Visitors to Huntingdonshire District Council’s internet site will now find it has an additional service. It can talk to them.

Working with Hunts Society for the Blind, the council has installed a speech enabling service to  its website, making it more easily accessible to people with limited vision, dyslexia, low literacy levels, learning disabilities,  or English as a second language.

The “Listen to Page” service which dynamically reads web content out loud, can be accessed by anyone browsing the council’s site, through a simple click on the “Listen to Page” button in the top right of each page.  The service is completely automated and there is no requirement on the web visitor to have any pre-installed software.

Councillor Mike Simpson, whose executive councillor responsibilities include information technology, said: “We take our accessibility responsibilities very seriously, and want to be at the forefront in this field. We are proud to be adopting this new technology for the benefit of users of our site.  The clarity of the delivered speech is excellent and the user will find that the service is simple to operate. These were major factors in deciding to offer this service."

In the UK it is estimated that 6 million people alone suffer from some form of dyslexia.

Huntingdonshire consulted with Hunts Association for the Blind during the procurement of the new service. Helen Bosworth, Secretary at Hunts Society for the Blind said “We were pleased to be invited to a demonstration of the service and were very impressed with the technology.  This way of reading a website will mean that anyone who is visually impaired will have access to the district council website. In fact it will make the site more accessible to many people.”

Huntingdonshire District Council's website provides a wealth of information for local people and visitors alike.  From council services to ongoing projects and community events, the website is a prime source of information from Huntingdonshire District Council.  Visit the website by the link on the right hand side of the page.