Accessibility Customer Service Standard – it’s the law

Originally printed in the Guelph Business Venture Magazine - February 2010

Does your company provide goods or services to the public or other third parties within Ontario? Does your company have one or more employees? If you answered yes to both these questions, then the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) - Accessibility Customer Service Standard applies to you and you are legally required to comply with the requirements. The Accessibility Standard became law on January 1, 2008, with public sector companies required to comply by January 1, 2010 and private and non-profit organizations required to comply by January 1, 2012.

What does this mean to you and your organization? There are set requirements set out to ensure you are providing accessible customer service to people with various kinds of disabilities, in summary all companies must: