Do you work for a non-profit or private organization with 50+ employees?
The Ontario government’s Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) indicates that by law, as of January 2021, these organizations must ensure that their public website is accessible to people with disabilities. Although there have been starting requirements since 2014, full compliance and a compliance report must be filed before the end of this year.
You can read more about filing your compliance report on the official government website here: https://www.ontario.ca/page/completing-your-accessibility-compliance-report
As of Jan 1st, 2021, all content must conform with WCAG 2.0 level AA criteria other than 1.2.4 (captions) and 1.2.5 (pre-recorded audio descriptions). This applies to all new content on a website, including all downloadable or viewable documents such as pdf’s, Word documents, Powerpoint, etc.
The internet is now the primary source of information for just about everyone so it’s important to ensure that people with disabilities and older generations are able to access this information with ease. This is why the Ontario Government has set requirements for organizations such as yours to ensure fair access to information for everyone.
We know some of this can sound pretty technical, so we’ve broken it down below.