Global Accessibility Awareness Day

Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) is an awareness day focusing 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.[1] The next GAAD is Thursday, May 16, 2019.

In 2018, in addition to a number of virtual events marking GAAD, there were events open to the public in at least nineteen countries on six continents.[2]

According to the Global Accessibility Awareness Day website, "The purpose of GAAD is to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about digital (web, software, mobile, etc.) access/inclusion and people with different disabilities."[3] Local Global Accessibility Awareness Day events sometimes showcase how people with disabilities use the web and digital products using assistive technologies, or assist people creating technology products in taking into consideration the needs of certain disabilities.[2]

Global Accessibility Awareness Day launched in May 2012.[1] It was inspired by a blog post by Los Angeles-based web developer Joe Devon. Devon worked with Jennison Asuncion, an accessibility professional from Toronto, to co-found GAAD.

Events

Examples of local Global Accessibility Awareness Day events include:

  • Minnesota IT Services has encouraged employees to perform their jobs for 15 minutes without using a mouse.[4][5]
  • In 2017, Apple released a series of videos and organized a concert as part of a week-long series of events marking Global Accessibility Awareness Day.[6][7]
  • In 2017, the University of California, San Francisco offered a website accessibility testing clinic.[8]
  • In 2017, a Global Accessibility Awareness Day event in Ottawa featured speakers from Carleton University and the Canadian government.[9]
  • In 2018, there were a series of events planned in Hyderabad[10] and Bangalore, India.[11]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Asuncion, Jennison. "Background". Global Accessibility Awareness Day. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
  2. 1 2 Asuncion, Jennison. "2018 Events". globalaccessibilityawarenessday.org. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
  3. ↑ Asuncion, Jennison. "Global Accessibility Awareness Day". Global Accessibility Awareness Day. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
  4. ↑ "nomousechallenge". MN IT Services. ,. Retrieved 2017-11-20.
  5. ↑ "The #NoMouse Challenge". nomouse.org. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
  6. ↑ "Apple highlights Global Accessibility Awareness Day on May 18 with "Designed for everyone" video series". AppleInsider. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
  7. ↑ "Apple holds Stevie Wonder concert on campus in honor of Global Accessibility Awareness Day". 9to5Mac. 2017-05-19. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
  8. ↑ "Drop-In: UCSF Website Accessibility Testing Clinic". calendars.library.ucsf.edu. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
  9. ↑ "Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) 2017". Meetup. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
  10. ↑ Systems, Deque. "aXe Hackathon - Deque India celebrates GAAD 2018 on May 17th at Hyderabad". accessibility.deque.com. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
  11. ↑ "Global Accessibility Awareness Day India". Global Accessibility Awareness Day India. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
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