Website Accessibility: The Untapped Ontario Market
People with disabilities have over $25 billion in discretionary spending.
Are you missing an opportunity?
AODA. It's the Law
It’s no longer a matter of choice for businesses in Ontario.
The AODA (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act) statute for web access requires organizations to be compliant starting on January 1, 2021.
You Don't Need Another Distraction
Non-compliant website accessibility is a business issue that you just don’t need right now.
International law firm Seyfarth Shaw said that that web accessibility federal lawsuits in the US hit record numbers in 2019 and will continue to do so in the coming years.
It’s no different in Ontario. With the law now in effect, increased enforcement is a real possibility.
Non Compliance Can Be Costly
Being fined in Ontario can take a bite out of your budget or even put your business in a precarious financial position.
The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act list fines for non-compliance. They are:
- $100,000 per day for a corporation OR
- $50,000 per day for a person
We worked with Agency 5 with our accessibility on our website. They worked diligently to help us to remain compliant and were quick to assist us when we ran into an issue on our end.
DID YOU KNOW?
“MORE THAN 50% OF ONTARIANS HAVE A FRIEND OR LOVED ONE WHO HAS A DISABILITY WHO INFLUENCES THEM WHERE TO SHOP”
Source: Normal Nielsen Group
“BY 2035, 40% of ONTARIO’S CONSUMER BASE WILL BE PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES.”
Source: Ontario Chamber of Commerce
The Ontario Market
In Ontario, more than 15% of the population has a disability – that’s 1.85 million people, or 1 in 7 people.
As the demographics continue evolve, the number of people who have a disability will grow to 1 in 5 people in 20 years.
By 2046, it is projected that there will be 19.6 million Ontarians. That’s nearly 4 million people who have some form of disability.
The Opportunity
At Agency 5, we believe that web content accessibility is an important move for both society and businesses.
It is not only being social conscious, but also fast becoming a differentiator for businesses. By committing to being accessible, you raise the brand awareness to a whole new market that you may not have considered.
Be a leader in your marketplace by being inclusive and accessible.
A recent study of the top 1,000,000 websites in world were evaluated and tested for website accessibility showed that approximately 97.8 percent of those websites home pages did not meet the website content accessibility guidelines.
Another study by an accessibility software company found that 70 percent of the websites it surveyed, ranging from ecommerce to news to government services had design issues that made them unreadable with assistive technology such as JAWS.
Websites That Don't Comply
The Cost To Be Compliant
Just because the bigger brands have deep pockets doesn’t mean you can’t be compliant.
Small to medium size businesses in Ontario can now take advantage of an AI solution. For $2/day, you can leverage AI technologies to make your website compliant locally and internationally under ADA, AODA, and WCAG 2.1 guidelines.
The AI solution can help your website be compliant in less than 72 hours. Your visitors now have the option to automatically adjust fonts, animations, image alternative texts, and other elements on your website to suit their needs without compromising security and privacy.
Equitable access for any visitor doesn’t have to break the bank.
Agency 5 helped us navigate the complexities of website accessibility and AODA. Sam was knowledgeable, resourceful and found a quick solution that addresses all the issues without the hefty price tag.
Make your website WCAG 2.1 Level AA compliant today
Website Accessibilty FAQ
WCAG is an acronym for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. These guidelines were systematically developed with individuals and organizations around the world. The goal was to provide a common defacto standard for accessing web content that meets the needs of individuals, organizations, and governments internationally.
The WCAG clearly explains what needs to be done to make your website content more accessible to people with disabilities. Web “content” is defined as:
- information such as text, images, and sounds
- markup that defines structure and/or presentation of a website
The numbers represent the version of the technical standard.
- WCAG 2.0 published on 11 December 2008
- WCAG 2.1 published on 5 June 2018
- WCAG 2.2 is scheduled to be published in 2021
Requirements or success criteria in 2.2 will be include 2.1 and 2.0
For example: Content that meets WCAG 2.1 standards also meets to WCAG 2.0 standards.
A web accessibility audit measures your website against the success criteria of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.0 (WCAG 2.0).
Our web accessibility audit report provides details:
- Clickables – button, links & controls
- Orientation – focus and popups
- Menus – navigations and dropdowns
- Carousels – regions and controls
- Tables – layouts and headings
- Graphics – Alt text and spacers
- Forms – validations and labels
- Document – language and landmarks
- Readability – headings and contrast
The web has become intertwined with almost every facet our life including: social, health, recreation, employment, education, government, business and so much more. Web accessibility is important because it provides equal access and equal opportunity to people with disabilities. An accessible Web can help people with disabilities participate more actively in society.
Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web said it best, “The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect”.
Doing business with people who have disabilities is good business. Not only does it show that your brand is inclusive, people who have disabilities have tremendous economic and social clout.
The website accessibility audit cost is FREE. There are no obligations.
The website accessibility audit can be completed within 24 hours.
The 7-day trial is your chance to see how AI technology can help your website be compliant with the AODA. We install a small piece of code on your website (like Google Analytics). Installing the code is simple and easy.
We will also provide you another accessibility report and website performance report to allow for comparison.
Should you decide that you would like to pursue this, you will pay the software vendor directly. Otherwise, we remove the installed code and you website will return to its previous state.
No. It’s like tinting the windows of your car. When they tint your windows, they apply a colored layer that sits on top of the glass. If you remove the tint layer, the glass remains the same and nothing is changed.
This technology works the same way. The original text, images, and functionality are not altered in any way.
Most Notable Brands - Website Accessibility Compliance Lawsuits
Brand |
Industry |
Issues |
Source |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Beyonce
|
Entertainment
|
No alt-text on images, no accessible drop-down menus, no keyboard access
|
Link
|
|
Winn-Dixie
|
Retail/Grocery
|
Those with visual impairments couldn’t access the website using their screen reading software
|
Link
|
|
Domino’s Pizza
|
Restaurants/Food & Beverage
|
Neither the website or app met basic Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
|
Link
|
|
Fox News Network
|
Media/News/Entertainment
|
Website didn’t meet WCAG 2.0 standards
|
Link
|
|
Burger King
|
Restaurants/Food & Beverage
|
No alt-tags or other features in place
|
Link
|
|
Nike
|
Retail/Fashion
|
Website would not work for those using screen reading software
|
Link
|
|
Blue Apron
|
Food/E-Commerce
|
No alt-tags in place, no captions on videos that explained key features/benefits of the Blue Apron service, and more
|
Link
|
|
CVS Pharmacy
|
Retail/Medicine
|
Blind individuals are not able to access key features of the website that are directly integrated with its physical location
|
Link
|
|
Harvard and MIT
|
Education
|
Websites failed to make their massive open online courses, guest lectures, and other video content accessible to people who are deaf.
|
Link
|
