How we do accessibility (and Why)

Our duty 

We have a moral and legal duty at Cancer Research UK to ensure that everyone can access our digital content and products, regardless of ability, situation or context. 

About 20% of the population has some sort of disability that effects how they use the internet. This could be visual, hearing, motor or cognitive (affecting memory and thinking). This figure is rising and will continue to grow as people live longer. Most of our audience is  older than the average internet user and the Equality Act of 2010 includes cancer as a disability. So, we have an even greater obligation to ensure that our life-saving work is accessible. 

We all have accessibility needs 

The concept of accessibility doesn’t just apply to people with disabilities. All users will have different needs at different times and in different circumstances. Someone’s ability to use a product or service could be affected by their: 

• Location – eg, they could be in a noisy cafe, sunny park or area with slow wifi 

• Health – eg, they may be recovering from a medical condition, such as a stroke, or have a broken arm  

• Equipment – eg, they could be on a mobile phone or using an older browser 

Using accessibility-focused design principles makes our products easier to use for everyone.  

Your responsibility 

The Cancer Research UK Design System supplies styles, components and patterns that reach WCAG's AA standard. But this doesn’t remove the need for contextual research and testing. Your team needs to make sure that your product or service meets accessibility requirements in context. It's important to factor in accessibility from the start. Our Playbook provides different methods for doing so. We’ve also developed role-specific checklists , to help you build accessibility into your processes.