Does my website actually need to be accessible? A plain-English answer
If you sell, serve, or employ in Canada, the US, or the EU, the practical answer in 2026 is yes — and "we're too small" is no longer the defense it used to be.
We get this question on almost every intro call: "Do we actually have to do this?" Founders ask it hoping the answer is no. Legal teams ask it hoping for a clean yes. Both end up with the same answer: it depends on where you operate, who you serve, and how big you are — but the safe assumption in 2026 is yes.
The short version by jurisdiction
- Canada (federal): If you're federally regulated — banks, telecom, broadcasting, transportation, federal public service — the Accessible Canada Act applies. Full stop.
- Ontario: AODA requires WCAG 2.0 AA on public-facing websites for organizations with 50+ employees. Penalties go up to $100,000/day for corporations.
- Other provinces (BC, MB, NS, NL, SK, QC): Frameworks are live or rolling out. Most reference WCAG 2.0 / 2.1 AA.
- United States: Title III of the ADA has been applied to websites and apps by federal courts for over a decade. There's no size exemption.
- European Union: The European Accessibility Act became enforceable in June 2025 and reaches non-EU companies selling to EU consumers.
"But we're a small business"
Size carve-outs exist (AODA's 50-employee threshold, the EAA's microenterprise carve-out for services), but they're narrower than founders assume. They almost never apply to products you sell, only to certain operational obligations. And ADA litigation in the US has consistently targeted small e-commerce businesses.
What "accessible" actually means
In practical terms across all of these laws: conform to WCAG 2.1 AA at minimum. We recommend WCAG 2.2 AA as a single forward-compatible target — it satisfies every current jurisdiction we work in.
What we tell clients to do this quarter
- 01Publish an accessibility statement with a current target (WCAG 2.2 AA) and a working contact channel.
- 02Run a baseline conformance audit on your top 3 user flows.
- 03Fix the showstoppers (keyboard, forms, contrast) before the next quarter ends.
- 04Set a standard for new work so the backlog stops growing while you're closing it.