Accessibility

Listen to our website
For information and help in languages other than English
Translation Services

We want our website to be accessible to everyone. We are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience - regardless of ability or browsing technology and including those who have visual, hearing, motor and cognitive impairments.

We aspire to conform to level AA of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) W3C Content Accessibility Guidelines and selected AAA guidelines. Conformance to these Guidelines helps to make the Web more accessible to users with disabilities and benefits all users.

This is an ongoing process. There are some pages on our website that do not yet conform to these guidelines. Please read our Accessibility Statement which lists our minimum promise to you.

Listen to our website

You can listen to this website using the free Dixerit Plus service or Browsealoud service. These services are easy to use, free, and help people who find it hard to read, such as those with dyslexia or learning difficulties, those for whom English is not their first language, and those with mild visual impairments. They are not designed to replace screen reader software such as JAWS.

Browsealoud

To use this service, click on the Browsealoud icon on the left-hand side or using the link below:
http://www.browsealoud.com/page.asp?pg_id=80004

Dixerit Plus service

This page contains detailed instructions for using Dixerit Plus, but if you have any problems using the services please contact us and we will be happy to help.

To use the full service, you must alow the use of cookies in your web browser. A cookie is a small file stored on your computer that stores things like site preferences. If you have disabled cookies this introduction will always be shown and you will not be able to configure the service. By using this service, you accept that the service will try to use cookies.

Link to use this service http://spoxy4.insipio.com/generator/en/www.midbeds.gov.uk/

Listening to pages

Dixerit Plus is available to listen to most pages on this site. On any page where you see the "Listen to our website" icon (shown below), simply click the icon and the dixero controls will be displayed. With

You can use Dixerit Plus to:

	Listen to sections of text by highlighting it and clicking the "Read Text" icon.
	Listen to any paragraph by hovering your mouse pointer over it, and clicking the paragraph icon  that appears after a short time.
	Listen to all of the links on the page by clicking the "Read Links" icon. Each link is read out with a number - to follow a particular link just enter the link's number in the "Goto" box and click "Go".

Saving speech

After listening to a section of text you can save the speech file by clicking on the "Save" icon. You will be prompted for a filename and location to save the file, using your computer's standard file window.

Stopping speech

You can stop Dixerit Plus from reading by clicking the "Stop" con.

Changing speech settings

You can change the settings for Dixerit Plus by clicking the "Settings" icon.

Getting Help

If you need extra help click on the "Help" icon. This provides the most up-to-date help for Dixerit Plus and may include information that isn't available here.

Exiting SpeakIT

To exit Dixerit Plus and remove the dixero toolbar click the "Exit" icon. The toolbar will be removed and you will be returned to the website.

For information and help in languages other than English

The information on this website is provided in English but can be made available in different lanuages or formats (such as braille) on request. We can also help you if your first language is not English and you have difficulties communicating with a Council officer. Please tell the Council officer to arrange help through our Language Line Service.

Please telephone : 01462 611 222 

Translation Services

Available Translation Services can be found here (link to PDF for information)

Should you wish to translate any of our webpages, we have provided links to free translation service from the following websites. Please be aware that these websites are operated by independant companies and we have no control over the content of the sites or accuracy of translation:

• Babel Fish website translation which will translate the page you are viewing.
• FreeTranslation.com is a powerful automatic translation engine providing instant translation service of websites.
• Translation Booth Website where you can copy and paste pieces of text to be translated from English into one of 29 languages.

If you have any problems accessing any information on the site, please contact the webmaster@midbeds.gov.uk and we will endeavour to fix the problem or provide the information in an appropriate format.