

We used the Website Accessibility Conformance Evaluation Methodology (WCAG-EM) to decide on a sample of pages to test.