Problem
A global financial services group required a new frontend platform for the Canadian market with full AODA (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act) compliance as a hard requirement. The application was data-heavy — mortality rates, financial summaries, transaction history — requiring complex chart and table components that had to work correctly for screen reader and keyboard users, not just sighted users.
Role
Lead Frontend Engineer. Before the onsite engagement, I was involved in the initial solutioning — defining the approach, stack decisions, and architecture before the build began. Onsite in Canada, I worked at the client office and coordinated with an additional parallel team that joined the engagement, handling cross-team alignment alongside hands-on delivery.
Stack
- Charting: Highcharts — researched and selected as the best fit for the requirement; heavily customised to meet design and data requirements for mortality and financial datasets
- Accessibility: WCAG 2.1 AA as compliance baseline; AODA as regulatory requirement
- Testing: axe-core for automated checks; manual screen reader and keyboard-only navigation testing
- Component patterns: ARIA live regions for dynamic updates, focus management on interactive flows, accessible data tables with sort and pagination
Outcome
- Platform built accessible-first — AODA compliance baked in from component design, not retrofitted
- Highcharts integration delivered after research and evaluation of available charting options against project requirements
- Complex data views (mortality, financial summaries) made screen reader and keyboard navigable
- Delivered onsite at client office in Canada for the full engagement duration