By January 1, 2021, websites must meet WCAG 2.0 AA requirements, according to the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act. Failure to comply could result in fines of up to $100,000 for each day of violation.
Who is on the list:
1 of 7 Ontarians suffers from at least one form of disability. This means that almost 2 million people face barriers every day – especially in the digital world. They shop, learn, and get entertainment online. By making your website accessible you improve the quality of people's lives.
When Canada is accessible, everyone benefits: people get equal access to products and services, and businesses get exposure. So why wait?
If your website is AODA compliant, you:
Save time and money without settling legal disputes or lawsuits
Avoid steep penalties, which increase with each subsequent violation
Increase your market share and profits by being accessible to more people
Improve your SEO, as Google favors accessible websites
Build trust and positive image of your brand among customers
Help people to have equal access to information and live a quality life
AODA is just one of the laws and legislations that are aimed to make the web accessible to all Canadians:
The Accessible Canada Act Bill C-81
Nova Scotia Accessibility Act Source
The Accessibility for Manitobans Act AMA
British Columbia Accessibility Act Bill M 219
These acts have a special focus on digital accessibility and websites – failure to comply with WCAG 2.0 AA requirements could end up with a fine of up to $250,000.
And this is just the beginning, as other provinces (British Ontario,Saskatchewan, and Yukon) are planning to follow suit with their own accessibility initiatives, when the Accessible Canada Act is in place.
According to the government, if legal standards aren’t met, the mandated consequences are inevitable. So, when being accessible is not only a must but is also good for business, why wait?
All websites must meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines to a certain extent, depending on the legal requirements
WCAG 2.2 level A
the easiest level to achieve, which denotes minimum requirements for accessibility. According to AODA, all new websites and their content must meet this level.
WCAG 2.2 level AA:
a more comprehensive level that includes more detailed accessibility requirements. AODA states that by January 1, 2021, all websites and their content must conform to this level.
WCAG 2.2 level AAA:
the most comprehensive accessibility level with the highest degree of compliance, which is currently not required by AODA.
Just enter the address of a website and click the button
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We can also conduct a comprehensive accessibility audit, and test your website against WCAG standards. In the end you receive a full list of issues that may prevent your website from being accessible and endanger your business.
It includes a comprehensive report on all issues that do not meet WCAG requirements. You get a detailed roadmap on how to make your website fully accessible.
We can do both. It’s always better to build a website with accessibility in mind – this way it requires far less time and money to bring into compliance, but we can make existing websites accessible as well.
You’ll get a dedicated accessibility team, where each member is a certified World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) expert. Acknowledgement by the founders of accessibility, paired with constant learning, lets us deliver only cutting-edge accessibility practices.
Everything that is presented on the website must be accessible or otherwise provide alternative ways to get the information – including visual content, PDF files, any types of documents, etc.
After getting sued I turned to SpurIT to make my website accessible, and I’m totally happy with the job they did. No more fear to face a lawsuit again because I know that my website is fully accessible. Thank you!
The AODA deadline is coming so I decided to check my website and get an accessibility audit. The audit was very detailed, and the team is extremely professional and quick. Highly recommended.
One of the businesses I own was sued because it was impossible for a blind person to complete a purchase. I turned to SpurIT to fix these issues there and later on the other websites too, and the results are great – no more fines and legal spending, and the profits increased. It was totally worth it. Great team and great job.