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Digital Transformation Software Ontarians hoping latest amendments will give the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act ‘some teeth’
Baneet Braich @itbusinessca
Published: March 12th, 2021
Jason King was born visually impaired and is now fully blind. He is among the 16 million Canadians navigating the internet while living with vision loss and other disabilities. As the global pandemic forces organizations to adopt e-commerce and remote work, the elephant in the virtual room around digital accessibility remains.
In Ontario, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) highlights ways Ontario businesses can be more accessible for the 2.6 million Ontarians living with disabilities, including adhering to the Website Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0 Level AA).
The deadline to implement these standards was January 2021. That’s been extended to June 30, 2021, meaning thousands of Ontario public, private, and non-profit organizations with 20 or more employees could face fines up to $100,000 per day if they fail to meet web accessibility guidelines.
King represents the Council For Persons with Disabilities in Peterborough. He says the new guidelines and fines are a hopeful push to legitimize the importance of digital [...]