Accessibility statement for www.britishmuseum.org

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible because:

• Some images do not have image descriptions. Most images within Collection online have image descriptions but due to the technical limitations of the database these descriptions are in the description for the item and not attached to the image itself.
• The Museum map is presented as a non-interactive image with poor contrast. A PDF version is available, but this may not be usable by all users.
• Some older PDF and Microsoft Office documents on the website are not fully accessible to screen reader software.
• Live video streams do not have captions.
• 3D objects using the third-party plugin Sketchfab are not fully accessible to screen reader software.
• The Great Court Restaurant uses a third-party booking form which is not fully accessible to screen reader software and keyboard users. If you are unable to use the form, please email [email protected] to contact the restaurant.
• Within our Schools section are a number of games developed for children. These are built with a third-party plugin which is not accessible for all users.
• Some content is hosted on archived microsites which, due to their age and the different technologies available when each one was set up, are not accessible.

Feedback and contact information

Email us at [email protected], or fill out our online enquiries form.

If you need information from our website in a different format such as accessible PDFs, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille we'll do our best to support you. Please provide us with:

• The web address (URL) of the content you need
• The format you need it in
• Your name and email address

We welcome your feedback. We will aim to get back to you in 21 days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we're not meeting accessibility requirements, please email us at [email protected], or fill out our online enquiries form.

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the 'accessibility regulations'). 

If you're not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Contacting us to visit in person

If you need any assistance or information to help you plan a visit to the Museum, please contact us: 

• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: +44 (0)20 7323 8971

You can also read our Accessibility at the Museum page for more information.

Technical information about this website's accessibility

The British Museum is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance status

This website has been tested against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA standard and was found to be partially compliant due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

• The Museum map is represented by an image with poor colour contrast, making it inaccessible to most visually impaired users. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text content).
• Some images, logos and graphics are missing alternative text. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.2 (Non-text content).
• Alternative text for many items in the Collection is in the description for the item and not attached to the image itself, which may cause confusion for screen reader users. Some descriptions are well-written, and others are overly basic (e.g., 'coin'). This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.2 (Non-text content).
• The restaurant booking calendar does not work fully with screen readers, preventing navigation. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text content).
• Some elements within lists are not contained in or owned by the correct parent role. Some elements within lists also contain elements with other roles. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and relationships).
• Font weight property is used in place of semantic markup on the Membership page. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1: Info and Relationships.
• The scrolling header images on pages are not detected as images. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1: Info and Relationships.
• There is poor colour contrast in various areas of the site, where there is grey copy on a black background. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.3: Contrast (Minimum).
• When zooming in on text to make it larger, the page header is also made larger which obscures most of the page, while the text does not increase much in size. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.4: Resize Text.
• Interactive features such as 3D models and schools' games cannot be fully used with a keyboard or screen reader. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criteria 2.1.1 Keyboard and 4.1.2: Name, Role, Value.
• Some videos play longer than five seconds without a way to pause them. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.2.2: Pause, Stop, Hide.
• Several links on a page share the same link text and surrounding context but go to different destinations. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.4: Link Purpose (In Context).
• Several links on a page share the same link text and surrounding context but go to different destinations. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.9: Link Purpose (Link Only).
• The site search bar is poorly described, and its purpose is unclear. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.4: Link Purpose (In Context).
• In Collection online results, the 'treatment' links are poorly described. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.4: Link Purpose (In Context).
• The poorly labelled 'list item' links for some languages on the Audio App pages do not provide meaningful context, making it unclear where the links lead or what action they will perform. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.4: Link Purpose (In Context).
• When viewing the website on mobile and selecting an item in the highlight sliders, the pop-up that displays will always show the first item, no matter which item is selected in the slider. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 3.2.2: On Input.
• Some hidden elements contain focusable content. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2: Name, Role, Value.
• On sound files embedded with Soundcloud, iframe and frame elements do have a title attribute. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2: Name, Role, Value.
• An ARIA label attribute references a blank element on Collection Online. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2: Name, Role, Value.
• Repeated information changes (e.g., contrasting colours, pictures appearing and disappearing when scrolling, and motion on hover for event boxes) led to disorientation and fatigue; repeat changes in colour contrast make some information inaccessible. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.13: Content on Hover or Focus.
• Due to the many ways of searching and finding information, sometimes navigation becomes overly complex and would benefit from being streamlined. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.5: Multiple Ways.
• Duplicate headings on the Membership page create confusion by making it difficult for users to distinguish between sections with the same heading. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.6: Headings and Labels.
• The CSS outline or border style on some elements make it difficult or impossible to see the link focus outline. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.7: Focus Visible.
• Focus highlights on cards, buttons and cookie banners lack sufficient contrast. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.4.7: Focus Visible.

