In February 2022, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Division (AODD) of the Ministry for Seniors and Accessibility (MSAA) began their Fourth Legislative Review of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA). The Ministry and the Reviewer (appointed by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario), Rich Donavon, partnered with Therefore to design and build an inclusive and engaging environment to facilitate public feedback, and encourage constructive discussion around these important issues.
Client
Government of Ontario
Industry
Government
Type
CMS Website
Technology
Webflow CMS
Time Frame
1-3 months
Project Link
Services Provided
UX research, UX/UI design, digital strategy, technical architecture, API development, MarTech and CRM integration, e-commerce, Drupal development, support & maintenance, training & documentation, managed services.
The Ministry sought a reputable partner with a track record of success to select the right tools, integrations and framework to easily manage updates and moderate content. Moreover, a fully accessible WCAG 2.1 AA compliant, and bilingual website, was critical to effectively engage persons with disabilities across the province.
Overall project objectives and goals included:
An easy to use content management system
Survey integration and event management (e.g. registration) capabilities
Various points of contact (e.g. contact and feedback forms) to encourage and facilitate two-way communication
Fonts, colour and designs that passed high accessibility standards
Establish a long-term strategic relationship to support the Reviewer and his team on current and future digital needs, over the course of the 14-month long Legislative Review
A four-week project schedule to design and deploy this new digital presence required quick and creative thinking. In order to meet this ambitious timeline, we leveraged Webflow as our CMS of choice, due to its quick setup time, and the ease with which content in Webflow can be created, updated, and translated.
We also required our designs to reflect best-in-class accessibility scores. To achieve this, we set our accessibility standard to AAA, rather than AA. This ensures that all users can easily review, engage and consume information and content quickly and without barriers.
We also provided support and training to Mr. Donavon and his team. The first two virtual Town Halls are scheduled for October and November. Further updates are planned in the coming weeks.
Our team is proud and honoured to have the opportunity to support and advocate for persons with disabilities. We look forward to the feedback and discussion this new website will facilitate. The results of these engagements and assessments have the potential to directly impact policy and legislative change regarding the AODA, and provide future recommendations to the Government of Ontario.
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