Accessibilty Statement

Marfan Syndrome Support Group takes accessibility very seriously and have endeavoured in all areas to make this website compliant to Double A standard. We would appreciate any feedback  you may have in relation to accessibility in your experience of using this website.

Standards Compliance

This website has been developed to reach conformance rating Double A and comply with priority 1 and 2 checkpoints of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) v 1.0. with reference to the Access IT guidelines provided by the National Disability Authority (NDA) in Ireland.

The site uses structured semantic mark-up where possible. For example, internal content pages use H1 for all top level headings and list mark-up for internal navigation where possible. Using real list mark-up is best. Since visual presentation is in the CSS declarations, it does not clutter up the page. So both JAWS and Home Page Reader simply read your list for what it is: a list.

Visual Design

This site uses cascading style sheets for visual layout and all presentation has been completely separated from content with the exception of layout tables. If your browser or browsing device does not support style sheets at all, the content of each page is still readable.

Navigating the Website

• Top level navigation is visible at all times.

• A breadcrumb link is available at the top each page to assist in navigation.

• The homepage and all internal pages include a search box.

Using the Tab Key to jump between links

You can use the tab key on your keyboard to jump from one link to the next. All navigation bars in the site provide a logical order for this.

Visible Skip Navigation Link

A visible ‘skip navigation’ link is included in all pages. This is to facilitate jumping from the top of the page directly into the main content of the page, instead of having to tab through menu links.

Resize Text

Text can be increased in this website by at least 200%.

To increase text size:

• Firefox: Hold down the ctrl key and press the + key on your keyboard to increase the text size. Text size can be increased in the menu bar by clicking on “view” then “text size” and selecting the options of smaller through to larger.
• Internet Explorer 6: text size can be increased in the menu bar by clicking on “view” then “text size” and selecting the options of smaller through to larger.
• Internet Explorer 7: text size can be increased in the menu bar by clicking on “view” then “text size” and selecting the options of smaller through to larger. Screen size can also be increased by hold down the ctrl key and press the + key on your keyboard.

Content, Links and Headings

We have endeavoured to create content that is well structured with descriptive headings to aid in easy and quick navigation through the content of the website that is useful for both sighted surfers and those using assistive technology such as screen readers.

Links have been written to make sense when read out of context.

Accessibility software

The most popular software and browsers that you may find useful for assisting access to Website is listed below. Some are free, some are commercial but have free demos.

• JAWS a screen reader for Windows. A downloadable demo is available.
•  Lynx  a free text-only web browser for blind users with refreshable Braille displays.
• Links a free text-only web browser for visual users with low bandwidth.
• Opera a visual browser with many accessibility-related features, including text zooming, user stylesheets, images on and off toggle. A free downloadable version is available.