Revamped Website Supports Disabilities

South Tyneside Council Housing Services has launched a new accessible website ahead of Global Accessibility Awareness Day this Thursday.

The site has been redesigned to make it easier for people with disabilities to use, with a range of new tools to help them.

Visitors to the website will now be able to customise it to suit their needs, including changing text size, fonts and colours.

The site has been designed taking into consideration users with disabilities including visual impairments, deafness, dyslexia, autism and those with physical or motor disabilities.

Special attention has been given to making sure tenants can listen to the website using a screen reader and navigate using just a keyboard.

Cllr Ed Malcolm, said "The site has been redesigned to make it easier for people with disabilities to access information, but in fact, accessible websites are better for everyone.

"We know more and more of our residents are going online to use a range of services, so the new design will benefit all tenants.

"It's important that our online services are accessible and inclusive for everyone and we hope all visitors will find the site user-friendly."

New accessibility regulations come into force for all public sector websites on 23 September 2020.

South Tyneside Homes now publishes its Annual Report online and will continue to look at how to make more of its services and information for tenants accessible.

The redesign has been carried out by the Council's Digital and ICT team and the accessibility toolbar is provided by Recite Me.