Accessibility

Our Commitment to Accessibility

Toronto Metropolitan University is committed to providing accessible learning and employment spaces for students, employees, and members of our community. Explore our accessibility goals, vision, and how you can contribute to a barrier-free campus. Feedback regarding the accessibility of Toronto Metropolitan’s goods and services can be addressed to Access Toronto Metropolitan by phone at 416-979-5000, ext. 4144, by email at accessibility@torontomu.ca, or in person or in writing at the following address.

Access Toronto Metropolitan
Toronto Metropolitan University
Jorgenson Hall, Room 1110
350 Victoria Street,
Toronto, ON M5B 2K3

Students with disabilities can access academic accommodations by contacting Student Learning Support’s Academic Accommodation Support by phone at 416-979-5290, by TDD/TTY at 416-979-5274, or by fax at 416-979-5094. You can also contact Academic Accommodation Support by email, at aasadmin@torontomu.ca, or in person at the Student Learning Centre (4th floor, 341 Yonge Street).

A variety of accessibility enhancements have been added to the Chang School website to make it easier to use for people accessing the site with assistive technologies. Many of the potential barriers that were present before the addition of these enhancements have been resolved, but there are still areas where accessibility could be further improved.

Although different assistive technologies have varying support for the accessibility features described here, most will provide support in one way or another. Many of the features make use of WAI ARIA – an emerging standard designed to help developers create interactivity for people accessing their site with assistive technology such as screen readers. We recognize that some features may not yet be supported universally; however, if you are using current browser and assistive technologies, most of what is described below should be accessible to you.

Landmarks

Landmarks are key points in the interface. Use your assistive technology’s list landmarks feature to navigate through the landmarks described below. Selecting a landmark positions your cursor at that point, from which the assistive technology will begin reading.

  • Jump to Content Bypass Link
  • Main navigation
  • Search
  • Sidebar navigation
  • Main content region
  • Footer area content info

On every page, a “Skip to Main Content” link at the start of the page (accesskey “c”) takes the cursor to the top of the content area, skipping over the navigation elements at the top and left of the page. The accesskey can be pressed at any time to jump to the link. Pressing the Enter key takes the user back to the start of the content area, also known as the main content region. Some browsers may jump directly to the content area without needing to press the Enter key.

Heading Navigation

Most assistive technologies provide a feature that will list all the headings on a page. From the heading list it is possible to select a heading and jump directly to its location on the page, from which the assistive technology will continue reading.

Main Navigation

The main navigation bar, which appears below the carousel on the homepage and at the top of internal pages, can be controlled using just a keyboard.

  • Tab key: The Tab key moves the cursor in and out of the main navigation bar. Press the Tab key to enter the menu and press it again to skip over the menu to the element that immediately follows.
  • Right and Left Arrow keys: Once in the menu, use the Right Arrow key to move through the primary menu items. Use the Left Arrow key to move back through these menu items.
  • Down and Up Arrow keys: While on a primary menu item, press the Down Arrow key to open its submenu, then press the Down or Up Arrow keys repeatedly to move through the items in that submenu.
  • Right Arrow key: While in a submenu, if a child submenu is announced, use the Right Arrow key to move into that submenu.
  • Left Arrow key: While in a submenu or a child of a submenu, use the Left Arrow key to move from the child to its parent menu, then again to move from that submenu directly back to the primary menu items. Menus will not be more than two levels deep.

YouTube HTML5 Player

All the elements in the player interface can be controlled using only a keyboard.

  • Tab key: Press the Tab key to move in and out of the player, and to move between controls in the interface of the player.
  • Enter key: After accessing a control with the Tab key, press the Enter key to turn on or turn off the control, such as starting and stopping a video or muting and unmuting audio.
  • Up and Down Arrow keys: Use the Up and Down Arrow keys to raise or lower the volume when the volume control is active (announced as “up down slider” when navigating with JAWS).
  • Left and Right Arrow keys: Use the Left and Right Arrows keys to jump ahead or move back through a video while the volume control is active.

To enable captioning for videos on the Chang School website, navigate to the video player’s controls and select the Subtitles/CC button.

Some Issues to Note about the YouTube HTML5 Player

When navigating through the homepage using the headings list in JAWS, pressing the Tab key to move between the YouTube video heading and the heading that follows in the right menu (described below), the player will grab the cursor’s focus and pull it to the Play button.

JAWS works reasonably well with the HTML5 player, with the ability to navigate and operate the player without too much effort. However, there are cases when the focus on the player is lost when a control is pressed and the user must navigate back to the player from the start of the page. In such cases, use your assistive technology’s list landmarks feature to find your way back to the player at the start of the main content region and resume.

ChromeVox users will be able to navigate and operate the main features in the player (Start/Stop) but will not be able to use many of the secondary features. Though accessible by keyboard, many of the secondary features are not announced by ChromeVox when they are encountered.

Sidebar Menu

While on pages other than the homepage, a navigation menu often appears down the left side of the page. The keyboard can be used to navigate and operate the left side menu.

  • Tab key: Use the Tab key to move from item to item in the left side menu.
  • Enter key: Use the Enter key to follow links to the associated page on the site.

Some Issues to Note about the Sidebar Menu

When a link is followed in the left menu, the page will reload and the cursor will be repositioned at the start of the newly opened page. Assistive technology users can either use the Tab key to navigate into the just loaded page, and follow the “Skip to Main Content” link, or use the list landmarks feature and jump to the pages main content region to begin reading the content associated with the link followed.

Accordions

Clicking an accordion heading opens a box below that displays content related to the heading. Navigating through the accordions by keyboard is similar to navigating through the other menus.

  • Tab key: Use the Tab key to move between each of the accordion headings listed on the page. Also use the Tab key to navigate between links in each of the accordions when they open.
  • Space key: Use the Space key to expand and collapse the accordions.

Other Accessibility Features

  • Visible tab focus when navigating with a keyboard
  • Meaningful link text
  • Text alternatives for all images
  • Captions for all videos
  • Contrast ratio of 4.5:1 or greater between text and background colours
  • Consistent navigation
  • Properly nested headings
  • Explicitly labelled forms

Known Accessibility Issues

We’re continuing to improve accessibility on our website and will be implementing additional enhancements in the upcoming site updates.

  • reCAPTCHA in the Help popup
  • Shopping cart (third party)
  • Main menu on iPhone VoiceOver
  • Skip to Content link leading to sidebar menu on pages with sidebar menus