Accessibility

It is important to us that our website that is accessible to all and we have aimed to ensure that our site can be used by people with disabilities.

Wherever possible we aim to reach a conformance Level Double AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

Accessibility Features

We have introduced the features below to ensure the best possible experience on our site by all users.

Access Keys

access key function
0 go to Accessibility help documentation page
1 go to engage Mutual Assurance Home page
2 skip to main content of current page (for non-visual browsers)
3 go to engage Mutual Assurance Site Map page
4 go to Life Insurance product page
5 go to Savings and Investments product page
6 go to Child Savings product page
7 go to Travel Insurance product page
8 go to Advisers documentation page
9 go to Contact us page

how to use access keys in your browser

browser what to do
Internet Explorer 5+ (PC) Hold down the ALT key, press the number of the access key, release both keys then press ENTER
Internet Explorer 4 (PC) Hold down the ALT key and press the number of the access key
Internet Explorer 5+ (Mac) Hold down the CTRL key and press the number of the access key
Internet Explorer 4.5 (Mac) Access keys are not supported
Netscape 6 and earlier (PC and Mac) Access keys are not supported
Netscape 7 (PC) Hold down the ALT key and press the number of the access key
Firefox, Mozilla (PC) Hold down the ALT key and press the number of the access key
Firefox, Mozilla (Mac) Hold down the CTRL key and press the number of the access key
Safari and Omniweb (Mac) Hold down the CTRL key and press the number of the access key
Opera Hold down the Shift key and press Escape, release both keys, then press the number of the access key

Colours

We have tried to ensure that the site's font and background colour combinations contrast significantly.

Copy

Abbreviations are kept to an absolute minimum and where used an explanation is given.

Font Size

Most of the font sizes we use on our site are sizable. You can change the font size to make it either larger or smaller via your browser settings.
You can change the font size in the following browsers;

Forms and Fields

All form fields follow a logical tab sequence to ensure easy navigation. Most form fields also have 'label' and 'id' attributes to explicitly associate the form field with its label to allow for easy entry of data.

Headings and Navigation Menus

HTML heading tags are used to convey document structure. H1 tags are used for main titles, H2 tags for subtitles etc. Navigation menus are marked up as HTML lists. This ensures that the number of links in the list is read out at the start and it can be skipped easily.

Images

All images used in this site include descriptive alt tag attributes. Where an image has no use other than being decorative the alt tag is set to null to allow easy reading of the site by all users.


Javascript

The use of Javascript has been kept to an absolute minimum. Where it is used then all pages and process are still accessible should Javascript be turned off.

Links

All links have been written to make sense when taken out of context. Where appropriate, we have also added link title attributes to describe the link in greater detail.

Navigation

A hidden menu has been placed at the beginning of each page to allow screen reader users to link to the main areas of the page. A hidden link has also been provided at the beginning of each page to provide easy access to information on accessibility. For people using screenreaders we have included skip links which allow you to bypass the navigation and go straight through to the main page content.

Style Sheets

This site uses cascading style sheets for all visual layout. If your browser or browsing device does not support stylesheets at all, the use of structured semantic mark up ensures that the content of each page is still readable and clearly structured.

Tables

All data tables have properly scoped header cells, to allow screen readers to render them intelligently. We have also ensured table summaries are used as well as captions where appropriate. Tables used for layout use none of the above attributes to ensure that they are not confused with data tables.

Useful Accessibility Links

If you would like to find out more about accessibility and the web you may be interested in the sites below:

  • w3.org/WAI - W3C accessibility guidelines
  • RNIB website - the Royal National Institute for the Blind
  • bcab.org.uk - British Computer Association of the Blind
  • Lynx - a free text-only web browser for blind users with refreshable Braille displays.