Questions and Answers
- Who must take care of a service animal while its owner is accessing goods or services?
- Who can I contact if my rights have been violated?
- I have questions related to building accessibility. Who can help me?
- What does WCAG mean?
- When does WCAG 2.1 come into force?
- What is the difference between WCAG 2.0 and 2.1?
- Do I really need to hire someone to do a website accessibility audit or can I do the audit myself?
Who must take care of a service animal while its owner is accessing goods or services?
It is the responsibility of the owner of the service animal to provide for the maintenance and care of the service animal while accessing an obligated organization’s goods or services.
Who can I contact if my rights have been violated?
Provincial legislation set minimum accessibility standards for organizations operating, whereas the provincial Human Rights Commission address and protect the rights of individuals. If you are in Ontario and you feel that you have been personally discriminated against based on a disability and would like to take action against a specific person or organization, you may contact the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. They handle discrimination claims filed under the Ontario Human Rights Code.
For human rights policies, guidelines and other information in Ontario, visit the Ontario Human Rights Commission website at www.ohrc.on.ca
To talk about your rights or if you need legal help with a human rights claim, contact the Human Rights Legal Support Centre at:
Telephone: 416-597-4900
Toll Free: 1-866-625-5179
TTY: 416-597-4903 or Toll Free: 1-866-612-8627
Website: www.hrlsc.on.ca
To file a human rights claim (called an application), contact the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario at:
Toll Free: 1-866-598-0322
TTY: 416-326-2027 or Toll Free: 1-866-607-1240
Website: www.hrto.ca
If you are an individual with a disability, you may also be able to get information and support from ARCH Legal Disability Law Centre, a specialty legal aid clinic that provides legal services to people with disabilities.
If you wish to file a complaint against a specific business about accessibility or the way they provide services to people with disabilities, contact the business directly.
To do so, use the business’s feedback process required under the AODA’s Customer Service Standard.
If you prefer to provide feedback or report a suspected AODA violation in writing, you can send your comments to [email protected].
I have questions related to building accessibility. Who can help me?
The AODA addresses accessibility in public spaces while requirements for making buildings accessible is addressed by the Ontario Building Code. If you have questions about what you need to do, or what you could do to make your building more accessible, contact your local municipality’s Planning Department.
What does WCAG mean?
WCAG stands for “Web Content Accessibility Guidelines”.
WCAG is the international standard for web accessibility, developed by the W3C, the internet standard organization that is also responsible for HTML and CSS standards.
WCAG 2.0 has been a W3C recommendation since 2008.
When does WCAG 2.1 come into force?
WCAG 2.1 was made an official W3C recommendation on June 5, 2018.WCAG 2.1 builds on WCAG 2.0, which remains valid.
The main objective of WCAG 2.1 was to improve web accessibility for people with disabilities who fit into one (or more) of the following three groups:
- Users with cognitive or learning disabilities
- Users with low vision
- Users with disabilities on mobile devices
What is the difference between WCAG 2.0 and 2.1?
WCAG 2.1 builds on WCAG 2.0 by adding one new Guideline and seventeen new Success Criteria. If your website (or PDF) pass WCAG 2.1, Level AA, it will also pass WCAG 2.0, Level AA.
Do I really need to hire someone to do a website accessibility audit or can I do the audit myself?
Software can be very useful in testing website accessibility, but only up to a point. Most WCAG requirements cannot be verified by software alone. Manual testing by accessibility experts who have knowledge of, and experience with, visible and non-evident disabilities is mandatory.
There are a number of underlying problems associated with using just automated tools to test for accessibility. They can’t adequately check for the majority of web accessibility guidelines and they often misreport problems. The only real benefit of using an automated testing tool is to get a top level feel of how accessible (or inaccessible) your website is.
