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ASPIRE. make a statement
Welcome to ASPIRE, the verification service for accessibility statements. These pages contain guidelines, resources + everything else you will need to create a user-focused + compliant accessibility statement to engage with users + tell your accessibility story.
ASPIREnews
We're delighted to announce that Perlego, Cambridge University Press & Assessment, Pearson English Connect, Kogan Page, Emerald, and Taylor & Francis have all achieved a gold-rated ASPIREscore of 100% for their accessibility statements. Congratulations to all involved for their dedication to improving the accessibility experience for all their users.
Congratulations to Perlego, Cambridge University Press & Assessment, Pearson English Connect, Cambridge Advance Online, Kogan Page, Taylor & Francis, Emerald Publishing, Oxford Academic, Emerald Insight, JSTOR, Browns Books VLeBooks, Askews and Holts Library Services VLeBooks, ProQuest Platform, VitalSource, Cambridge Core, Kortext, BibliU, EBSCO, ProQuest Ebook Central, ProQuest LibCentral, SAGE Knowledge, SAGE Research Methods + SAGE Catalyst for achieving gold standard 100% ASPIREscores + joining the ASPIRE 100 Club.
what is ASPIRE?
ASPIRE helps publishers, ebook platforms, education institutions + public sector bodies tell the story of the amazing accessibility work you are doing to create a transparent environment for users. ASPIRE provides you with:
ASPIREreview
Your accessibility statement reviewed.
ASPIREscore
Your accessibility statement rated.
ASPIREverified
Your accessibility statement verified + accredited.
ASPIRElist
Your accessibility story shared with your users.
ASPIREverified
the ASPIREreview
ASPIRE provides expert assessment of publisher, ebook platform, educational institution + public sector website accessibility statements. Receive a comprehensive report with recommended enhancements to improve your ASPIREscore and customer messaging. You'll also receive your ASPIRE accreditation badge to place on your website.
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The original ASPIRE project took a pioneering snapshot of accessibility statements in 2018. The project received great feedback and engagement from across the industry and inspired publishers and vendors to improve their website messaging.
ASPIRE with textBOX is an agile service that reflects the work of publishers and vendors across the industry. We review your work and help you tell your story.
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Our goal? To help you achieve an ASPIREscore of 100%.
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the ASPIRElists
The ASPIREscores are displayed on the ASPIRElist pages to create a transparent review process for customers. The ASPIRElists are freely available to the public and serve as a shop window for your company, institution, product or content.
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Explore the ASPIRElists
why ASPIRE? why now?
The laws in the UK have changed.
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The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations states that higher education institutions are expected to meet “the accessibility requirement” for their digital content. A failure to do so is a “failure to make a reasonable adjustment” (section 12(1)) and exposes Further Education colleges and Higher Education institutions to equalities litigation. While the legislation has an exemption for third party content, section 2(e), it does not apply to ebooks and journals purchased by higher education institutions.
The bottom line is that is that you are increasing your customer’s risk exposure if your content is inaccessible or delivered through an inaccessible platform.
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The law may not apply directly to publishers and vendors, but it could end up impacting on your customers and your sales.
Alistair McNaught | McNaught Consultancy
Websites and adopted digital content need to be accessible since 23 September 2020 UNLESS:
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The content is old (pre-September 2018) and no longer in active administration. This is exempt for ever.
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Disproportionate burden can be used to explain non-compliance but this needs to be audited, costed and justified. Lack of time due to lack of priority is not an acceptable reason.
ASPIREstories
The ASPIRE scores make it easy for us to see which vendors we should be working with, who will give us value for money.
Melissa Steiner | Birkbeck University
Read about how ASPIRE has benefitted publishers, platforms and librarians at our ASPIREstories pages, including new stories from Cambridge Core, BibliU and EBSCO.
ASPIREcommunity + charity
Learn more about the history of ASPIRE, ASPIREresources, the ASPIREawards, our developers + affiliates, and provide feedback to help ASPIRE make a difference.
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10% of all ASPIRE fees are donated to charity.
contact us
Want to know more about ASPIRE? We'd love to hear from you. Contact us as aspire@textboxdigital.com or via Twitter.
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