Good Friday afternoon from the accessible and inclusive design team at OPC Inc.
I am moving a conversation over from Linked In to my Blog as it has a number of points worth reviewing and discussing. The irony is lost on many businesses in Ontario and I must point this out as private business including mine cannot have it both ways. On the one hand everyone talks about the free market needing to push business agendas including social agendas. On the other folks like Wendy want to know exactly what her business needs to do and when so they can put off what is the right thing to do based on the assumption this assumption that businesses in Canada want to do business internationally.
So businesses in Ontario it is time to decide; do you want to do well internationally and enhance your brand and expand sales by ensuring all aspects of your business are accessible to all? Or do you want governments to step in and order you to do this but will wait until the last minute to implement in an artificial non-strategic way?
HI Wendy – don’t forget the UK, Europe and the European Union, Australia & even parts of the US ALL have accessibility legislation in place which are for far ahead of Ontario’s (and the rest of Canada). With this in mind our firm, OPC, looks to these countries to guide website design and other electronic media and software versus Ontario’s slow moving targets. The question should really be; if Canadian Businesses really want to do business successfully internationally why are they not in compliance with these other country’s accessibility laws versus waiting for a provincial government to push this agenda?
Companies with whom we consult with already have this in place and even disparage those company’s who are still looking to the letter of the law for guidance versus using the capitalist adage that “the free market should dictate these things not government” Interesting irony that private businesses mouth these words but then wait for governments to push them to do what they should be doing for improved brand identity, profitability and shareholder benefit.
Food for thought and always open to comments
There Is No Alternative to global free-market capitalism. (Photo credit: charles.hope)
JE Sleeth OPC Inc