AODA Compliance: Designing for Everyone
The AODA is the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, a piece of legislation aimed at creating a barrier-free Ontario by 2025. The AODA regulates accessibility across a wide range of areas, but for now we’re focusing on how the AODA will impact web design.
By January 2021 all public sector companies, non-profits and private sector companies with over 50 employees will need to be in compliance. What does that mean? Like any legislation, the AODA is densely populated with details, but it basically amounts to designing websites that are easier to use for users with disabilities, like blindness, deafness and limited movement. However, AODA compliance isn’t only beneficial to users with disabilities, features like video captions, alt text for images and high contrast colour schemes will improve web experiences for everyone, in addition to helping improve your SEO ranking.
It may sound daunting but we’re here to help. Blackjet is offering a two-phased approach to compliance. Phase one will include a battery of diagnostic testing and a detailed recommendation report. Phase two will consist of updates, including design, content and coding, based on our recommendations.
If you have any questions about what any of this means or would like a more detailed overview of the AODA, give us a shout.
