To make the province more accessible to people with disabilities, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA) became law on June 13, 2005. It allows the Province to develop accessibility standards that will remove barriers for people with disabilities and different abilities, making the province accessible by 2025. This is legislation that will open up your business to more customers, benefit all of us and make Ontario’s communities stronger.
As a first step, all businesses in Ontario with at least one employee must offer accessible customer service by January 1, 2012.
Understanding accessibility
What is accessibility? It simply means giving people of all abilities opportunities to participate fully in everyday life.
Take a look at AccessON Infographic to learn more about how accessibility benefits everyone in Ontario.
Government of Ontario Website
Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities
Serve-Ability: Transforming Ontario’s Customer Service - online course
This course will help you better serve customers with disabilities. It will take approximately 45 minutes to complete.
Serve-Ability is designed to be accessible to everyone. You can navigate with the use of a keyboard, review the course with a screen reader (JAWS) and run closed captioning. Enjoy the course!
A work of (accessible) art: Brockville Arts Centre
Recently, the arts centre underwent a facelift to not only restore its historic beauty, but to open its doors to as many customers as possible. Check out their story (with video included!).
AccessAbility Advantage
Specialized consulting services to help organizations improve accessibility and comply with the AODA. www.accessabilityadvantage.ca