AODA vs WCAG: What's the Difference?

What Is AODA?

The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) is Ontario provincial legislation passed in 2005. Its goal is to make Ontario accessible to people with disabilities by 2025. AODA establishes accessibility standards across five areas: customer service, information and communications, employment, transportation, and the built environment.

For websites, the relevant standard is the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation (IASR), which falls under the Information and Communications category. The IASR requires organizations to make their websites and web content conform to WCAG 2.0 Level AA.

Who AODA applies to:

• All Ontario public-sector organizations (government, hospitals, schools, universities, colleges)
• Private-sector and non-profit organizations with 50 or more employees in Ontario
• Smaller organizations (1–49 employees) have fewer requirements but are still subject to some AODA provisions

AODA website compliance deadlines (already passed):

• January 1, 2014: New public websites and significantly refreshed content — WCAG 2.0 Level A (public sector)
• January 1, 2021: All public websites and web content — WCAG 2.0 Level AA (public sector and large private/non-profit)

What Is WCAG?

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) — the international standards body for the web. WCAG is a technical standard, not a law. It defines specific, testable criteria for making web content accessible to people with disabilities.

WCAG has three conformance levels:

• Level A — Minimum accessibility. Addresses the most critical barriers.
• Level AA — Standard accessibility. The target for most organizations. Addresses the most significant barriers without requiring major changes.
• Level AAA — Enhanced accessibility. The highest level. Not required for entire websites — some criteria are not achievable for all content types.

WCAG versions:

• WCAG 2.0 (2008) — Referenced in AODA. Still valid and widely used.
• WCAG 2.1 (2018) — Adds 17 new criteria to 2.0, including improvements for mobile accessibility and cognitive disabilities. Current best practice.
• WCAG 2.2 (2023) — Adds 9 new criteria. Emerging standard.

How AODA and WCAG Relate

Think of it this way: AODA is the law that says "your website must be accessible." WCAG is the rulebook that defines what "accessible" means in practice.

AODA specifically requires WCAG 2.0 Level AA. However, since WCAG 2.1 AA is a superset of WCAG 2.0 AA (it includes all 2.0 AA criteria plus additional ones), meeting WCAG 2.1 AA automatically means you meet WCAG 2.0 AA — and therefore meet the AODA standard.

We recommend targeting WCAG 2.1 AA for all new websites. It's the current best practice, it satisfies AODA, and it provides better accessibility for users with mobile and cognitive disabilities.

What This Means for Your Website

If your organization is subject to AODA, your website must meet WCAG 2.0 Level AA. In practice, this means:

• All images have descriptive alt text
• Videos have captions
• Colour contrast meets minimum ratios (4.5:1 for normal text)
• All functionality is keyboard-accessible
• Forms have proper labels
• Pages have descriptive titles
• Headings are used in logical order
• Language is declared in the HTML
• Skip navigation links are present
• Error messages are descriptive and helpful

See our Accessible Website Checklist for a complete self-assessment tool.

Beyond Compliance: Accessibility as Design

Compliance is the floor, not the ceiling. The most accessible websites go beyond checking boxes — they're designed with diverse users in mind from the start. This means plain language, logical information architecture, consistent navigation, and content that works for users with varying levels of digital literacy.

At MyWaypoint Digital, we treat accessibility as a design requirement, not a compliance exercise. Every website we build includes accessibility foundations from day one — because it's the right way to build for the web.