Cambridge University Press & Assessment has become one of only four publishers globally to achieve a 100 percent score from ASPIRE, providing a high quality of accessibility information for web-users who have disabilities.
The accessibility statement on the main website, cambridge.org, has been awarded a gold standard set by ASPIRE – the Accessible Statements Promoting Improved Reading Experience project – and is the first in 2023 to score full marks.
The ASPIRE project aims to standardize accessibility statements so that readers know the functionality they can use or the barriers they need to work around when accessing information in a digital format.
As part of its efforts toward greater accessibility, digital products across the organization have undergone third-party audits with the Digital Accessibility Centre, involving expert reviews and testing by users who have a range of disabilities.
Cambridge University Press & Assessment was also the first signatory to the Publishing Accessibility Action Group (PAAG) charter, which aims to make publishers’ content accessible to all and to aid others in that endeavour. In addition, the publisher recently became a signatory of the Accessible Books Consortium (ABC) charter for Accessible Publishing, which promotes the production of e-books and other digital publications in accessible formats such as braille, audio or large print for people who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise print disabled through eight aspirational guiding principles.
The ASPIRE project was launched in 2018 as a crowdsourced project to evaluate the quality of accessibility statements in the publishing industry. Since then, it has partnered with textBOX, a company working to improve alt-text descriptions, and has grown to help publishers create a transparent environment for content.
The Press’s Digital Accessibility Network members champion digital accessibility and share knowledge across departments and teams. Accessibility champions share knowledge, ask questions about accessibility, and help to ensure it is integrated into all their products and services.
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