What You Need to Know about AODA Compliance


  • What You Need to Know about AODA Compliance

An incredible 15.5% of the people in Ontario are living with a disability. The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) ensures that all businesses and organizations with 50 or more employees will meet the government of Ontario’s accessibility standards by 2025.Specifically, businesses and organizations in the public, private and non-profit sectors are to ensure full accessibility of their organization for all Ontarians in five key areas, including:

  • Information and Communications
  • Employment
  • Customer Service
  • Design of Public Spaces
  • Transportation

The first three of these areas can be applied to website design, which is the focus of the most recent shift to full accessibility based on the AODA. It’s called the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and every Ontario website needs to comply.

WCAG 2.0 compliance

All businesses and organizations are required to be AODA WCAG 2.0-compliant by January 1,2021. This means that their websites must be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. In other words, all the information that is presented on a website must be provided in a variety of different ways to accommodate the needs of anyone who goes to that website. This means:

  • Ensuring the website content is easy to navigate
  • Using text to help explain images and other non-text content
  • Using predictable web page layouts
  • Designing the website so readers have enough time to fully comprehend the content
  • Making all text readable by using at least 16 pt font for regular text and 18 pt font for headings
  • Including all links in the form of a phrase
  • Ensuring the content on the page is distinguishable by using a 4.5:1 color contrast between the foreground and background
  • Making the content adaptable so the reading order is preserved regardless of how that content is accessed
  • Providing captions and/or transcripts for audio and video
  • Making assistive technology available to support readability
  • Providing input assistance in the form of error identification and prevention
  • Ensuring all headings have tags that help assistive technology navigate the website

How to become AODA compliant

To become AODA compliant, there are four steps you need to follow. These are:

  1. Conduct a website audit. This audit will determine the level of compliance on all the pages and features of your website.
  2. Get an AODA expert to help ensure your website design is 100% compliant.
  3. Test the accessibility of your website.
  4. Keep track of all the accessibility updates you made so you have records in case you are subjected to a website compliance audit.

There are some easy and effective ways to test the compliance of your website. These include:

  • Using assistive technology to review your site and ensure the design and all technical aspects of it are accessible
  • Using an online accessibility checker to check the accessibility of your website (not 100% reliable)
  • Having people with disabilities to review your site and provide feedback (best method)

If you haven’t already brought your website up to AODA WCAG 2.0 compliance, the time to do so is now. At Tangentia, we have the experts who can help design your website so that you meet the AODA WCAG 2.0 standard of compliance in time for the January 1, 2021 deadline.

Contact us today to for a free AODA website compliance audit.

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Tangentia is a Platinum Partner of IBM and well as partners with Automation Anywhere, UI Path, Blue Prism, Adobe, Microsoft, Salesforce, Amazon and leading enterprise software vendors. We work with customers globally with offices in Canada and India to implement their RPA strategies using an agile methodology.
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Tangentia moves to Toronto Waterfront, fastest growing global tech hub

  • Tangentia moves to Toronto Waterfront,
    the fastest growing global tech hub

In the last few years here at Tangentia, we have experienced tremendous growth as a Global Boutique Digital Transformation company. We have outgrown our offices in Toronto twice and are now moving to the beautiful new building, 130 Queens Quay. With many customers in the downtown area, it made sense that our new office be closer to them.

We will be in good company as Microsoft, Google and Facebook will all have offices in and around the area. The Sidewalk Lab (Google City) will also be in the neighbourhood. It’s great to be right in the heart of the action. “When customers and partners visit our office we want them to feel comfortable, confident and calm. We feel this move says we mean business.” say Vijay Thomas, CEO of Tangentia.

For many years, we have been doing a lot of work in banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI). With many business rethinking how they optimize business processes, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) projects have been continuing to gain traction and are expected to only increase in demand.

Did you know that according to HFS, the RPA market is expected to be $4.8 billion USD in 2022 and according to IDC, the AI market will be $77.6 billion in 2022. This means lots of opportunities for everyone and a transformational shift for business and the future of work.In the next few weeks, we plan to host a customer appreciation event to thank and acknowledge those who have helped make our growth possible. So stay tuned.

One of my favourite aspects of our new office is the rooftop terrace which will be a must-see when customers and partners visit our office. It is without a doubt the best view in the building as it overlooks Sugar Beach and a sprawling Lake Ontario.

When it’s time for lunch, St. Lawrence Market is a 5 minute walk up the street. There are so many great food choices that it will be hard to pick a favourite. Come and join us for lunch and help us decide where to eat next.

Our new office is more accessible, as it is just a 10-minute walk from Union Subway Station. In the short time we’ve been here, I have seen some great patios along the lake and a vibrant community of businesses and creative enterprises. Here is a photo from right outside Union Station .

Recently, we had a traditional Earthen Lamp prayer ceremony to bless our office with good fortune. Part of the ceremony also involved smashing a coconut against the ground, which proved to be more difficult than originally thought. Here is a photo from the celebration.

At the moment, we are putting the final touches on the office. Stay tuned for an invitation to join us for the official grand opening. While your anticipation builds, please feel free to check out our Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) updates.

If you need a great team to deliver your RPA or AI projects on-time and on-budget, look no further than Tangentia, the leader in Global Boutique Digital Transformation.

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