Web accessibility | Science Museum Group
Source: https://www.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/web-accessibility
Archived: 2026-04-23 17:13
Web accessibility | Science Museum Group
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View more details on collections site
USING SCIENCE MUSEUM GROUP WEBSITES
This accessibility statement applies to all websites operated by the Science Museum Group across the following domains:
Science Museum sciencemuseum.org.uk
Science Museum Group sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk
National Railway Museum railwaymuseum.org.uk
National Science and Media Museum scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk
Science and Industry Museum scienceandindustrymuseum.org.uk
Locomotion locomotion.org.uk
Science and Innovation Park scienceinnovationpark.org.uk
Hire the Science Museum hirethesciencemuseum.com
Hire the Railway Museum hiretherailwaymuseum.com
Hire the Science and Industry Museum hirethescienceandindustrymuseum.com
Hire the Science and Innovation Park hirethescienceinnovationpark.com
Science and Society Picture Library scienceandsociety.co.uk
These websites are run by The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2DD (‘the Science Museum Group’, also referred to in this statement as ‘we’, ‘our’ or ‘us’) and we would like as many people as possible to be able to use them.
You should be able to do things like:
change colours, contrast levels and fonts
zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen
navigate most of our websites using just a keyboard
navigate most of our websites using speech recognition software
listen to most of our websites using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)
We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.
AbilityNet
has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.
This statement explains what we are doing to address the accessibility of our websites and how to contact us about web accessibility.
HOW ACCESSIBLE ARE OUR WEBSITES
We are working to improve the accessibility of all our websites, but we know that some areas are not yet fully accessible. In particular, we know that you may encounter:
Older PDFs that are not properly formatted to be accessible
Images with missing or unhelpful alternative text. Some decorative images do not have an appropriate null alt attribute
Pre-recorded video that lacks a text transcript or audio description
Moving content is observed (e.g. animated GIFs)
A focus indicator is not always visible
Text and user interface contrast that does not always meet minimum requirements
Some User Interface elements cannot be interacted with via keyboard
Some online submission form inputs may lack text labels
On online submission forms, some content may not display correctly when resizing text
Files cannot be uploaded to online submission forms with Dragon Naturally Speaking using voice commands
Some iFrames do not have an alternate description
Tab order is not always logical
CONTACTING US ABOUT OUR WEBSITES
If you would like to get in touch to ask or tell us anything regarding the web accessibility of our websites, please
email
[email protected]
phone 033 0058 0058
We want to improve our web accessibility and welcome your feedback. We will respond in no more than 5 working days but hope to do it more quickly than that in most cases.
Please do
not
use this email address for general enquiries regarding objects in the collection or research requests.
Collection
Research at the Science Museum
(Email
[email protected]
)
Research at the Science and Industry Museum
(Email
[email protected]
)
Research at the National Science and Media Museum
(Email
[email protected]
)
Research at the National Railway Museum
(Email
[email protected]
)
Research at the Science and Innovation Park
(Email
[email protected]
)
About our collection
(Email
[email protected]
)
CONTACTING US ABOUT PHYSICAL VISITS
If you need any assistance or information to help you plan a visit to one of our museums, please use the following contact details:
Call us on 033 0058 0058 (09.00–17.00 daily)
Email us at
[email protected]
Accessibility information on the Science Museum website
Accessibility information on the Science and Industry Museum website
Accessibility information on the National Science and Media Museum website
Accessibility information on the National Railway Museum website
Accessibility information on the Locomotion website
Accessibility information on the Science and Innovation Park website
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 WEBSITE’S ACCESSIBILITY
The Science Museum Group is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
COMPLIANCE STATUS
This website 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
Some videos lack captions and some audio lacks transcriptions, so the information in them isn’t available to people using a screen reader. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1 (non- text content). When we publish new video or audio content we’ll make sure our use of audio meets accessibility standards.
The majority of the video on the website does not contain text or audio description. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.2.1 Pre-Recorded Audio-Only and Video-Only. For new videos, we are aiming for important information to be conveyed within the video audio track or else provide a separate audio described version where necessary.
There’s no alt text on some of the images on the site. Some decorative imagery contains inappropriate alternative text. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1 (Non- text Content). Mitigation in progress. . When we publish new content we will make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.
