Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA)

The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA) is a provincial law in Ontario that aims to identify, remove and prevent barriers for people with disabilities. Since 2005, AODA applies to organizations in public, private, and non-profit sectors and to all types of employees, including full-time, part-time, seasonal and contract workers.

To make Ontario more accessible and ensure people with disabilities can participate more actively in their communities, the AODA establishes five standards that recognize five areas of daily life:

1. Customer service standard
2. Information and communications standard
3. Transportation standard
4. Employment standard
5. Design of public spaces standard

Barriers to Accessibility are everywhere, they can prevent a person with a disability from fully participating in society, examples are:

• Font or print that is too small to read,
• assuming that a person who has a speech impairment cannot understand you,
• a website that does not support screen reading software or
• a hiring process that does not offer accommodations in interviews

The Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation (IASR)

The AODA standards are part of the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation (IASR). The IASR includes, in addition to requirements specific to each standard, the following general requirements:

• Develop an accessibility policy;
• Develop a multi-year accessibility plan and update it every five years;
• Consider accessibility in procurement and when designing or purchasing self-service kiosks; and
• Provide accessibility training to employees and volunteers.

Who needs AODA?

By becoming compliant you contribute to society and show that you care for people with disabilities and ensure these customers can operate your site.

You may face government fines as by beginning of January 1, 2021, all public websites and web content posted after January 1, 2012 must comply with WCAG 2.0 Level AA other criteria such as live and pre-recorded audio descriptions.

How we can help?

Review Accessibility Policies

We can help by creating or reviewing accessibility policies that describes what your organization is doing, or intends to do, to meet the requirements of the regulation. Our team provide subject matter expert and knowledge base helping you to comply efficiently with AODA regulations. We will review your application and website and provide detail reporting and actions toward the full WCAG compliance.

Develop Accessibility Plans

We can help to develop an accessibility plan that outlines the steps that your organization will need to take to prevent and remove barriers to accessibility and how the requirements of the regulation will be met. We can help to establish, implement, document, and maintain a multi-year accessibility plan and publish it on your website. We are always up to date with changes within the area, we monitor the regulations and help you with reviewing and updating the accessibility plan at least once every five years.

Design and development Out sourcing

We can help by the design and development and managing the project. We can also help in testing your site and or applications against the provided guidelines.

Related Topics

Working Together: The Code and the AODA

Learn about your rights and responsibilities under the Code and the AODA and how they affect you at work, in services and in housing.  This 5-part eLearning series (20 minutes) is for public, private and not-for-profit sectors and completes the training requirements for section 7 of the Integrated Accessibility Standards of the AODA.

Access the resources here.

For more information please visit the following resources:

Resources on issues of accessibility and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA)

Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act

Training For Accessible Ontario