Skip to content

ACCESSIBILITY.md

Latest commit

 

History

History
216 lines (168 loc) · 10.7 KB

ACCESSIBILITY.md

File metadata and controls

216 lines (168 loc) · 10.7 KB

Accessibility Statement for the SciTools GitHub Organisation

This accessibility statement applies to the content hosted on the repositories of the SciTools GitHub organisation.

The SciTools GitHub organisation is run by the 'AVD' team ('Analysis and Visualisation of Data') at the UK Met Office.

SciTools development presents particularly exciting opportunities around inclusivity. Climate science affects all of us, and people from all walks of life should be able to engage with it. Working with a popular language - Python - and hosting on a widely-used platform - GitHub - opens us to an enormous population of potential users and collaborators, and our open-source model means anyone can contribute regardless of their skill-set or available resources. We are committed to making our content as accessible as possible, to maximise these opportunities.

By hosting on GitHub, we benefit from their own excellent accessibility efforts:

For the content that we host on GitHub, we want to ensure as many people as possible can understand it, by maximising clarity of metadata, directory structure, text structure, and language. In all of these areas we align to existing conventions as much as possible, to maximise familiarity.

Across the SciTools repositories, you should be able to:

  • Benefit from GitHub's built-in accessibility features when navigating and viewing our content.
  • Navigate the structure of our text using just a keyboard (e.g. using headings).
  • Listen to our text using a screen reader.
  • Understand our text, which is written in plain English with explanations or links for any technical terms.
  • Follow our source code, which uses descriptive variable names, comments, docstrings, adopts a 'self-describing' structure where possible, and adheres to existing style conventions ('linting').
  • Learn about our repositories via standard GitHub 'community health files' such as README.md, LICENSE, CITATION.cff.
  • Know where to find standard files and directories through their conventional names and paths; e.g. documentation, source code, pyproject.toml.
  • Navigate our issues, pull requests, discussions; via their descriptive titles and labels, including standard GitHub labels such as good first issue.

How accessible this content is

While we are spinning up our accessibility testing, caution is needed when using screen readers on repository README files. Two specific issues are expected and are as-yet untested:

  1. Emojis used as punctuation in headings and lists.
  2. Repository health communicated via SVG 'badges', which are images of text.

The meaning of the README files is still expected to be clear, as the main text bodies are free from the above issues.

Feedback and contact information

If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact the SciTools development team, who are responsible for both communication and actioning on accessibility issues.

If you need any information from the SciTools GitHub organisation in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, the correct point of contact is also the SciTools development team. However, it is important to note that SciTools activity is conducted primarily via GitHub, so continued collaboration/communication with SciTools will be challenging if the native GitHub format is inaccessible to you.

Available contact methods:

The SciTools development team review all communications weekly (GitHub communication is reviewed during the SciTools Peloton meetings, the email Inbox is monitored at least weekly), at which point we will respond to discuss possible actions with you.

w3.org have shared some tips on contacting organisations about accessibility.

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).

Technical information about this content's accessibility

The Met Office is committed to making its content accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance status

This GitHub organisation is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 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

  • Emojis are used as punctuation in headings and lists within many README files. Emojis can disrupt flow when using a screen reader, and they should typically be limited to the end of a sentence or paragraph - see WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text Content. The text remains understandable if you are aware of this potential disruption. We will be improving our understanding of correct emoji usage during our manual testing routine (SciTools/.github#213).
  • SVG 'badges' are used within many README files to communicate repository health/status. These are images of text, which would be more accessible as plain text. See WCAG 1.4.5 Images of Text. It is not necessary to understand this section of the README files to understand the overall meaning. We will be reviewing what can be done to maximise accessibility in this space, since in some cases badges are the only viable option; see SciTools/.github#216.

Unassessed content

We are at an early stage of assessing the accessibility of the content hosted across the SciTools GitHub organisation, and therefore do not yet have a full account of non-accessible content. Actions we are taking to address this include:

  • Creation of the Accessibility issue Type across SciTools repositories, to raise the profile of accessibility work and to aid in tracking outstanding issues.
  • Implementing automated accessibility testing in the continuous integration (CI) of SciTools repositories; see SciTools/.github#214
  • Planning a manual accessibility testing routine for SciTools repositories; see SciTools/.github#213

In the meantime, we welcome reports of any accessibility issues you encounter while using the SciTools GitHub organisation; see the Feedback and contact information section for details.

Content that is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

Third-party platform limitations

This content is hosted on GitHub, a third-party platform. As such, we do not control accessibility of GitHub's interface elements, such as its colours, navigation, type-facing. These aspects are managed by GitHub and fall outside the scope of our accessibility responsibilities. For more information about GitHub accessibility, see GitHub's accessibility pages, including GitHub's published accessibility conformance reports.

Third-party content

The SciTools GitHub organisation includes third party content which we have no control over - comments left on issues, pull requests, discussions by members of the public. The accessibility regulations do not require us to manage these kinds of content, but if you have a problem with any of the content hosted on this GitHub organisation, please contact us using the methods above and we will try to help.

Archive content

Some of the content in issues, pull requests, discussions across the SciTools GitHub organisation is classified as archive content. Specifically: these are made up of conversational posts which are inappropriate to edit or remove. This kind of historically recorded content is exempt from meeting the digital accessibility regulations. If you require a specific piece of archive conversation and it is not accessible, please contact us using the methods above and we will provide an accessible version of the content on request.

We will always consider accessibility at the time of making new posts on issues, pull requests, discussions.

Source code

Source code is not typical text and does not support typical accessibility features such as semantic markup or keyboard navigation. The accessibility regulations do not require us to make source code accessible. However, we are keen to make our source code as clear and understandable as possible, within the constraints of programming languages and their conventions. If you have any problems or suggestions regarding the accessibility of our source code, please contact us using the methods above.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 17th October 2025. It was last reviewed on 17th October 2025.

The SciTools GitHub organisation was last tested on 11th September 2024. The test was carried out by the 'AVD' team ('Analysis and Visualisation of Data') at the UK Met Office. The test included parsing the SciTools organisational README file using the NVDA screen reader on Windows 11, and the Read aloud function in Microsoft Edge on Windows 11.

A more thorough range of testing - manual AND automated - is planned for the future; see the Non-assessed content section for details.