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Global Accessibility Awareness Day Continues!

Thursday, May 18, 2023, marked the 12th Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), and it doesn’t need to end there. Please join us to continue to spread awareness. The purpose of GAAD is to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about digital access/inclusion and people with different disabilities.

The GAAD Foundation

The GAAD Foundation was launched in 2021 to mark GAAD’s 10th anniversary. Its mission is to disrupt the culture of technology and digital product development to include accessibility as a core requirement.

What is Digital Accessibility?

Every user deserves a first-rate digital experience on the web. Someone with a disability must be able to experience web-based services, content and other digital products with the same successful outcome as those without disabilities. This awareness and commitment to inclusion is the goal of Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), a global event that shines a light on digital access and inclusion for people with disabilities.

State of Accessibility

In 2020, WebAIM analyzed one million home pages for accessibility issues and found the following:

According to WebAIM Million Report

98.1% Home Pages With At Least One WCAG 2.0 Failure
60.9 Average Number of Errors Per Home Page

Causes of Most Common Accessibility Failures (% of Home Pages)

Population Affected By Inaccessibility

From both a civil rights and a business perspective, people with disabilities are underserved by today’s digital products.

1 Billion People Worldwide Have Disabilities

Common Disabilities/Impairments

Visual

People who are blind need alternative text descriptions for meaningful images and use the keyboard and not a mouse to interact with interactive elements.
Hearing

People who are deaf or hard of hearing will need captioning for video presentations and visual indicators in place of audio cues.
Motor

People with motor impairments may need alternative keyboards, eye control or some other adaptive hardware to help them type and navigate on their devices.
Cognitive

An uncluttered screen, consistent navigation and the use of plain language would be useful for people with different learning disabilities/impairments.