Accessibility Statement

In short.

  • We want everyone to be able to read The Datatech Times, including people who use assistive technology.
  • We aim to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 at Level AA.
  • Parts of the site are not yet fully accessible. The known issues, and our plan for them, are listed below.
  • If you can't access something you want to read, tell us and we will help.

1. Why this statement exists

This is the accessibility statement for The Datatech Times, one of the publications operated by Disrupts Media Limited. It tells you what we have done to make this site usable for people with disabilities, what we still need to fix, and how to ask for help if you cannot use part of the site.

This is one of five accessibility statements operated by Disrupts Media Limited — one for each of the four publications and one for the corporate site at www.disruptsmedia.com. The substantive commitments below apply to all five.

In this statement "we", "us" and "our" mean Disrupts Media Limited, the publisher of the site.

2. Our commitment

We are committed to making The Datatech Times accessible, in line with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 at Level AA. Where the site is not yet fully compliant, we are working on it. The list of known issues is in §5; the plan for them is in §6.

We also commit to:

  • giving every reader a route to ask for help, in §8;
  • responding to that route promptly; and
  • continuing to test the site against accessibility standards on an ongoing basis.

3. What we have already done

  • Colour and contrast. Text and key interface elements meet the WCAG AA contrast ratios on the brand colour palette used in disrupts_base (our shared theme). Brand accent colours have been tested against both light and dark backgrounds.
  • Keyboard navigation. All interactive elements — links, form controls, navigation menus, the cookie banner — can be reached and operated with a keyboard alone. A visible focus indicator is rendered on every focused element.
  • Headings and landmarks. Pages use a logical heading hierarchy (h1 → h2 → h3) and standard HTML landmarks (<header>, <main>, <nav>, <footer>) so screen readers can navigate them.
  • Alternative text. Editorial images carry alt text describing the image, except where the image is purely decorative (in which case the alt attribute is empty). AI-generated images carry both alt text and a visible watermark identifying the model — see the AI Use Policy.
  • Forms. Form labels are programmatically associated with their inputs. Error messages identify the field and explain what is wrong, in text, not by colour alone.
  • Responsive design. Pages reflow at common screen widths and on mobile viewports without horizontal scrolling.
  • Skip-to-main-content link. Available at the top of every page so screen-reader users can bypass the navigation.

4. The standard we are working to

We test against:

  • WCAG 2.2 Level AA — the international guidelines for accessible web content.
  • Public-sector accessibility expectations under the UK Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018, applied as a benchmark even though we are a private-sector publisher and not within scope of those regulations.
  • The relevant parts of the Equality Act 2010 as it applies to a service open to members of the public.

5. Known issues — things we have not yet fixed

The list below is honest, not exhaustive. If you find something we have not listed, please tell us (see §8).

{{Brand-specific known-issues list to be inserted at launch. Examples of items that may apply:}}

  • Some legacy articles imported from {{previous platform}} have images without alt text. We are working through the archive to add missing alt text, prioritising the most-read pieces.
  • The PDF download of the AI Use Policy is not yet a tagged, accessible PDF. A tagged version is on the roadmap.
  • Embedded third-party content (social-media embeds, video players, slideshow widgets) inherits the accessibility behaviour of the third-party provider. Where that falls below our standard, we will look for alternatives.
  • Tables in older articles may not have explicit row and column headers programmatically marked up.
  • The newsletter sign-up form may not yet announce inline validation errors to assistive technology immediately.

6. What we are doing about it

  • Archive alt-text pass. Editorial run-through of legacy imagery, prioritised by article traffic. Owned by editorial; timing tracked against the relevant brand's migration plan.
  • Tagged PDFs. PDF deliverables that we host on the Sites are re-exported as tagged PDFs over the coming review cycle.
  • Component-level audit. As part of the disrupts_base theme work, the shared component library is audited against WCAG 2.2 AA. Fixes land in the shared theme so all five sites benefit.
  • Continuous testing. Manual keyboard, screen-reader and colour-contrast checks on new templates before they ship.

We do not have a single target date for full conformance because the work is ongoing — but we update this statement at least annually with progress.

7. Compatibility

The site has been tested with current major browsers (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari) on desktop and mobile, and with screen readers commonly used by readers (NVDA, JAWS, VoiceOver on macOS / iOS, TalkBack on Android). It should work with most assistive technology released within the past two years.

If you encounter compatibility issues with a specific browser or assistive-technology combination, please tell us (see §8).

8. How to ask for help, or report a problem

If you can't access something on The Datatech Times, you have two routes.

Tell us, so we can fix it. Write to hello@disruptsmedia.com with the URL and a short description of the problem. We aim to respond within five working days, and we will tell you what we are doing about it.

Ask us for the content in another format. If you want to read a piece on The Datatech Times that you currently can't access, write to the same address and we will try to provide the content in a format that works for you — for example, a plain-text version, a tagged PDF, or a screen-reader-friendly transcript. There is no charge for this.

9. Enforcement — your rights

If you are not happy with how we have responded to an accessibility complaint, you may have rights under the Equality Act 2010. In England, Scotland and Wales, the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS) can advise on those rights at equalityadvisoryservice.com or 0808 800 0082. In Northern Ireland, the equivalent body is the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland.

Our use of personal data in the course of handling an accessibility complaint is covered by the Privacy Policy.

10. Contact us

Accessibility help and complaints: hello@disruptsmedia.com (subject: "Accessibility — The Datatech Times") Post: Accessibility, Disrupts Media Limited, 41 Luke Street, London EC2A 4DP, United Kingdom

11. About Disrupts Media

Disrupts Media Limited Registered in England & Wales — Company No. 09447878 Registered office: 41 Luke Street, London EC2A 4DP, United Kingdom

12. Document history

| Date | Version | Change | |---|---|---| | 2026-05-14 | 1.0 (template) | Initial accessibility statement template. WCAG 2.2 AA target. Lists what is in place, sample known-issues list, plan for closing gaps, browser and assistive-tech compatibility, escalation route via EASS / ECNI. Per-brand instantiation fills the The Datatech Times placeholders and the brand-specific known-issues list at each brand's launch. |