Accessibility

At AutismService we value diversity and inclusiveness, and we support a living and work environment where all individuals, including those with varying abilities, are treated equally with dignity and respect. We therefore aim for accessibility to be an integral and essential aspect of the design and build of our website. Our intention is to ensure that, as much as possible, our site can be viewed and navigated effectively by all of our site visitors. As to achieve this we included a variety of features which are summarized below.

Keyboard Use: Access Keys

The ability to navigate the site using other means than a mouse can be important for those who have difficulties using a mouse or other pointing devices. To help with this we have set up 'Access Keys' (see below) on the site which allow easy navigation to the main pages on the website. As well as helping those who have difficulty using a mouse it also allows quick access to the main pages for anyone who prefers to use the keyboard to navigate around our website

To use the access keys on the site follow these steps:

For PC users

Firefox 2+: Hold down the SHIFT key and the ALT key and then press the number of the access key
Opera 9: Hold SHIFT and the ESC key and the list of access keys will appear.
Internet Explorer 7+: Hold down the ALT key, press the number of the access key, release both keys then press ENTER
Netscape 7: Hold down the ALT key and press the number of the access key

For Mac users

Firefox 2+: Hold down the CTRL key and the ALT key and then press the number of the access key
Safari: Hold down the CTRL and the ALT key and press the number of the access key
Opera 9: Hold SHIFT and the ESC key and the list of access keys will appear.

Pre-arranged settings:

At AutismService we arranged pre-settings for the appearance (font size and colours) of our website so you can read it more easily.

Background/foreground

Please see http://www.w3.org/WAI/changedesign for instructions on how to change the default colours in your browser

Resizing Text

Modern browsers such as Internet Explorer, FireFox, Safari (Mac), Google Chrome, Opera, and Netscape provide a setting option to adjust the font, or text, size. Once set your preference of font and text size will be the default option for all websites you visit. This feature is particularly handy as you no longer need to look for the text sizing options on each web site you visit, providing they supply such an option.

If you have a wheel mouse: hold down the Control key and spin the wheel to make the fonts smaller or larger - this should work on most web sites. Or you can use Control + and Control -. It is also possible to increase the size of the text by holding down the "Ctrl" key on the bottom left hand row of the key board whilst using the scroll wheel on the mouse to increase (or decrease) the size of the text.

Another option to alter text size is via the "View" menu.

Select the "Text Size" option from the menu.
Select the text size you want to view.

Make your computer read text aloud

Most modern computers can be made to read text aloud, which is an extremely useful facility for those who have difficulty reading.
Windows users can utilize the Narrator function by accessing the 'Ease of Access Center' (found in the Control Panel section of the operating system). From here, turn on the Narrator function and choose what types of messages your computer should read aloud.
The following keyboard shortcuts can be used when the Narrator function is running:

Insert + F3 - read the current letter or number
Insert + F4 - read the current word
Insert + F5 - read the entire current line
Insert + F6 - read the current paragraph (useful when browsing areas of a website!)
Insert + F7 - read the whole of the current page
Insert + F8 - read the current document

Built-in speech-to-text features - such as Windows Narrator - come with most computer operating systems (Windows, Mac or Linux). However, with the exception of Mac OS X's VoiceOver, these are limited speech-output programmes and do not offer a complete solution for, for example, those with low vision. There are also various speech packages whose sole function is to make your web browser 'talk'. To have a single application that does all of these things, and provides effective access to Microsoft Word, Internet Explorer and other programmes, someone who is blind or partially sighted may want to use a full screenreader.
Examples of freeware screenreaders are NVDA (NonVisual Desktop Access), Thunder and NaturalReader. There are also commercial packages which offer magnification and speech functionality. Full screenreader packages can be quite expensive but offer a lot of features, such as reliable speech output.

The only built-in screenreader that is included as part of a computer operating system at present is VoiceOver, which is included with Mac OS 10.4 or later. For instructions on using the built-in speech functions in Mac OS X:

Starting with OS 10.4 (Tiger), Mac OS X has included a fully integrated screenreader called VoiceOver. Earlier versions of Mac OS X have only the more limited screen-reading function called Speech (which is also available on later versions). For a detailed guidance on setting up MAC VoiceOver we refer to
http://www.apple.com/accessibility/voiceover/ (English)
http://www.apple.com/it//accessibility/voiceover/ (Italiano)

Help with downloads

Our content may contain links to PDF files. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer to open these. This can be downloaded from www.adobe.com for free.

Our ongoing commitment

We are committed to ensuring our customer service policies and processes respect and promote the dignity and independence of all customers. We will continue to update our policies as needed to maintain our commitment to accessibility. If you have any questions or comments, please email us at info@autismservice.org