Online Accessibility

This site is produced by the Western Australian Museum. It aims to provide comprehensive information about the Museum and its services.

This website has been designed to be as accessible to as many users as possible, including:

People with disabilities who may use assistive technologies,
Those with slower internet connections or less than state of the art equipment, and
Rural and regional users.

The accessibility features available on this site include:

Instructions for resizing text,
Printer-friendly page.

Wherever possible the site provides an alternative plain text file format, to its Word, Excel or .pdf original. You can also request any printed or hardcopy documents by using the Contact Us form.

This page covers four important guides to using this web site in an effort to improve accessibility:

Text resizing - how to resize the text size viewed on screen within the browser to enhance readability,
Using the site - how to use the web site and its features,
Printer friendly - how to print web pages from this web site, and
Plug-ins requirement - how to install optional plug-ins to access some features of this web site.

Text resizing

You can use the text sizing or zoom features of your internet browser to increase the size of the web site's text.

First, you need to check which version of Internet browser is installed on your machine. You do this by:
opening your browser
Select Help from the top menu of your browser
Select About (followed by your browser name) from the drop down list.

The screen that comes up will display which browser and version you are using.

How to change the text size

Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or 6.0

Select View menu, click on Text size and choose a size from the options Largest to Smallest .

Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.2 (Macintosh)

Click View menu, click on Text Zoom and choose a size from the options 50% - 300% or Larger or Smaller.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0

Select View menu, click on Internet Options and choose Fonts and change the size to Small or Large.

Netscape 6.0, and 4.0

Select Edit menu and click on Preferences. A new window will open. Select Appearance from the left hand side menu within the new window. Under Fonts reset the size (for example, 10, 12, 14 and so on).

FireFox

Select View menu, click on Text size and choose either Increase or Decrease the font size.

Mozilla

Select View menu, click on Text Zoom, and choose a percentage size or select Larger or Smaller .

Opera

Select View menu, click on Zoom, and then select a size from the list.

Safari

Select View menu and click Make Text Bigger to increase the font size or Make Text Smaller to reduce the font size.

Using the site

The site has the following navigational features to aid you in your visiting experience

Overview (top level) Menu

Covers all aspects of the Museum's services and areas of interest to citizens.

Sub Menus

Sub-category topics of the top level menu are found on the left hand side of the screen.

Search

Search the web site to find what you want directly with keywords.

Breadcrumb

Helps you to determine the location of the page that you are viewing at the time.

Printer-Friendly

You may simply use the Print function of your browser to print whichever page you like. The Print function is usually located under the File menu of your browser window.

When a web page is printed, it will only print the title of the page, the location of the page as well as the content. Navigation menus are automatically removed for your convenience to improve readability on paper.

Plug-ins Requirements

Throughout this web site, you may encounter documents and files that may require you to install additional software on your computer. Please note that in most cases you are not required to install anything as most computers are capable to read the documents and files on this web site.

The following is a list of software that you may need to read the documents and files on this web site:

PDF Documents
Adobe PDF Reader

Flash Documents
Adobe Flash Player

Microsoft PowerPoint Presentations

Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer 2003 for Windows, or

OpenOffice for Linux, Mac OS X and Windows

Microsoft Excel Documents

Microsoft Excel Viewer 2003 for Windows, or

OpenOffice for Linux, Mac OS X and Windows

Microsoft Word Documents

Microsoft Word Viewer 2003 for Windows, or

OpenOffice for Linux, Mac OS X and Window

Wherever possible the site provides an alternative plain text file format, to its Word, Excel or pdf original. You can also request any printed or hardcopy documents by using the Contact Us form.

Physical Accessibility

Welcome to the Western Australian Museums Disability Access and Inclusion Plan

Outline of the Museum’s information, services and facilities

The Museum is committed to ensuring that people with disabilities, their families and carers have the same opportunities, rights and responsibilities enjoyed as other members of the public to access the range of services, information and facilities it provides.The Museum’s Disability Access and Inclusion Plan builds on previous plans and covers the years 2007-2012 . Strategies were considered with respect to the following areas:

Eight public sites in metropolitan and regional areas

List of facilities
Word document

List of facilities
PDF Document

Commercial operations including seven shops, events function and venue hire;
Provision of School programs and activities;
Provision of Public programs and activities;
Exhibitions - traveling, permanent and temporary;
Public presentations and lectures;
Presentation of information to support the above activities.

In developing this plan, the Museum took the opportunity to review its previous Disability Services Plan and actively consult with the community, Museum staff and key stakeholders. This plan has enabled the Museum to showcase some of its recent achievements and identify strategies specifically designed to enhance the experiences of people with disabilities when visiting or contacting the Museum.

The plan has six key outcome areas so that people with disabilities have the same access as other people to the Museum:

Services and events
Buildings and other facilities
Information in an accessible format
Quality of services from knowledgeable staff
Complaint processes
Public consultation

We are pleased to present this plan and look forward to achieving the outcomes that we have identified.

Disability Access & Inclusion Plan - Word Doc

Feedback

The plan is flexible and we encourage your feedback.

Alternative formats

This Plan is available upon request from a person with a disability in alternative formats.

Contact

Please discuss your feedback or request for an alternative format with the Senior Policy Officer via telephone 9212 3806 or email reception@museum.wa.gov.au

INTERNET BROWSING

Screenreaders are also available from various software developers which can assist people with disabilities browsing the internet.
Examples include (links open in new window):

• Latest Recommendations from W3C •
This is a collection of pointers to information, and where possible, to demonstration versions of alternative browsing methods.
People with disabilities, whether temporary -- such as a slow connection or eyes "disabled" by having to watch traffic -- or permanent -- such as hearing, visual, physical or cognitive impairment -- use a wide range of alternative approaches, different from traditional mouse-and-screen-based browsers...

Jaws Screenreader from Freedom Scientific
The most popular screen reader worldwide, JAWS® for Windows works with your PC to provide access to today’s software applications and the Internet.

Outspoken from ALVA Access Group
The recipient of the prestigious Smithsonian award, OSM allows blind and visually impaired people to use the Macintosh computer (Mac OS 9.2).

Other Software

textHelp ScreenReader
ScreenReader is a user-friendly tool bar that allows your PC to read text in any Windows-based application. You can have your email, Web pages, or documents read aloud to you, even listen to confirm numbers being typed into a spreadsheet. The full version of the program includes many voices.

Window-Eyes | Braille Sense | Small-Talk Ultra | Portable Senseview
Since 1990, GW Micro has listened to screen-reader users and incorporated many of their suggestions into one powerful product: Window-Eyes. The result? A wide variety of speech features and the flexibility needed for running many of today's most advanced Windows applications.

Please Note: The WA Museum is not responsible for any problems/effects caused by using any of the products listed above and should only be used as a guide to help those in need of software to help with disabilities. Please check the recommendations from W3C for the safest guide to using the latest disability products.