Looking to explore accessibility best practices across team functions in your organizations? Find answers to all your questions about accessible digital products and more at Axe-con 2023.

Axe-con provides insights into the critical role key players across functions like legal, design, management, product, etc., play in building accessible digital experiences.

Talks at the conference will feature case studies from enterprise companies leading in large-scale accessibility efforts and best practices and updates from technology leaders worldwide.

Attendance at the conference is free, and you can use your attendance towards continuing education (CE) towards IAAP certification.

Talks we’re excited about

• Ageism in Interfaces with Alex Tait
• Redesigning for Cognitive Ease with Alyssa Panetta
• Accessibility Maturity Models with Jonathan Thurston and James Thurston

Full program schedule

Join the free virtual conference

Registration is free! Sign up to access the live sessions and on-demand recordings of 60 sessions.

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Ready to make your digital products more accessible to your audience?

We provide inclusive website design solutions that welcome your audiences to engage with your content, products, and services. Bring the best of front-end development to your projects with our web standards-based, usable, accessible, and inclusive work.

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Let’s take a look at the accessibility standards you should consider for your website.

WCAG 2.0 / WCAG 2.1

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are the standards that the majority of national and sub-national (provincial, state, etc) legislation is based on. These standards include guidelines for content, code, and technical guidelines for how colour, interactivity, and more are handled on a website.

AODA

The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), is Ontario’s version of accessibility legislation. Based on requiring compliance with WCAG 2.0, AODA has general compliance requirements that many organizations must meet by January 2021.

However, it is strongly recommended that all organizations in Ontario work towards WCAG 2.0 AA compliance to meet AODA legislation in the future in order to ensure future compliance requirements and simply to improve the user experience for all users.

If you’re based in Ontario, learn more about AODA timelines and accessibility standards in our three-part series:

Accessibility matters – Part 1: Leading by doing

Accessibility matters – Part 2: The countdown is on in Ontario

Accessibility Matters – Part 3: Making sense of accessibility standards

ADA

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is the legislation that defines accessibility standards at the federal level in the United States. ADA is also based on WCAG 2.0 standards. If you’re an organization based in the United States, it’s important to comply with these accessibility standards to avoid legal action under ADA or section 508 (defined below).

Section 508

Section 508 is American legislation that mandates all federal entities—and any private corporations that do business with federal agencies—make their digital platforms accessible to people with disabilities. This includes healthcare, legal, financial, and numerous other private sector organizations, in addition to public sector organizations.

Not sure where to start?

No matter where you’re based, or what web accessibility standards you need to meet, we can help you ensure you not only comply with standards, but ensure you’re not losing out on a wider audience due to usability, accessibility, or inclusion issues on your site with  The Inclusive Website Audit.

The Inclusive Website Audit

Get started today with making your website more usable, accessible, and inclusive for all. Don’t miss out on expanding your reach and engagement!

Get started from $999

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United States ??

For those in the United States, enforcement of accessibility compliance can fall under both ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) and Section 508. As these compliance standards are established as legislation, civic action groups and individuals have already taken companies to court over accessibility issues. It is critical that your site’s accessibility issues be resolved as soon as possible.

Canada ??

For those with organizations in Ontario, Canada, requirements fall under AODA (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act).
AODA compliance can have the biggest consequences for any public sector organization, any non-profit, and any private sector organizations with more than 50 employees. For private sector organizations, the timeline for complying is the end of 2020 for full website compliance with AA standards.

If you don’t comply with these timelines and requirements, your organization could be subject to legal action, from either the government itself or from users who could file a case against your organization in the Human Rights Tribunal.

Although Canada-wide requirements vary across provinces, federal legislation is in progress, so it’s ideal to get a head start on compliance before future deadlines are set.

United Kingdom ??

For organizations in the United Kingdom, accessibility compliance is covered by the Equality Act of 2010. This act requires all organizations to take reasonable actions to make their websites and communications accessible.

This is especially critical for public sector organizations, as additional requirements clarifying the need for accessibility came into law in 2018 for the public sector, and compliance must be met by September 23rd, 2020. If these regulations aren’t followed, after this date, organizations may be subject to legal action and fines.

Although private sector organizations are not yet explicitly required to comply, only to make reasonable accommodations, this legislation is expected to follow shortly after, so it’s ideal to get a head start on compliance before those deadlines are set.

In all of these cases, not complying with accessibility legislation can have legal, financial, and brand implications, and can cause you to lose out on potential customers when they are unable to access or use your website. As a result, it’s key to get ahead on fixing these issues, before it becomes a major problem for your organization.

The Inclusive Website Audit is here to help ?

Get started today on your path to accessibility compliance with the Essential Website Audit. Our audit will provide you with actionable recommendations to make your site more usable, accessible, and inclusive. Don’t miss out on expanding your reach and engagement!

Get started from $999

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• levelling up digital and technical knowledge and decision-making,
• developing realistic, actionable, and impactful next steps, and
• ensuring product and service feedback loops, KPIs (key performance indicators), and OKRs (objectives and key results) that lead to continuous improvement.

While these pillars are important, underlying them all are our core non-negotiable values:

• usability
• accessibility
• inclusion

We’re leading by doing when it comes to promoting and improving inclusion in STEM through our volunteer organization Together, as well as ensuring that the websites and digital products we work on are accessible.

This subject is top of mind for us here in Ontario, as we await the enactment of a wide-spanning piece of legislation, which all organizations need to keep in mind.

It’s called the ‘Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act,’ or AODA for short; its aim is to make online spaces accessible to all.

The standards of the AODA are defined by the standards organization for the Internet – the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) – and are titled the ‘Web Content Accessibility Guidelines’ (acronym version: WCAG).

Following these standards ensures that online content is more accessible, especially for people with disabilities, but ultimately for everyone.

It’s important to remember that designing anything in an accessible manner ensures that ALL users will have an easier experience accessing information and services.

In Part 2, we’ve outlined the timelines for complying with AODA, which organizations must comply, and the consequences of not complying by these deadlines.

Accessibility and inclusive design

If you’re looking for strategies to make sure your product or service is inclusive and accessible, we’re here to help.

Get in touch

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