Accessible website design helps create better digital experiences for supporters of all abilities.
Ontario set a goal to become fully accessible for people with disabilities by 2025 so that those with disabilities have more opportunities to participate in everyday life.
You’re likely aware of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), but what you might not know is how the AODA applies to your website and other digital properties.
Under the AODA, many public sector, private, and non-profit organizations are required to make their websites accessible. By January 1, 2021, public websites and web content posted after January 1, 2012 must meet WCAG 2.0 Level AA requirements, with some exceptions. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are an internationally accepted standard for web accessibility developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
WCAG guidelines are designed to make content more accessible to people with a wide range of disabilities, including:
Blindness and low vision
Deafness and hearing loss
Learning disabilities
Cognitive impairments
Mobility impairments
Speech impairments
Following the WCAG guidelines will not only make your website and content more accessible to people with disabilities, it will also make it more usable by older individuals with changing abilities due to aging and ultimately improve the overall experience for all users.
WCAG’s guidelines and success criteria are organized around the following principles, which lay the foundation necessary for people to access and use web content:
Perceivable: Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive.
Operable: User interface components and navigation must be operable.
Understandable: Information and the operation of user interface components must be understandable.
Robust: Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies.
It’s important to know that AODA compliance is not optional. Companies can face fines of up to $100,000 a day for non-compliance, and directors and officers of a corporation with fiduciary responsibility are liable for a fine of up to $50,000 a day.
Although Ontario started requiring WCAG 2.0 Level AA compliance in 2021, as an interactive agency with particular thought leadership, raisin has been developing websites to meet Level AA well before these deadlines.
Because of our commitment to the AODA and our clients’ success, we have partnered with Siteimprove to offer our clients a complimentary digital audit of their site to evaluate where they currently stand. Siteimprove is a global leader in digital accessibility and website optimization solutions, helping over 7,500 organizations worldwide provide a more inclusive online experience.
Frequently asked questions
What is AODA?
The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act is Ontario legislation that sets accessibility standards to help identify, remove, and prevent barriers for people with disabilities.
What is WCAG?
WCAG stands for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. These guidelines are developed by the World Wide Web Consortium and are organized around four principles: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust.
Why does website accessibility matter for nonprofits?
Accessible websites help more supporters find information, complete forms, donate, register, and engage with a cause without unnecessary digital barriers.
