Ontario has extended the deadline to file an AODA accessibility compliance report to June 30, 2021, from December 31, 2020. Required for businesses and non-profits with 20 or more employees, the report must outline their accessibility compliance under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act.
The extension gives all businesses and organizations covered by the AODA six extra months to make sure they are complying with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) standards, which are the defined standards under the law. Businesses and non-profit organizations with 50 or more employees, as well as public sector organizations, have to make their public websites accessible; however, all businesses and non-profits with 20 or more employees have to file a compliance report.
WCAG 2.0 Level AA is the current conformance level specified under the AODA, retroactively applying to websites and content published after January 1, 2012. This is great news for companies considering the Bureau of Internet Accessibility for help achieving AODA compliance, as we're positioned especially well to help meet these criteria.
Our WCAG 2.1 testing exceeds minimum AODA requirements
Our testing according to WCAG 2.1 Levels A and AA means greater accessibility now and potential coverage for future enhancements to AODA conformance requirements. WCAG 2.1 is the current website accessibility standard and it is backwards-compatible with WCAG 2.0, which means compliance with WCAG 2.1 guarantees compliance with WCAG 2.0.
Plus, our comprehensive four-point hybrid testing combines the best of human and artificial intelligence, which we believe provides the clearest path to achieving, maintaining, and proving compliance.
Custom use cases are critical when dealing with a lot of content
The requirement that all new and refreshed content dating back to 2012 needs to be accessible means that website operators need a reasonable strategy to identify and test the core pieces and functions of the site, in order to make a plan for the rest, including any older or outdated material.
This is why we scope out and test custom use cases as part of our proposal and testing approaches. A use case is any process or key action that a typical user would want to accomplish on a website. Each page and each element that's part of that sequence is therefore critical to accessibility and overall usability. When dealing with a lot of content, it is important to know how to prioritize and plan, and custom use cases are an important part of that.
How can we help with your AODA accessibility compliance initiatives?
Learn more about AODA Compliance Reports and Accessibility Plans, contact us for a free 30-minute consultation, or get started with a free website accessibility scan.
