1. Our commitment
Medical students are not a uniform group, and an interface that only works for some of them fails at the one job it has. We aim to conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level AA, and we treat an accessibility defect as a defect, not as an enhancement request.
2. What is in place today
- Keyboard operation. Interactive controls are reachable and operable from the keyboard, with a visible focus indicator on every one.
- Semantic structure. Pages use real landmarks and a sensible heading order, so a screen reader can navigate by region and by heading.
- Labelled controls. Buttons, toggles, and form fields carry accessible names; state changes such as pressed and expanded are exposed to assistive technology.
- Contrast. Body text and interface chrome are checked against the AA contrast ratios in both light and dark themes.
- Reduced motion. Decorative animation is suppressed when your system asks for reduced motion.
- Text zoom and reflow. The interface reflows to 400% zoom without horizontal scrolling of the page body. The exam player carries its own text-zoom control, so a block can be enlarged without reaching for browser zoom.
- Reading themes. Light, grey, sepia, and dark reading modes plus a reverse-colour mode inside the player.
- Images. Meaningful images carry alternative text; decorative graphics are hidden from assistive technology instead of being described pointlessly.
3. Known limitations
We would rather list these than claim a conformance we cannot yet evidence. As of the date at the top of this page:
- The exam-day player
- The player is a dense single screen with its own tool docks, timer and keyboard model, and an interface of that shape carries accessibility problems we have inherited rather than solved. Screen-reader support inside the player is incomplete, and some tool docks are not fully described. This is our largest open area and it is being worked on.
- Complex images
- Some clinical images — histology slides, imaging studies, ECG tracings — carry brief alternative text where a full description would give the answer away. We are working out how to describe these usefully without destroying the question, and we do not have a good answer yet.
- Charts
- Performance charts convey their data visually. An equivalent table is not yet available for every chart.
- Third-party components
- The rich-text editor in the admin area and the bot-protection widget on sign-in come from third parties whose accessibility we do not fully control.
- No formal audit yet
- This statement is based on our own testing, not on an independent audit. We have not published a VPAT, and we will not imply one exists.
4. Tell us when something blocks you
If any part of Utricle is difficult or impossible for you to use, contact us at our contact form. Please include the page, what you were trying to do, and the assistive technology and browser you were using, if you can.
What happens then:
- We acknowledge within 5 business days.
- We tell you whether we can fix it quickly or whether it is a larger piece of work, and give you a realistic timeframe rather than an optimistic one.
- We find you a way through in the meantime. If a barrier stops you studying, that is not something you should have to wait out — we will provide the content another way while the fix lands.
5. Adjustments
If you have a documented accommodation for your examination, or a need this interface does not currently meet, write to us. We would rather adjust the product for you than have you work around it.
6. Related
See the Terms of Service for the wider service commitments, and contact for every route to reach a human.