Frequently asked questions

The University of Waterloo views accessibility, including digital accessibility, as a matter of justice and of respecting the rights of disabled people. Our work toward creating an accessible University of Waterloo community reflects our commitment to justice and equity ahead of any matters of compliance.

The University of Waterloo is committed to making all our websites and digital platforms inclusive to all members of our campus community as outlined in ‘Policy 58 – Accessibility’ OR anyone who may be using our website or social media channels. Thus, we has invested in new tools and processes to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0).

Furthermore, under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) Information and Communications Standard, the University of Waterloo has a legal obligation to make all digital content accessible.

Looking ahead, it is important to know that digital accessibility is an ongoing practice. Once compliance of existing content is met, any new digital content created by the University of Waterloo must also meet evolving accessibility best practices. To achieve this, we will be establishing an ongoing monitoring and tracking program to support the campus community in meeting these accessibility standards. This program will include an enhanced focus on training related to digital accessibility, refinement of our website creation processes related to WCAG 2.0 standards, continual review and updating of digital content, as well as a plan to fix new errors that are introduced on a rolling basis

The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (AODA) is an Ontario law mandating that organizations must follow standards to become more accessible to people with disabilities. Under the AODA Information and Communications Standard, the University of Waterloo has a legal obligation to make its digital content on the web and social media accessible. The AODA refers to an international set of online accessibility standards called the Web Consortium Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The University is currently required to meet WCAG 2.0, level AA standards.  

The Waterloo Content Management System (WCMS) is the centrally supported website creation and maintenance tool used to create, edit, and manage web content at the University of Waterloo. 

The WCMS is a user-friendly system that provides a way for users to manage digital information and content on a website without prior knowledge of web programming or markup languages. It is specifically designed for the University and promotes the UWaterloo branding within the system. The tools within the WCMS are accessible and comply with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). Web content that is designed to be accessible to people with disabilities offers benefits to all users and improves website usability and search engine optimization (SEO). 

The University of Waterloo has committed to conform with Level AA of the WCAG 2.0 for all public websites, other than success criteria 1.2.4 Captions (Live) and success criteria 1.2.5 Audio Descriptions (Pre-recorded), by December 31, 2024. 

Password-protected sites or intranet sites are currently not required to conform with the legislation, athough this may be subject to future change.

All public websites or web content within direct control of the university must be accessible. This includes:  

1) sites managed under the uwaterloo.ca domain. 

2) sites without a uwaterloo.ca university domain name but within direct control of the university:  

• a website that bears the University of Waterloo identifier (logo or branding) 

• is used for university business. University business includes, but is not exclusive to teaching, publishing research, marketing university events, university groups, research labs. 

If you are unsure whether this applies to your website or web content, contact Erica Clement-Goudy or Joe Kwan for further guidance. 

Yes. It's important to note that social media platforms present accessibility challenges. Users who rely on screen readers encounter difficulties due to the absence of headers, limited keyboard shortcuts, missing alternate text for images, inadequate colour contrast, and videos lacking closed captions. View UWaterloo's social media accessibility guidelines.

Starting in January 2024, a request can be made by website leads through our online ticket system for access to Siteimprove in order to run accessibility checks on websites and review results. In 2024, a project team will provide ongoing assistance for digital accessibility initiatives across university public websites.  

We recommend your website be fully migrated to WCMS 3.0 (Waterloo Content Management System) which will ensure up to date accessibility standards are applied. 

Siteimprove is an accessibility scanning tool used by the University of Waterloo to monitor and remediate websites for content quality and accessibility. If you are a website lead for a website that is under the University of Waterloo domain, you can request access to SiteImprove Frontier and visit the SiteImprove Knowledge Base.

View the Digital Accessibility website for training resources related to web content remediation. If you are a web lead, you can also request access to Siteimprove Frontier for additional training and certifications. Siteimprove’s education suite which includes courses, certifications, community events, and more.

Yes. All documents and multi-media including PDFs, videos and images must be accessible. 

Refer to project updates on the digital accessibility site.