Accessibility

We are a psychiatric practice that specialises in ADHD and autism. Many of the people using this site will have difficulties with attention, sensory processing, reading, anxiety, or executive function, and some will not yet know that. We have tried to build a site that works well for everyone, including the people who find most websites difficult.

This site was designed and built by Dr Crocker, who has ADHD himself and a variety of autistic traits. Many of the choices described on this page come from personal experience of what makes a website easier or harder to use.

This page explains what we have done and why. If something on the site is not working for you, please let us know at admin@caledonianpsychiatry.co.uk.

Designed for how you read

Body text uses a generous line spacing throughout (well above the web standard) to give more breathing room between lines. This benefits readers with dyslexia, ADHD, and visual processing difficulties. We use a warm cream background rather than stark white to reduce eye strain and glare, particularly for people with light sensitivity. All text is left-aligned rather than justified, because justified text creates uneven word spacing that disrupts reading flow.

Clinical content is broken into short, scannable paragraphs rather than dense blocks. Where there is a lot of information to cover (such as our FAQ section or medication cost guide), we use expand-and-collapse panels so you only see what you choose to engage with. Nothing is hidden; everything is available. You control the pace.

Accessibility panel

Every page includes an Accessibility button (bottom left) that opens a small panel of reading preferences. From there you can increase the text size across the whole site (two larger steps, 10% and 20%) and turn off all animations, transitions, and moving elements with the reduce-motion switch. Your choices are remembered as you move between pages. If you have already set a reduced-motion preference in your device settings, the site respects that automatically. You do not need to do anything.

When reduced motion is active, parallax scrolling stops, fade-in effects are removed, and hover animations are disabled. Most movement on the site stops once this setting is on. We are aware that some in-page smooth scrolling does not yet respond to it, and a fix is in progress. The testimonial carousel on the homepage is always manual: it only changes when you press the arrow buttons, regardless of your motion setting.

There is no autoplay video or audio anywhere on the site.

Audio summary

The homepage includes a short audio summary narrated by Dr Crocker, designed for people who find reading long text difficult, whether because of ADHD, dyslexia, fatigue, or simply personal preference. The recording covers the key points of the page in a few minutes. Dr Crocker will shortly be producing a video introduction of the practice and the process.

Audio never plays automatically. A small play button appears in the bottom corner of the homepage header, and nothing happens until you choose to press it. The player shows the approximate duration on hover so you know what you are getting before you start. You can adjust playback speed, pause and resume, or dismiss the player at any time.

The audio player is fully keyboard-accessible. All controls (play, pause, speed, seek, and dismiss) can be reached with the Tab key and activated with Enter or Space. Each button has a descriptive label for screen readers, and the labels update dynamically to reflect the current state (for example, “Pause audio” when playing, “Play audio” when paused). When you scroll past the page header, a floating play button appears so you can control playback without scrolling back up.

The audio is a complement to the written content, not a replacement: a full transcript is provided below, so nothing in the recording is available only as sound.

Transcript of the audio introduction

The transcript below is of Dr Crocker’s spoken welcome on the homepage, lightly edited for readability.

Read the full transcript

Hi, I’m David Crocker. I’m a psychiatrist and the clinical director of Caledonian Psychiatry. If you’ve landed here, you’ve probably been sitting with this for a while. Maybe months, maybe years. You might have taken a screening quiz at two in the morning, or someone said something that felt a little too close to home, or perhaps you’ve reached a point where you need answers. Whatever the route you’ve taken to get here, you’re in the right place.

I trained in medicine at King’s College London, then spent a few years doing things slightly differently. That included training in expedition medicine: looking after people in remote environments where help isn’t close. It taught me to stay calm, to think clearly under pressure, and to work with whatever’s in front of me. Those instincts have stuck with me. I moved to Edinburgh to specialise in psychiatry, and I’ve been working in this field since 2018. I gained membership of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 2022. Since then, I’ve focused on ADHD and autism assessments, carrying out over 4,600 consultations alongside my work in general adult psychiatry.

I should probably mention that I have ADHD myself. I was diagnosed as a junior doctor, through the private sector, after years of suspecting something was off but not really getting the help that I needed. That experience doesn’t make me a better diagnostician, but it does mean I understand the weight of the process in a way that’s hard to get from a textbook. And I can say, from both sides of the screen: good treatment, done properly, can genuinely change your quality of life.

I designed Caledonian Psychiatry to be a practice built around personalised, consistent care. That means your psychiatrist actually knows your story, not just your file. The person adjusting your medication is the same person who started it, so the decisions are safer. The person writing your report is the same person who sat with you through the assessment, so the report is better. You’re not handed off between clinicians. You’re not seen by whoever happens to be available on the day. Your care is consistent, and it stays that way.

Everything happens by secure video. You log on from wherever suits you, we talk, and afterwards I write to your GP with a clear summary and a plan. I see patients right across the UK, from the Highlands to the south of England. Where you live doesn’t change the quality of care you receive.