Insufficient colour contrast between text and background. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.2success criterion 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum). Mitigation in progress.
On online submission forms, the reCAPTCHA element displays rendering issues when a page’s text is zoomed to over 200%. Users with low vision may need to increase the size of content so they can see it adequately. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.4 Resize Text. The reCAPTCHA element is controlled by a third-party organisation and therefore cannot be fixed at this time.
When viewing the ‘Online Submission Form’ page at 1280px width and 400% zoom, a horizontal scroll is present due to the reCAPTCHA element. Users with low vision may require text enlargement. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.10 Reflow. The reCAPTCHA element is controlled by a third-party organisation and therefore cannot be fixed at this time.
A number of iframes have undescriptive titles or are missing titles completely. Screen reader users may not be able to identify the content or purpose of the iframes. This does not comply with WCAG Level A 2.2 success criterion 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks. This relates to our cookie consent management platform and is controlled by a third-party organisation and therefore cannot be fixed at this time.
The focus order of the ‘Highlights’ carousel on the Collection Online homepage is not always logical, with the focus being taken to links that are not visually present on the page. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.3 Focus Order. This is controlled by a third-party organisation and therefore cannot be fixed at this time.
Video content and embedded 3D objects on some online collection pages are missing a visible focus indicator. Those who use a keyboard may struggle to locate themselves on the page without this indicator. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.7 Focus Visible. This is controlled by a third-party organisation and therefore cannot be fixed at this time.
When navigating through the ‘Online Submission Form’ page with Dragon Naturally Speaking, users are unable to interact with the file upload component using known voice commands. This prevents the user from being able to upload files via spoken word. This is an issue with the Dragon Naturally Speaking software and is unable to be fixed. Upload functionality may be able to be interacted with using the “Mouse grid” feature built into the software. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value. This is an issue with the Dragon Naturally Speaking software and is unable to be fixed.
DISPROPORTIONATE BURDEN
Some of our older interactives and games, such as
Launchball
, are not compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard.
We’ve assessed the cost and resources needed to fix the issues we believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. When choosing new suppliers and agencies we will ensure all new interactives will be compliant.
Assessment
Launchball is an interactive game that was developed over 5 years ago. The game was developed by an external digital agency at a cost of £70k. The SMG digital department does not have an internal development team so would need to go back to the agency to redevelop it. To make the game WAI compliant would require rebuilding it from scratch at a cost of around £70k as accessibility features would need to be built into the game mechanics throughout. The game can not currently be controlled by a keyboard and is not compatible with screen reading technology. To make the game accessible to blind users would also require adding audio descriptions of the interactivity within the game so that users could understand what was happening on screen as a result of their actions.
As SMG does not have an internal development team, the majority of the Digital budget is spent on the ongoing hosting, maintenance and support of the websites via external agencies. We would not have the necessary budget to redevelop Launchball and would need to find additional funds elsewhere.
Launchball receives around 22,000 visits per month. The benefits of solving the issues would be that the game could be navigated via keyboard and compatible with screen reader technology.
We do not expect to resolve the accessibility issues with this game as we will not have the necessary budget. The game is now quite old and a legacy project. Instead, we would like to put any digital budget towards making sure that any future interactives are fully accessible.
CONTENT THAT’S NOT WITHIN THE SCOPE OF THE ACCESSIBILITY REGULATIONS
PDFs and other documents
Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services.
The accessibility regulations
do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018
as they’re not essential to providing our services.
Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.
PREPARATION OF THIS ACCESSIBILITY STATEMENT
This statement was prepared on 23 September 2019. It was last reviewed on 15 November 2025.
This website was last tested on 14 April 2025. In addition, we use
PowerMapper
to scan our existing websites once a month. New website developments are manually tested by specialist agencies.
WHAT WE’RE DOING TO IMPROVE ACCESSIBILITY
The Science Museum Group runs many websites that were developed at different times using different technologies. We are committed to providing websites that are accessible to all and we are working hard to achieve that, but it will take some time due to the scale and complexity of the task.
