Our Commitment to Accessibility

At Brown Thomas we are committed to ensuring that all our customers – regardless of ability – can access and enjoy our products and services. Accessibility is not just a legal requirement for us; it reflects our values. As a retail business that serves diverse communities every day, we believe that everyone deserves equal access to our stores, services, and digital platforms.

We are continuously working to improve the accessibility of our website, mobile application, and in-store technologies, including our payment terminals, to ensure full compliance with the European Accessibility Act (Directive (EU) 2019/882) and the European Union (Accessibility Requirements for Products and Services) Regulations 2023 (S.I. No 636/2023). If you experience any difficulties, we genuinely want to hear from you, so we can address the issues and make our services better for everyone.

Scope of this Statement

This Accessibility Statement applies to: www.brownthomas.com.

Accessibility Status

We aim to conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2 level AA and ensure our products and services meet the relevant requirements of the European Union (Accessibility Requirements of Products and Services) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 636/2023).

We are partially compliant at present. We are aware of certain limitations which we are actively working to resolve.

Feedback

We will continue to monitor and evaluate our website’s compliance with the European Union (Accessibility Requirements of Products and Services) Regulations 2023, but if you experience any difficulties in accessing or engaging with our website, please do not hesitate to contact us. To report an accessibility issue or provide suggestions, please contact us:

• Phone: 0818 303 062
• Form: Contact Us
• Post: Customer Service, C/O “Arnotts”, 4th Floor, 12 Henry St, Dublin 1

We value your feedback as it helps us create a more inclusive and accessible experience for everyone.

We are committed to acknowledging your enquiry within three working days and providing a meaningful response within ten working days.

Compatibility with browsers and assistive technologies

Our website is designed to be compatible with the following assistive technologies:

• Chrome on Windows, subject to the OS restrictions of the assistive technology
• Safari on MacOS using VoiceOver, subject to VoiceOver OS restrictions
• Safari on iOS using VoiceOver, subject to VoiceOver OS restrictions
• Chrome on Android using TalkBack, subject to TalkBack OS restrictions

Our website is not compatible with:

• Browsers older than 3 major versions
• Any OS restrictions as defined by the provider of assistive technologies

Technical Specifications

Accessibility of our website relies on the following technologies to work with the particular combination of web browser and any assistive technologies or plugins installed on your computer:

• HTML
• WAI-ARIA
• CSS
• JavaScript

These technologies are relied upon for conformance with the accessibility standards used.

Limitations

Despite our best efforts to ensure accessibility of our website, there may be some limitations. Below is a description of known limitations, and potential solutions. Please contact us if you observe an issue not listed below.

Known limitations and solutions for our website:

1. Media Content Accessibility

Limitations:

• Missing alt text: Some images lack appropriate and descriptive alternative text.
• Images of text: Some images contain text, which hinders assistive technologies
• Insufficient alt text descriptions: Existing alt text may not fully convey image purpose and content.
• Video captions: Not all video content has accurate and synchronized captions.

Solutions:

• Comprehensive alt text review: We are conducting a thorough review to ensure all images have accurate and descriptive alt text.
• Replacement of images of text: We are actively replacing images containing text with actual text where possible. If not feasible, text content will be replicated in alt text or surrounding page content.
• Enhancement of alt text quality: We are reviewing and enhancing the descriptive quality of existing alt text.
• Adding accurate video captions: We are in the process of adding accurate and synchronized captions to all video content.

2. Keyboard Navigation

Limitations:

• Bypass blocks: The site currently lacks a mechanism to skip repeated content.
• Missing focus indicators: Clear and consistent visual focus indicators are not present across the entire site.
• Inaccessible custom UI elements: Some custom user interface elements are not reachable or operable via keyboard.

Solutions:

• Implementing skip links: We are working on adding a way to skip repeated content.
• Implementing visual focus indicators: We are actively working to implement clear and consistent visual focus indicators site-wide.
• Re-engineering custom UI elements: We are systematically identifying and remediating custom UI elements to ensure full keyboard accessibility (tab order, activation, interaction).

3. Colour Contrast

Limitations:

• Poor colour contrast: Some colours on the site have insufficient contrast, impacting readability.

Solutions:

• Updating colours to meet standards: We are actively working on updating colours to meet accessibility standards and improve readability.

4. Site Structure

Limitations:

• Missing text for buttons and links: Some buttons and links lack descriptive text.
• Missing or inconsistent page titles: Some pages are missing main titles, or existing titles are not logically sequenced.

Solutions:

• Adding descriptive text to buttons and links: We are working to add appropriate text to all buttons and links.
• Ensuring clear and logical page titles: We are reviewing content to ensure all pages have clear main titles and that titles are logically sequenced.

5. Forms

Limitations:

• Hidden form labels: Form labels are currently hidden from view.
• Missing autocomplete attributes: Autocomplete attributes are not consistently applied to form inputs.
• Improper error reading: Form errors may not be properly communicated to screen readers.

Solutions:

• Making form labels visible: We are working to make form labels visible again.
• Adding autocomplete attributes: We are working to add autocomplete attributes to form inputs where appropriate.
• Ensuring proper error communication: We are working to ensure that form errors are read properly to screen readers.

6. Screen Reader Compatibility

Limitations:

• Insufficient ARIA support: The site currently has insufficient ARIA support for UI elements.
• Unread announcements: Some updates are not read to screen readers.

Solutions:

• Implementing correct ARIA attributes: We are working to ensure all UI elements have correct ARIA attributes where needed.
• Ensuring all announcements are read: We are working to ensure all updates are read to screen readers.

7. Third Party Providers

Limitations:

• Conformity of our third-party appointment booking platform is insufficient

Solutions:

• We are actively working with our partners to define a roadmap towards full compliance for our online appointment booking platform

If you encounter any other issues not listed here, please contact us.

We are actively working with our IT teams, third party service providers, and accessibility consultants to close these gaps.

Ongoing Improvements

Accessibility is a journey, not a checkbox. We regularly review our systems, train our teams, and collaborate with customers and disability advocacy groups to ensure we are evolving with needs and standards.

If you have ideas or specific requirements you would like us to consider, please reach out – we’re listening.