If you’re thinking about an ADHD assessment, you might already be fairly sure. Or you might be half convinced you’re overthinking it. I hear that a lot. The doubt doesn’t mean the answer isn’t real. Many of the adults I see have spent years being told they’re lazy, or disorganised, or just not applying themselves. They’ve built workarounds: some of them genuinely impressive, and some of them quietly draining. By the time they reach me, they’re not after a label. They want an explanation that actually accounts for their experience, and a plan that follows from it.

If it’s autism you’re considering, there’s often a long gap between the moment you first recognise yourself and actually doing something about it. The worry that you won’t be believed is real, and I want to address that directly. You don’t need to be unable to make eye contact, or unable to hold down a job, or unable to have a conversation to be autistic. Many of the adults I assess appear to manage perfectly well on the surface. They’ve learned to mask: to observe, to get through the day by studying how other people do it. The question isn’t whether you can do those things. It’s what it costs you.

And if you’re not sure whether your difficulties are ADHD, autism or both, that’s completely reasonable. The two conditions co-occur far more often than people realise, and when they’re both present they interact in ways that can be genuinely hard to untangle. A combined assessment gives us the time to explore both properly, without rushing either.

Whatever type of assessment you need, the approach is the same. I go right back to your developmental history, because these are conditions you were born with, even if nobody noticed at the time. I use validated clinical tools, not just screening questionnaires, and I look carefully at what else might be contributing: anxiety, depression, trauma, sleep problems. These can all sit alongside ADHD or autism, and they can change how treatment needs to work. The report you receive at the end isn’t a template with your name dropped in. It’s written about you, by me, and every paragraph is specific to your situation. That takes time, and it’s time worth investing, because the report is the document your GP reads, and your employer might read. It needs to hold up.

I also see the full range of general adult mental health conditions: anxiety, depression, OCD, bipolar disorder, emotional instability and trauma-related difficulties. You don’t need a diagnosis to get in touch. You don’t even need to know what to call what you’re experiencing. Sometimes what presents as one thing turns out to be another. Sometimes depression that hasn’t responded to treatment is actually bipolar disorder that’s been missed. The starting point is always a proper conversation.

If you already have a diagnosis but your care has stalled, you’re not starting from scratch here either. That’s one of the most common reasons people contact me. Maybe you were diagnosed elsewhere but the service doesn’t offer ongoing prescribing, or your shared care arrangement has fallen apart, or you’ve been on the same dose for months and nobody’s actually reviewed whether it’s doing its job. Whatever the situation, the aim is straightforward: pick up where things stopped, and get your treatment working properly.

On fees, I want to be upfront. You deserve to know exactly what you’re paying for before you commit to anything. Everything is listed on the website, and what you see is what you pay. There are no hidden charges and no surprise extras. These are significant amounts, and I won’t pretend otherwise. And if you’re weighing it up, I’m happy to talk it through beforehand so you can decide with full information. I also want you to know that I actively work towards transferring your prescribing to the NHS through shared care. The goal is always to bring your ongoing costs down as quickly as possible. Getting shared care agreed isn’t always simple, but the requests I send are detailed and well evidenced, and much of the time that can be enough.

So have a look around the site. If you’ve got questions, get in touch: there’s no pressure and no obligation. And if you’d like to ask something before deciding, drop me an email. I’m always happy to help. Thanks for listening.

No pressure, no friction

There are no countdown timers, no “limited availability” messages, and no urgency tactics anywhere on the site. The one exception is for transparency: the booking page shows our current availability and earliest start dates, so you can see where things stand before you get in touch. We also tell you our current waiting time in the FAQ, and it simply says to get in touch and we will see you as quickly as we can.

Our screening tools are completely anonymous. There is no login, no email address required, and no data stored. You can explore whether an assessment might be relevant to you without committing to anything or sharing any personal information. Progress bars show how far through each questionnaire you are, and completed questions are visually marked so you do not need to remember where you left off.

Every fee is listed on the site before you make contact. Our medication cost guide lets you estimate your likely monthly costs in advance. We know that financial uncertainty can be a significant source of anxiety, particularly for neurodivergent people, and we have tried to remove that barrier entirely.

Communication on your terms

Email is our primary contact method. This is a deliberate choice. Many people with ADHD and autism find phone calls difficult, whether that is the unpredictability, the processing speed, or the social demands of a voice conversation. We have designed our communication model around email because it lets you take your time, refer back to what was said, and respond when you are ready. That said, you can still phone the office and we will try our best to help.

We explain this openly on the site because we want you to know it is not a limitation. It is how we prefer to work, and we think it leads to better care.

Built for the way you got here

The site works on everything from a small phone to a desktop monitor. It does not just shrink the desktop version down: content is adapted for each screen size. Buttons and touch targets are sized for people with motor difficulties. Every feature that works on hover also works on tap. There are no interactions that depend on being able to use a mouse.