We are also:
rolling out accessibility training to staff who create web content
raising general accessibility awareness across the organisation
investigating how we can add text and audio descriptions to videos going forward
continuing to use web accessibility criteria to assess suppliers in our procurement policies
Skip to main content
View more details on collections site
USING SCIENCE MUSEUM GROUP WEBSITES
This accessibility statement applies to all websites operated by the Science Museum Group across the following domains:
Science Museum sciencemuseum.org.uk
Science Museum Group sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk
National Railway Museum railwaymuseum.org.uk
National Science and Media Museum scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk
Science and Industry Museum scienceandindustrymuseum.org.uk
Locomotion locomotion.org.uk
Science and Innovation Park scienceinnovationpark.org.uk
Hire the Science Museum hirethesciencemuseum.com
Hire the Railway Museum hiretherailwaymuseum.com
Hire the Science and Industry Museum hirethescienceandindustrymuseum.com
Hire the Science and Innovation Park hirethescienceinnovationpark.com
Science and Society Picture Library scienceandsociety.co.uk
These websites are run by The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2DD (‘the Science Museum Group’, also referred to in this statement as ‘we’, ‘our’ or ‘us’) and we would like as many people as possible to be able to use them.
You should be able to do things like:
change colours, contrast levels and fonts
zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen
navigate most of our websites using just a keyboard
navigate most of our websites using speech recognition software
listen to most of our websites using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)
We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.
AbilityNet
has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.
This statement explains what we are doing to address the accessibility of our websites and how to contact us about web accessibility.
HOW ACCESSIBLE ARE OUR WEBSITES
We are working to improve the accessibility of all our websites, but we know that some areas are not yet fully accessible. In particular, we know that you may encounter:
Older PDFs that are not properly formatted to be accessible
Images with missing or unhelpful alternative text. Some decorative images do not have an appropriate null alt attribute
Pre-recorded video that lacks a text transcript or audio description
Moving content is observed (e.g. animated GIFs)
A focus indicator is not always visible
Text and user interface contrast that does not always meet minimum requirements
Some User Interface elements cannot be interacted with via keyboard
Some online submission form inputs may lack text labels
On online submission forms, some content may not display correctly when resizing text
Files cannot be uploaded to online submission forms with Dragon Naturally Speaking using voice commands
Some iFrames do not have an alternate description
Tab order is not always logical
CONTACTING US ABOUT OUR WEBSITES
If you would like to get in touch to ask or tell us anything regarding the web accessibility of our websites, please
[email protected]
phone 033 0058 0058
We want to improve our web accessibility and welcome your feedback. We will respond in no more than 5 working days but hope to do it more quickly than that in most cases.
Please do
not
use this email address for general enquiries regarding objects in the collection or research requests.
Collection
Research at the Science Museum
[email protected]
)
Research at the Science and Industry Museum
[email protected]
)
Research at the National Science and Media Museum
[email protected]
)
Research at the National Railway Museum
[email protected]
)
Research at the Science and Innovation Park
[email protected]
)
About our collection
[email protected]
)
CONTACTING US ABOUT PHYSICAL VISITS
If you need any assistance or information to help you plan a visit to one of our museums, please use the following contact details:
Call us on 033 0058 0058 (09.00–17.00 daily)
Email us at
[email protected]
Accessibility information on the Science Museum website
Accessibility information on the Science and Industry Museum website
Accessibility information on the National Science and Media Museum website
Accessibility information on the National Railway Museum website
Accessibility information on the Locomotion website
Accessibility information on the Science and Innovation Park website
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 WEBSITE’S ACCESSIBILITY
The Science Museum Group is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
COMPLIANCE STATUS
This website 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
Some videos lack captions and some audio lacks transcriptions, so the information in them isn’t available to people using a screen reader. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1 (non- text content). When we publish new video or audio content we’ll make sure our use of audio meets accessibility standards.
The majority of the video on the website does not contain text or audio description. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.2.1 Pre-Recorded Audio-Only and Video-Only. For new videos, we are aiming for important information to be conveyed within the video audio track or else provide a separate audio described version where necessary.
There’s no alt text on some of the images on the site. Some decorative imagery contains inappropriate alternative text. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1 (Non- text Content). Mitigation in progress. . When we publish new content we will make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.
