Speech, reading and translation support added to our website

We’re delighted to announce that we’ve added speech, reading and translation support to our website with a new accessibility tool called Browsealoud.

This innovative tool from Texthelp, helps the millions of people who struggle to access and understand information online. In the UK, over 12 million people have print disabilities such as dyslexia, low literacy, mild visual impairment and over 8 million people were born abroad and speak English as a second language.

Adding Browsealoud to our website supports our commitment to accessibility and inclusion. We want to ensure that everyone can access our information online, regardless of ability, and Browsealoud helps us to achieve this.

But don’t just take our word for it, check it out for yourself... Click the orange circular launchpad – one click on this button opens the Browsealoud toolbar. From here, you can simply hover your mouse pointer over any text to hear it read aloud (you’ll have to click on the text if you’re using your mobile to browse the website).

Our site can now be translated into 99 languages and read aloud in 40 of the most commonly spoken languages in the world. You can also convert any of our web content into an audio file and listen to it offline, and block or remove distractions from the page, allowing you to focus on the most important parts.

Browsealoud will help us to reach a much wider audience and reduce some of the barriers faced by disabled people on the web – we’re proud to have joined this great community, and will be adding the tool to our other web platforms over time.