Our commitment
DMSU wants everyone who works with MLW research data — staff, study teams, collaborators and the public — to be able to use this portal. We aim to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 at level AA.
How the portal is built
- Every page can be used with a keyboard alone, with a visible focus outline and a “Skip to main content” link.
- Pages use landmarks (header, navigation, main content, footer) and a single, ordered heading structure.
- Text and background colours are checked against the WCAG AA contrast ratios.
- Images that carry meaning have text alternatives; charts and figures are available as text to screen readers.
- Information is never shown by colour alone — statuses and study areas are also written out.
- Animation is reduced when your device asks for reduced motion, and the home page slideshow can be paused.
- Layouts adapt to small screens and to enlarged text.
Known limitations
Some parts of the portal are not yet fully accessible:
- The embedded Google Map is provided by Google and may be difficult to use with assistive technology. Our full address is written out next to it.
- Some documents in the document bank are PDF or Word files that may not be fully accessible. If you need a document in another format, ask us and we will help.
- The DMSU systems behind sign-in, the DMSU helpdesk and the data repository are separate systems and are not covered by this statement.
Reporting a problem
If something on the portal does not work for you, or you need information in a different format, open a ticket on the DMSU helpdesk or email sdsm@mlw.mw. Please tell us the page and what you were trying to do.
Review of this statement
We review this statement when the portal changes, and update the “last updated” date at the top when we do.