On Mon, Sep 20, 2021 at 12:06:29PM -0400, Alvin Starr via talk wrote:
Backing up the discussion a bit.
The Ontario government has the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/05a11
I know that at least a number of government Ministries do try to produce AODA complaint sites and associated documentation and training because my wife has worked on a number of these projects for well over the last 5 years.
AODA compliance and the associated certification process can add months to the timeline of a project along with significant costs. Each version of site or document can end up being subject to a review process by an external certification organization. AODA testing is a slow and tedious process and is one of the first things that will get cut when budgets become limited, much like documentation and testing.
Clearly the existing web services from ontario.ca are not sufficient. There is an argument that the AODA has remedies for people who find themselves without the ability to access Ontario government services. I have never tried to raise a complaint with the compliance and enforcement people so I have no idea how well or poorly the process works.
Its interesting that there were mentions of the U.S. ADA but nothing about Ontario's AODA and the federal ACA.
Just because getting it certified is tedious is no excuse for not designing it with that in mind from the start. Making a design that is entirely not suitable is a great way to ensure it will be a lot of work and expensive when you have to then do it all over after the fact to do it right. -- Len Sorensen