Insufficient colour contrast between text and background. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.2success criterion 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum). Mitigation in progress.
On online submission forms, the reCAPTCHA element displays rendering issues when a page’s text is zoomed to over 200%. Users with low vision may need to increase the size of content so they can see it adequately. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.4 Resize Text. The reCAPTCHA element is controlled by a third-party organisation and therefore cannot be fixed at this time.
When viewing the ‘Online Submission Form’ page at 1280px width and 400% zoom, a horizontal scroll is present due to the reCAPTCHA element. Users with low vision may require text enlargement. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.10 Reflow. The reCAPTCHA element is controlled by a third-party organisation and therefore cannot be fixed at this time.
A number of iframes have undescriptive titles or are missing titles completely. Screen reader users may not be able to identify the content or purpose of the iframes. This does not comply with WCAG Level A 2.2 success criterion 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks. This relates to our cookie consent management platform and is controlled by a third-party organisation and therefore cannot be fixed at this time.
The focus order of the ‘Highlights’ carousel on the Collection Online homepage is not always logical, with the focus being taken to links that are not visually present on the page. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.3 Focus Order. This is controlled by a third-party organisation and therefore cannot be fixed at this time.
Video content and embedded 3D objects on some online collection pages are missing a visible focus indicator. Those who use a keyboard may struggle to locate themselves on the page without this indicator. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.7 Focus Visible. This is controlled by a third-party organisation and therefore cannot be fixed at this time.
When navigating through the ‘Online Submission Form’ page with Dragon Naturally Speaking, users are unable to interact with the file upload component using known voice commands. This prevents the user from being able to upload files via spoken word. This is an issue with the Dragon Naturally Speaking software and is unable to be fixed. Upload functionality may be able to be interacted with using the “Mouse grid” feature built into the software. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value. This is an issue with the Dragon Naturally Speaking software and is unable to be fixed.
DISPROPORTIONATE BURDEN
Some of our older interactives and games, such as
Launchball
, are not compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard.
We’ve assessed the cost and resources needed to fix the issues we believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. When choosing new suppliers and agencies we will ensure all new interactives will be compliant.
Assessment
Launchball is an interactive game that was developed over 5 years ago. The game was developed by an external digital agency at a cost of £70k. The SMG digital department does not have an internal development team so would need to go back to the agency to redevelop it. To make the game WAI compliant would require rebuilding it from scratch at a cost of around £70k as accessibility features would need to be built into the game mechanics throughout. The game can not currently be controlled by a keyboard and is not compatible with screen reading technology. To make the game accessible to blind users would also require adding audio descriptions of the interactivity within the game so that users could understand what was happening on screen as a result of their actions.
As SMG does not have an internal development team, the majority of the Digital budget is spent on the ongoing hosting, maintenance and support of the websites via external agencies. We would not have the necessary budget to redevelop Launchball and would need to find additional funds elsewhere.
Launchball receives around 22,000 visits per month. The benefits of solving the issues would be that the game could be navigated via keyboard and compatible with screen reader technology.
We do not expect to resolve the accessibility issues with this game as we will not have the necessary budget. The game is now quite old and a legacy project. Instead, we would like to put any digital budget towards making sure that any future interactives are fully accessible.
CONTENT THAT’S NOT WITHIN THE SCOPE OF THE ACCESSIBILITY REGULATIONS
PDFs and other documents
Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services.
The accessibility regulations
do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018
as they’re not essential to providing our services.
Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.
PREPARATION OF THIS ACCESSIBILITY STATEMENT
This statement was prepared on 23 September 2019. It was last reviewed on 15 November 2025.
This website was last tested on 14 April 2025. In addition, we use
PowerMapper
to scan our existing websites once a month. New website developments are manually tested by specialist agencies.
WHAT WE’RE DOING TO IMPROVE ACCESSIBILITY
The Science Museum Group runs many websites that were developed at different times using different technologies. We are committed to providing websites that are accessible to all and we are working hard to achieve that, but it will take some time due to the scale and complexity of the task.
We are also:
rolling out accessibility training to staff who create web content
raising general accessibility awareness across the organisation
investigating how we can add text and audio descriptions to videos going forward
continuing to use web accessibility criteria to assess suppliers in our procurement policies