Press release
Grand Union provides accessible web service to tenants
Grand Union Housing Group, a leading social housing provider in the east of England, believes in providing accessible services not just to our tenants, but also to the wider community. To this end, we have recently installed Browsealoud software to speech enable our websites.
Browsealoud, an assistive technology solution from Texthelp Systems, reads website content aloud to users while at the same time, highlighting the appropriate word. This feature ultimately extends accessibility, thereby enabling certain users to obtain information from which they might previously have been excluded.
Browsealoud is provided free of charge to anyone who downloads the software. Users can choose to listen to a male or female voice and they can also listen to highlighted passages of text or whole pages being read aloud. Web visitors need only download the application once and then all websites on the internet that are Browsealoud-friendly can be read aloud for free.
Alan Humphreys, Group Chief Executive of Grand Union Housing Group, said:
“As a customer focused organisation, we believe it is crucial to extend our services to the whole community. The recent installation of Browsealoud to our websites means that our services are now equally available to people who have dyslexia, literacy difficulties, mild visual impairments and who generally have difficulty reading on-line content, together with those for whom English is not their first language.”
Browsealoud already works with major clients across the UK. These include BT, British Airways, Permanent TSB, Churchills Insurance, British Council, Department of Health, Home Office, Victoria and Albert Museum, Housing Hartlepool, Gentoo Group among others.
Further details on how to access Browsealoud is available on www.aragon-housing.co.uk and www.southnorthantshomes.co.uk
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