The first review of the AODA’s Information and communications Standards became public in 2020. In this review, the AODA Information and Communications Standards Development Committee outlines improvements to make information and communications accessible for people with disabilities by 2025. The Committee recommends changes to the Information and Communications Standards, to identify, remove, and prevent accessibility barriers in information. In addition, the Committee recommends an alternative system for developing, updating, and enforcing AODA standards. This new system would affect the Information and Communications Standards, as well as other existing and future standards. This article will discuss the Committee’s recommendations for expanding the application of web accessibility compliance requirements.
Expanding the Application of Web Accessibility Compliance Requirements
Under the Information and Communications Standards, organizations must make their websites, including web-based apps, accessible. Organizations must do so by ensuring that their websites comply with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). This requirement applies to large private sector organizations, as well as public sector organizations with:
Organizations must ensure the accessibility of any web content that they own. In addition, any content that they do not own, but have control over as a third party, must also be accessible. However, the Committee recommends requiring more organizations to comply.
For example, some Ontario organizations with web servers outside the province may assume that they are exempt from compliance with WCAG. On the contrary, all public-sector and large private sector organizations must comply with WCAG, no matter where their web servers are hosted. Therefore, the Committee recommends that the Standards should clearly state that requirements for web accessibility apply to these organizations.
Applying Web Accessibility Requirements to High-impact Organizations
In addition, the Committee recommends a new way to designate the organizations mandated to comply with WCAG. Currently, organizations must comply with web accessibility requirements, and other AODA mandates, based on their numbers of employees. For example, private-sector organizations with fifty (50) or more employees need to have:
In contrast, private-sector organizations with less than fifty (50) workers do not need to comply with these requirements. The AODA requires large organizations to comply with more mandates under the assumption that larger organizations have higher impact. For instance, an organization with more workers might have a larger website that impacts more people than smaller organizations’ websites.
However, the Committee states that an organization’s number of employees is not a reliable way to predict its impact. For instance, an organization with few employees can have a large presence online. Therefore, the Committee recommends that the Standards should distinguish organizations based on their impacts, rather than their number of workers. For example, the Standards could define an organization as high impact if it has at least:
- One (1) employee in Ontario
- An average of one million (1,000,000) or more users per year in Ontario
- Annual global revenues of ten million dollars ($10,000,000)
These high-impact organizations would need to comply with web accessibility requirements and other mandates throughout the AODA Standards that currently apply to large organizations.
Moreover, the Committee notes that other companies, either with no employees or under federal jurisdiction, would also benefit from following these requirements for high-impact organizations. Therefore, the Committee recommends that the Ontario government should consult with these companies and with the federal government. This consultation should allow all parties to discuss ways to regulate widespread compliance with AODA requirements for high-impact organizations.