Why Should I Care?
Well in Ontario, it’s the law. The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disability Act (AODA) states:
“Recognizing the history of discrimination against persons with disabilities in Ontario, the purpose of this Act is to benefit all Ontarians by,
(a) developing, implementing and enforcing accessibility standards in order to achieve accessibility for Ontarians with disabilities with respect to goods, services, facilities, accommodation, employment, buildings, structures and premises on or before January 1, 2025; and
(b) providing for the involvement of persons with disabilities, of the Government of Ontario and of representatives of industries and of various sectors of the economy in the development of the accessibility standards. 2005, c. 11, s. 1.” (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2014).
As educators we are required to ensure the technology we use in our classrooms are compliant with AODA standards. This includes things such as video content, documents (both digital and print), audio files and any other type of media you use in your class. A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself “can someone with a physical, developmental or learning disability construct the knowledge I intended them to construct based on the resources I am providing?”
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Accessibility Experts
David Berman is a web accessibility expert who has audited websites all over the world. In the embedded video he explains why we need to care about accessibility and how it is critical that we get accessibility correct with regards to the web at this point in time.
Click anywhere on the video to watch and listen why accessibility is so important at this point in the internet's development. |
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Mobile Technology, Pedagogy, The Web & You
If you are developing web content for your students to access you should keep the following in mind:
- Code structure. Can a screen reader read through your website or page easily?
- Colour contrast. Make sure you are mindful of the colours you are choosing. Do not use yellow text on a white background for instance. There are many great tools available to help with contrast checking. You can find a list of helpful web development at the bottom of this page.
- Images. Do your images have alternative text, or are your images strictly decorative?
Ontario Human Rights Code
The Ontario Human Rights Commission has some informative video modules on accessibility that give a great introduction to accessibility and how to comply with the standards set forth by the government.
The modules are not specifically focused on education, but are generic information on the Human Rights Code and AODA for the work place. |