Accessibility Legislation and Guidelines

The World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is the internationally accepted standard for web accessibility that meets the needs of individuals, organizations and governments globally. The standard was developed by an international team of experts at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). These guidelines have three levels of accessibility: A, AA, and AAA. AAA is the highest level of accessibility.

Ontario accessibility legislation

Under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), all private and non-profit organizations with 50 or more employees and all public sector organizations will need to make all online content and websites accessible as of January 1, 2021. This means that all web content created on or before January 1, 2012, must conform to the WCAG 2.0 Level AA Guidelines. Failing to comply could lead to fines of up to $100,000 per day of infraction.

How to meet accessibility legislation

We recommend that you speak to your project manager about accessibility scanning and options to ensure that your website meets the WCAG 2.0 Level AA requirements.