Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) focuses on digital access and inclusion for the more than one billion people with disabilities and impairments. It is marked annually on the third Thursday of May.
What is accessibility and why is it important?
Much of the world utilizes digital technology to share information. It is often required to find contact information, make appointments, purchase services, manage financial accounts, and more. For the millions of people around the world with disabilities, websites, and electronic communications are not usable. This could be due to visual, fine motor, cognitive or other disabilities. When these tools are inaccessible, people with disabilities are at a disadvantage and often unable to work and live independently, without needing someone else to assist them to do the same things another person can do by and for themselves.
Technology tools Can be designed to include accessibility features. There are also assistive technology software and devices that allow people to access content. Like building a house, it is easier to build it with accessibility rather than having to retro-fit it later.
GAAD is intended to bring awareness to how people with disabilities face challenges with inaccessible technology. It can illustrate how people can use the web and digital products with assistive technologies. It highlights barriers so the people creating technology products can address accessibility as part of their design process. With public awareness and developer considerations, the plethora of digital content and services can become available to the millions of people with disabilities.