Accessibility

Physical Accessibility

The Bureau is accessible to physically disabled clients.  Disabled parking is available just outside the Bureau and the access is wheelchair friendly.

Website Accessibility

Setting the screen resolution

The screen area setting is an important factor in how much information your monitor can display. Have you noticed how everything looks really big on your screen, or that many of the web pages you view require you to scroll left to right in addition to down? That is because your screen area is set too low, allowing only a certain amount of information to be displayed. By simply increasing the number of pixels your monitor is capable of displaying, you can view more on your screen regardless of its actual dimensions!

Instructions for Windows 95/98/NT

1. Click the Start button (bottom left corner of screen)
2. From the Settings menu, click on ‘Control Panel’
3. Double-click on Display to open
4. Click on the Settings tab
5. Drag the Display or screen area slider to the right until it reads 1024 by 760 or larger. If this resolution is not available on the computer you are using, choose 800 by 600. [Note that you will need to scroll more on web pages when using this lower resolution)
6. Click on OK to save changes
7. After the screen resizes, click the OK button again to confirm the new screen size.

1. Minimize all open windows
2. Right click anywhere on the desktop as long as it is not on an icon
3. Select Properties from the pop-up menu
4. From the window that appears click on the Settings tab
5. You will see a slider titled Desktop area. Move the slider up to 800 x 600 pixels, click on OK
6. A pop-up window titled Display Properties will appear with the text: Windows will now adjust your display settings. This could take a few seconds, during which your screen might flicker. If Windows does not reappear correctly, wait 15 seconds, and your original settings will be restored
7. Click on OK to see your display change and Windows will ask: Do you want to keep this setting?
8. Click Yes.

Instructions for Mac OS X

1. Exit all applications and choose Control Panels/Monitors from the Apple menu
2. Click on the Monitors & Sound button
3. Under the Resolution option, click the 800x600 setting, or the closest one to that
4. Close the Monitors window.

(Note: Some Mac monitors will NOT allow a setting above 640 x 480)

Changing colours, fonts and text size in your browser

You can change features on your browser and control the way in which web pages appear. This is particularly useful if you have low vision, need larger fonts, or need high-contrast or different colours from the ones set. Using options available in your browser, you can change

• the size, style and colour of fonts
• the background colours of web pages
• the colour used to indicate hyperlinks, active web links and visited web links.

How you do this depends on what browser you use. Below are the steps for making these feature changes in Internet Explorer and Netscape.

Internet Explorer 5.x (for PC)

1. Click on Tools from the browser menu options (top right of window)
2. Select Internet options
3. Click on the Colours button at the bottom of the pop-up screen
4. Choose the colour options that you find best, then click on OK to save the changes.

1. Click on Tools from the browser menu options (top right of window)
2. Select Internet options
3. Click on the Fonts button at the bottom of the pop-up screen
4. Choose the font options that you find best, then click on OK to save the changes.

1. Click on View from the browser menu options (top right of window)
2. Select Text size, and choose the option that is best for you

1. Click on Tools from the browser menu options (top right of window)
2. Select Internet options
3. Click on the Accessibility button at the bottom of the pop-up screen
4. Tick any of the options that you want to over-ride and click on OK to save the changes.

1. Click on Edit from the browser menu options (top right of window)
2. From the options menu which appears, select Preferences
3. Click on Web content
4. Deselect the button marked Show style sheets
5. Return to the list of preferences
6. Click on Web browser
7. Select Language/fonts
8. Select the font size you require.

1. Click on Edit from the browser menu options (top right of screen)
2. Select Preferences
3. Open the Appearance group of options.

1. Click on Colours
2. Choose the colours that you want for text, background, visited and unvisited links
3. To override the colours used by the designer of the web page, select 'Always use my colours, overriding document'
4. Click on OK to save changes.

1. Click on Fonts
2. Next to For the encoding should read ‘Western’, to tell the computer which types of letters and symbols to use
3. From Size select the size of font that suits you (for example, 18)
4. From the drop-down box next to the Variable Width Font field, select Ariel
5. The Fixed Width Font box should already read 'Courier New'. From 'Size' select 18
6. To override the fonts used by the designer of the web page, select Use my default fonts overriding document specified fonts
7. Click on OK to save changes.

1. Click on Start (bottom left corner of screen)
2. Select Settings, and then Control Panel
3. Open the Display section either by double left clicking on the icon, or by highlighting the icon and pressing Enter
4. Click on the Appearance tab to see the options available in this section.

1. Click on the arrow in the ‘Colour scheme’ box to display the colour scheme options available
2. Scroll down the list to see each one previewed above and, when you find one that is suitable, press Enter to select it. (Some of these colour schemes have large font versions)

1. Click on the arrow in the Item box to display all the objects whose colour you can change
2. Select the item that you want to change, then open up the colour options by clicking on the Colour button. (Clicking on other inside the Colour box will give you the full range of colours available on the system)
3. Choose the colour you want for that item
4. Repeat this for every item whose colour you want to change, then click on OK to save you’re the changes to your system.

1. Select Appearance Control Panel from the options along the top of the window
2. Select Appearance
3. Click on Highlight colour drop-down menu to display the colour options
4. Click on the Variation colour drop-down menu to display the colour options.

1. Select Appearance Control Panel from the options along the top of the window
2. Select the Fonts tab
3. Select your options from the drop-down menus for Large system font, Small system font and the Views font.

 
Mouse settings

1. Click on the Start button in the bottom left corner of the screen
2. Select Settings, and then Control Panel
3. Open the Mouse section either by double left clicking on the icon, or by highlighting the icon and pressing Enter.

1. Click on the Buttons tab
2. Select right- or left-handed
3. Select single or double click for opening items
4. Drag the slider along to choose the speed for double-clicking
5. Click on Apply to save your changes.

1. Click on the Pointers tab
2. Choose the scheme of pointers from the drop-down menu (previewed in the box to the right)
3. Click on Apply to save your changes.

1. Click on the Motion tab
2. Drag the slider along to choose the speed you want for the mouse
3. Select the acceleration that you prefer
4. Click on Apply to save your changes.

• the time that elapses before a held down key starts repeating
• how quickly characters are repeated when you hold down a key
• the rate at which the cursor blinks.

1. Click on the Start button in the bottom left corner of the screen
2. Select Settings, and then Control Panel
3. Open the Keyboard section either by double left clicking on the icon, or by highlighting the icon and pressing Enter
4. Select your speeds using the three sliders
5. Click on Apply, then on OK to save your changes.

• World Wide Web Consortium
• Web Accessibility Initiative The Word Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) creates web standards for making web pages accessible to all
• www.microsoft.com/enable/training/default.aspx - for details about the Microsoft Accessibility Wizard and how to use it
• www.apple.com/accessibility - for details about the Apple Macintosh’s accessibility features that are built into the system.

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