Are you ready for the new accessible Web law, AODA? Get a free audit on us.

If you’re an Ontario business, a little known (at least within the small business community) provincial statute is about to change your world.

The law is called the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 or AODA for short.

What is AODA?

It’s a broad-ranging statute mandating that all facets of your business must be accessibile to people with disabilities, by January 2012 if you’re a private sector business — that’s only 5 months away.

Here’s what you need to know.

This law is a good thing. One in 7 people in the province currently have a disability and that number is sure to rise as the population ages and it’s just good business to make sure you’re equipped to serve those customers.

But it does mean you’ll probably need to make some changes.

In addition to requiring that you welcome assistive devices, allow service animals and welcome support people on your businesses physical premises, AODA mandates that your communications with your customers also take into account their disability.

So what does that mean?

Well, for your Web site it means that your site needs to comply with an international standard called Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Level A.

There’s in-depth information about the WCAG guidelines here but it can be a lot to wade through if you’re not a Web developer or an accessibility specialist (and even then it can be a lot to wade through).

That’s why we’re offering — from now until October 15, 2011 — a free accessibility audit of your Web site. We’ll tell you what you need to fix to come into compliance with the law, and we’ll give you a ballpark estimate of what it’ll cost.

Give us a call and we’ll get you on the path to being AODO-ready in no time.