Accessibility of Canadian COVID-19 Testing Locations for People with Disabilities During the Third Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background Canadians with disabilities make up nearly a quarter of the population yet face barriers in accessing information about COVID-19 testing accessibility across the country. Objective No known studies evaluate the online information about the accessibility of COVID-19 testing locations. This study aimed to understand the accessibility of COVID-19 testing sites in Canada based on online information in March 2021. Methods Key accessibility features were identified to evaluate COVID-19 testing websites information on accessibility and data were extracted from the website to simulate the user experience of booking a COVID-19 test. Results All provinces and territories provided minimal accessibility information on their COVID-19 testing websites, except for Ontario. Out of 170 testing locations in Ontario, few had information about accessibility, with only 8.2% listing at least 3 of the 5 key accessibility features measured on their websites. Conclusions This paper demonstrates that more than a year into the pandemic, there existed a clear lack of accessibility information for Canadian testing locations for people with disabilities.