Dennis Quon – Abod Rep/Past President – Xplor Canada

For anyone producing documents either transactional, brochure ware or web pages, AODA – the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities act requires all large private organizations that do business in Ontario to begin to provide accessible documents on January 1, 2016. Your clock is ticking!

As part of the integrated standard for information and communications, public small/large and private sector organizations must provide existing websites for use with assistive technologies, screen readers and alternate format documents such as Braille, Large Print, eText , Daisy and Audio for your clients based on your customer service policy submitted to AODA back in 2012.

Fines can range from hundreds of dollars per day for private organizations well into the tens of thousands of dollars for large private organizations. As we make Ontario accessible, there are many new solutions to make bills, statements, invoices, contracts, letters and content accessible.

As Ontario moves forward, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and other provinces are quickly either passing or working on their accessibility initiatives. This is a hot topic with some very hefty fines for non-compliance. Companies need to consider how to set up accessibility at the time of authoring their documents and how to automate their documents into accessible formats through their systems.

If you are a small public or large public sector organization and you have not as yet completed your remediation or set up accessibility for information and communications then you need move immediately as your dates have past.

There are many new solutions that providing compliance in many organizations and countries around the world. These include Accessible PDF and VOICEYE barcodes that allow users to consume documents on their smartphones and electronically. These solutions can achieve compliance and reduce the typical cost of accommodation.

For all document producers, a strategy is required. Talk your document professionals and seek the advice of accessibility experts and solution providers in the industry.