Navigation is consistent across every page. A sticky menu bar means you can always get to where you need to go without scrolling back to the top. On mobile, a home button is always visible without opening the menu.

Screening tools can be linked to directly: if someone shares a link to a specific questionnaire, it opens at that questionnaire rather than at the top of the page.

Representing the people we see

ADHD and autism have historically been understood through the lens of how they present in boys and men. Our site includes dedicated information on how ADHD and autism present differently in women, and separate content for adults seeking diagnosis later in life. These are distinct experiences and we treat them as such rather than assuming one default presentation.

We openly discuss masking and camouflaging (the effort of appearing neurotypical), and we make clear that a history of coping well on the surface will not count against you in an assessment.

Our service pages use “you” and “your” throughout. Gender-specific language only appears where it is clinically relevant, such as in the dedicated content about women’s experience of ADHD and autism.

We accept self-referrals. You do not need a GP referral to access our services. We encourage GP involvement because it supports your ongoing care, but we recognise that not everyone has had a positive experience with their GP, and that this disproportionately affects women and people from minority ethnic backgrounds seeking neurodevelopmental assessment. There is one practical caveat: certain medications do require a copy of your medical history and/or, at a minimum, a short notification to your GP that a prescription has been issued (for example, for controlled drugs).

Accessible across the UK

All our appointments are conducted by secure video link. This means that a patient in Stornoway, the Isles of Scilly, rural Dumfries and Galloway, or the Orkney Islands has the same access to our services as someone in Edinburgh, Glasgow, or London. The video model removes geographical barriers, transport costs, and the need to travel to a clinic, which can itself be a significant obstacle for people with executive function difficulties or anxiety. The video system is reliable with a fast connection, and we use one ourselves; if all else fails, a telephone call can be used as a backup, though usually only after the initial consultation.

Our crisis information page covers Scotland, England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland, with locally relevant helplines and services for each.

Technical accessibility

This site is built to meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 at Level AA, the current version of the internationally recognised standard, covering areas such as text contrast, keyboard navigation, screen reader compatibility, and form usability. In July 2026 we completed a full re-audit and remediation of the site, checking every page in both light and dark modes, on desktop and mobile, by keyboard and with a screen reader. The pages we build meet the standard, with two exceptions that we set out openly below: the third-party booking form, which we are not able to change, and the legibility of text over the photographs in some page headers, which we have chosen to keep. In the terms the guidelines use, this is a statement of partial conformance.

The main things we improved in July 2026 were: keyboard operation of the menus at the top of the site and of the interactive parts of each page, so they can be opened, used, and closed without a mouse; a number of screen reader labels, so that links, buttons, and form fields are announced clearly; and the way the site responds when you have asked your device to reduce motion: on-screen movement is now stilled and the page jumps straight to where you are going instead of gliding.

Several things already worked well and were kept. Every page includes a skip-to-content link for screen reader and keyboard users. The interactive elements (the navigation menus, the FAQ accordions and search, the screening questionnaires, the fee information, and the contact form) can all be operated by keyboard. Form errors are announced to screen readers and identified with clear text messages, not by colour alone. The item you have tabbed to shows a clear focus outline, and that outline stays visible in the high-contrast mode some people use. The site also respects your system text-size and dark-mode preferences, and it does not autoplay audio or video.

The booking system (third-party content)

The booking form on our five booking pages is not part of our own site. It is loaded from Semble, the third-party clinical system we use to manage appointments. It was not designed by us and we are not able to modify it, so we cannot guarantee its accessibility, and we know it has some barriers: unlabelled fields and limited screen reader support among them. We have reported these to Semble and asked them to put them right. This is the first of the two exceptions described above, and it is why the accessibility of our own pages is assessed excluding this embedded third-party content, a position WCAG describes as partial conformance due to third-party content.

So that the booking system is never a barrier, there is a simple alternative. Phone 0131 510 6013 or email admin@caledonianpsychiatry.co.uk and we will book any appointment for you at the same price, with the same availability. You do not need to use the online form to get an appointment.

Text over photographs in some page headers

Some pages open with a photograph, with the page title and a short line of text placed over it. Where the photograph is light in places, that text does not always meet the contrast level the guidelines set. We reviewed this in July 2026 and chose to keep the photographic design, as it is part of how the site looks and feels. So that nothing is lost, every heading and introduction shown over a photograph is also written out in ordinary text further down the same page, where it meets the contrast standard in full. This is the second of the two exceptions described above, and we will keep it under review.

Tell us if something is not working

If any part of this site is difficult for you to use, we would genuinely like to hear about it. Please contact us at admin@caledonianpsychiatry.co.uk or on 0131 510 6013, and we will respond within five working days. If there is anything you cannot access, we will make sure you get the same information or service another way.

A full HTML sitemap is available from the footer of every page.

This statement was last updated on 12 July 2026.