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Accessibility Training and Consulting

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Introduction to Website Accessibility

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Many people have difficulty understanding the website accessibility requirements under the AODA. This webinar will give you an understanding of how people with various disabilities access your website and how websites can be made accessible. Participants will learn about the background and theory of website accessibility, how accessibility effects visitors to your site, and what changes you can immediately make to increase the accessibility of your website.

1 in 7 people in Ontario currently have a disability and this is expected to rise to 1 in 5 by 2036 as the population ages. By having an accessible website, you are including people with disabilities – whether they be clients, employees, or the public. By understanding accessibility issues and the strategies to tackle them, your organization can communicate more effectively while complying with legal and moral responsibilities.

Who should attend this webinar

Anyone who is responsible for website design and development, content creation, and content posting, as well as anyone who oversees the work of such staff. This includes all Executive Directors/CEOs, Communication Managers, Document Creators, Communication or Accessibility Coordinators, Website Content Managers,  Marketing Managers, Administrative Assistants.

What You Will Walk Away With:

At the end of this webinar, participants will have an understanding of:

  • Website accessibility and factors that create barriers
  • How people will disabilities use assistive technologies to navigate the internet
  • How web accessibility can improve your products and services
  • Overview to WCAG 2.0

Maximizing the Value of these Webinars

Registration entitles you to one Internet connection and an unlimited number of participants from your organization in one listening room. Tap into your training budget. Ask your HR group or manager to underwrite the webinar as part of your organization’s ongoing staff development effort.

  INCLUDED IN THE WEBINAR:

  • High quality instruction by a Web Accessibility Specialist
  • A chance to network with other professionals
  • Official recognition for your participation (that you can share on LinkedIn, Facebook or your resume)

Note: We also suggest our February 5th “New in Website Accessibility – WCAG 2.1” webinar as a good complement to this webinar.

Accommodations

Accommodations available upon request. 

2 Best Ways to Train Staff on the AODA

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Training all staff, volunteers, Board Members and contractors on the AODA standards is a requirement for all organizations with 1 or more employees in Ontario. If you need some help with your AODA training, here are the two ways we recommend. The first option is quick and easy, especially if you have a lot of people that need training. The second is a cost effective way to have an in-house expert handle your AODA training.

Person teaching a class on the AODA

  1. AODA Online Training
  2. AODA Train-the-Trainer Certification

British Columbia Accessibility Act

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More than 600,000 people in B.C. have disabilities and advocates in the province have been working hard to bring the barriers found in buildings and public spaces, employment, information and communication technologies and transportation to the attention of the government – and it’s worked.  The B.C. government will begin detailing a provincial accessibility act in the fall and held a first reading of Bill M 219, the British Columbia Accessibility Act, 2018, in May.

Leading the charge in B.C. is a group of volunteers from across the province who call their campaign Barrier-Free BC. They are thrilled that the Province of British Columbia is on its way to becoming the 5th Canadian jurisdiction to enact accessibility rights legislation – joining Ontario (2005), Manitoba (2013), Nova Scotia (2017), as well as the federal government which introduced Bill C-81, known as the Accessible Canada Act, last month (more on this in our next blog post).

Accessibility advocates across Canada are clear that there is a need for both provincial and federal legislation. The federal government says its legislation will “identify, remove and prevent” accessibility barriers in a variety of areas but those requirements will only apply to Parliament, government of Canada agencies, federally regulated private sector (transportation, broadcasting, telecommunications and finance), Canadian Forces and the RCMP. The accessibility of provincially regulated organizations, such as local businesses, nonprofits, and municipal governments, is left to the oversight of each individual province.

This spring, the B.C. government declared May 28, 2018 as Rick Hansen Day and announced a $10-million grant to help the Rick Hansen Foundation make “communities more accessible and inclusive.” With that funding, the Foundation is conducting free accessibility ratings of approximately 1,100 commercial, institutional, and multi-unit residential buildings and sites within BC. Once rated, these organizations can apply for funding of up to $20,000 to complete an accessibility improvement project. 

 

Permission to Reprint

You are welcome to reprint all or part of this article. Please include the credit: “Reprinted with permission from Accessibility Services Canada. The original article published on July 18, 2018 can be found here.”

How to Make an Accessible PowerPoint Presentation

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In this one-hour webinar, we will address accessibility issues and best practices for creating PowerPoint presentations. Various tools will be demonstrated in PowerPoint to create an accessible presentation, including appropriate formatting, ordered lists, recommended slide layouts, well-designed tables, hyperlinks and graphics with alternative text, along with some tips to manage content for screen reading devices.

Topics include:

  • Best practices for making an accessible presentation.
  • Understanding the end users experience.
  • Software Interface settings and important tools for accessible content.
  • Advantages and disadvantages of using custom and predefined templates.
  • Working with images and formatting for accessibility.
  • Best practices when using and formatting text.
  • Setting proper bulleted and listed items.
  • Formatting table content for accessible reading technology.
  • Recommended practices for slide animations and transitions.

Who should attend this webinar

Anyone who is using Microsoft PowerPoint to create digital documents. This would include any Executives, Directors or Managers, Communication or Accessibility Coordinators, Website Content Managers and Administrative Staff. Everyone!

  INCLUDED IN THE WEBINAR:

  • High quality instruction by a Document Accessibility Specialist
  • Accessibility Resources
  • A chance to ask questions
  • Official recognition for your participation

Accommodations

Accommodations available upon request.