AODA Compliance Checklist

Here’s a quick checklist of many of the criteria that must be followed for AODA compliance. You can visit the Government of Ontario’s “How to Make Websites Accessible”³ page for a more detailed checklist.

• Non-text elements on the website, such as images, have text alternatives.
• Understanding the meaning of the content does not depend on being able to perceive colours, sounds, object size, etc.
• Individuals are able to pause, stop or control the volume of any audio that plays for more than three seconds.
• Web pages and links have self-explanatory titles.
• Text can be resized (enlarged).
• Website functions work using a keyboard.
• If there is a short time limit for certain functions, individuals can control or extend the time limit.
• There is nothing on the website that flashes rapidly.

One way to test whether your website meets these and other web accessibility requirements of the AODA or of WCAG 2.0 is to use an online compliance checker.

For instance, the AODA Compliance Wizard is a tool developed by the Government of Ontario to give organizations a customized list of requirements for compliance, based on what kind of business they are or the size of their work force.

Another example is AChecker, an online tool that can automatically test your website to determine whether it meets the Level AA criteria of WCAG 2.0. A compliance checker like this one will flag areas where your website does not appear to meet accessibility standards.

However, there’s no guarantee it will spot and report every problem on your site, and you can’t even be sure that everything it does flag is a true accessibility issue. That’s why the Accessibility Directorate of Ontario strongly urges organizations to have their sites assessed by humans, even if they’ve already used online tools to evaluate their accessibility.

These are good reminders.  How far into compliance has your organization been?

If you are interested in learning more about Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) or how to make accessibility a natural part of your business through the application of Corporate Social Responsibility, please contact Sandra Broekhof @ 416-579-1035 orsandra_broekhof@sympatico.ca