Disproportionate burden

360 tour of Arctic: culture and climate

Our 360 tour of the exhibition Arctic: culture and climate does not meet accessibility standards, due to the limitations of the panorama software. However, the tour can be experienced by some screen readers. We have tried to mitigate the issue by including keyboard navigation options, captioning and description on audio/video content where possible.

A curator's tour of the Arctic exhibition is available in an alternative format and there's a lot of accessible information about the exhibition on our website. We've assessed the work which would be required to make the tour fully accessible and we believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden, within the meaning of the accessibility regulations.

Collection online

The online collection database is an automated copy of a pre-existing internal database, so it includes data that is not formatted to current accessibility standards, such as data which changes language without flags. Due to the size of the database and the complexity of the task, we believe that it would be a disproportionate burden to resolve all the accessibility issues. If any users experience accessibility problems, please contact us and we'll endeavour to provide the data required in a more suitable format for your needs.

Content that's not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

PDFs and other documents

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they're not essential to providing our services. 

Any new PDFs or other documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Pre-recorded media

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix pre-recorded time-based media published before 23 September 2020. 

Any new video content we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Live audio and video

We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

Objects within our collection, archives and libraries

These are exempt under the accessibility regulations and there are no plans to update all historic content. However, where possible, and on request, we may be able to provide information in alternative formats.

Third party content

We use a number of third-party services on this website. The design and implementation of these are not under our control, and therefore they are exempt from the accessibility regulations. However, we make them accessible where we can and raise any other issues with the supplier. These include:

• Cookiebot (cookie consent pop-up)
• Soundcloud (audio content)
  • Sound files embedded with Soundcloud do have a title attribute. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2: Name, Role, Value.
• Google Maps (interactive maps)
  • The focus highlight disappears after Google map magnification options for some keyboard users.
• Sketchfab (3D content)
  • 3D models cannot be fully used with a keyboard or screen reader. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criteria 2.1.1 Keyboard and 4.1.2: Name, Role, Value.
• Designmynight (Great Court Restaurant booking form)
  • The restaurant booking widget does not work fully with screen readers, preventing navigation. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text content).
• Puzzel (Games for schools)
  • These games cannot be fully used with a keyboard or screen reader. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criteria 2.1.1 Keyboard and 4.1.2: Name, Role, Value.
• YouTube (video content)
• Hotjar (survey pop-ups)
  • Hotjar is used sometimes on this website. It may not be fully accessible to all users.

What we're doing to improve accessibility

As noted above, the British Museum runs many websites, including a number of microsites that were developed at different times using different technologies. We are committed to providing websites that are accessible to all and we are working hard to achieve that, but the scale and complexity of the task provides a number of challenges.

We are also:

• Ensuring that all new components are built to the highest WCAG standards possible.
• Continuing to test our new designs and products with a broad and diverse range of audiences.
• Rolling out accessibility training to staff who create content and new products.
• Raising general accessibility awareness across the Museum.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 4 February 2025. It was last reviewed on 8 April 2025.

This website was last tested in December 2024. The test was carried out by Passion4Social. We tested all components and modules that we use to build our page templates. We then tested a sample of our page templates, which included all components.

If you would like to view the full accessibility report, which includes details of what was tested, please email [email protected].