Governments across Canada, the United States and abroad, as well as the United Nations have made accessibility an inalienable right. Publishing inaccessible content not only neglects up to 20% of your readers — it means your business is falling short of global standards.
If you’re concerned your organization is failing requirements, Accessibil-IT will help you become compliant — and stay compliant.
Compliance is complex – we’re here to help.
Ontario has committed to creating a barrier-free workplace through the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act. Web content needs to conform to WCAG 2.0 — meaning disabled users need to be able to navigate your website, forms and PDFs without human help.
Organizations that employ more than 50 people in Ontario, or are publicly funded, must post accessible content to their website. If documents are issued electronically, they too must be accessible.
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) prohibits discrimination and ensures equal opportunity for persons with disabilities in employment, State and local government services, public accommodations, commercial facilities, and transportation. It also mandates the establishment of TDD/telephone relay services.
Under the ADA, all US-based organizations are required to provide access to information and data to people with disabilities upon request.
Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act was enacted to eliminate barriers in information technology, open new opportunities for people with disabilities, and encourage development of technologies that will help achieve these goals.
The law applies to federal agencies – they’re required to provide access to information and data to disabled federal employees. Additionally, federal information needs to be accessible for disabled citizens.
UA stands for “Universal Accessibility,” and in these regulations, the concept applies solely to PDFs. Due to the complexities of PDF, the international community determined that PDF needed its own standard to meet the unique needs of the format. PDF/UA requirements have been built to ensure that users with print disabilities can access PDFs easily.
While these criteria are newer than WCAG 2.0, they are steadily gaining traction, and PDF/UA requirements are already active in many governmental organizations.
It’s the global criteria for accessible web content – the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0. We work with companies to ensure their content complies by being perceivable, operable and understood by people with disabilities. This means Web content needs to be capable of interacting with a variety of assistive technologies.
Canada’s Treasury Board Secretariat ensures all Government of Canada websites comply with WCAG 2.0 criteria. This includes usability and accessibility regulations for all web content, including PDFs.