The celebration of Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) on May 19th aims to stimulate the inclusion of accessibility as a “core requirement” in “the culture of technology and digital product development.” In 2021, the GAAD Foundation was launched to mark the tenth anniversary of GAAD and build on it, seeking to ensure that “Accessibility is built into the product lifecycle for technology and digital products.” This global initiative underscores the need to improve accessibility to include the more than one billion people worldwide with disabilities. GAAD points out that the most common causes of accessibility issues are low contrast text, missing image alt text, and empty links.
Virtual and in-person GAAD events are happening in many parts of the world, some of which continue or have not yet occurred. Still others are being recorded for future access. For example, on May 24th, a free webinar from AbilityNet at 1 pm London time/8 am Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), will consider global accessibility in terms of How leaders can build a culture of empathy. On June 2, 2022, from 4 to 5 pm Central European Summer Time (10 am EDT), the International Civil Society Centre, supported by Sightsavers, is joining with CivicTech Africa for a free Digital Dialogue event, number four in a series, entitled Ensuring Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities into the Digital Space. And a free, virtual “bootcamp,” by texthelp, offers to help participants to understand how to make websites and digital content more accessible through webinars, resources, and other tools. To learn more and sign up for their recommended five-day learning plan, available until June 30th, visit the listing for Digital Accessibility Bootcamp.
For more information about GAAD, visit the website for Global Accessibility Awareness Day. And to learn about the nonprofit foundation and its work, visit the page Introducing the GAAD Foundation.
