Making the website accessible Easy Read

Accessibility is at the heart of everything we do at Mencap.

We started a project in 2023 to look at how accessible our website was.

We worked with a company called Reason Digital to help us.

Reason Digital are experts in making accessible websites.

1. For 4 weeks we looked at how people with a learning disability use websites.

2. We asked 142 people 42 questions about website accessibility.

3. We checked to see how our website looked on places like Google.

4. We held workshops with 66 people with a learning disability to test websites.

5. We asked 172 people to answer online questions about websites.

66 of those people took part in the workshops.

• Everyone had different skills and needs.

Some people could use computers on their own and some people needed support.

• Lots of people were worried about using computers which made some people not want to use them.

• Clear and simple words helped people with a learning disability and their carers.

• Only a few people with a learning disability or their carers used the Mencap website.

• Lots of people wanted to be able to change the size of words on webpages and have webpages that read out loud.

• People would like webpages that use Easy Read photographs with simple sentences.

• People liked websites that had a good search area like YouTube and BBC iPlayer.

• People wanted websites to look the same on both mobile and computer.

• People did not like websites with pop-ups, login boxes or lots of words.

• People were worried about getting things wrong when using websites.

They were also worried about their safety on websites and social media.

• Made Easy Read webpages which can be printed out.

• Updated the colours we use.

• Added symbols to buttons.

• Written a social media accessibility guide.

• Added more videos with subtitles and sound.