Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2021: Overview and Event Report
Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2021 (#GAAD) took place on May 20 this year and received huge attention across industries and, we are thrilled to note, the publishing industry and affiliated organisations celebrated this event more than ever. We are still hearing about wonderful events that took place towards the end of May and we’ve highlighted a few of them in this report.
GAAD Awareness Building
- GAAD Co-Founders Discuss Hybrid Events and the GAAD Pledge – a celebratory event hosted by Abilitynet.
- In Italy the event Accessibility Days discussed many aspects of accessibility over the course of 3 days with DAISY partner, The LIA Foundation, taking an active role.
GAAD Articles & Events with an Education Focus
Many organizations took the opportunity to focus on elearning as part of their GAAD celebrations; something which has become increasingly important for many of us over the last year. Here are a few that we have selected:
- Learn from Disabled Students so Everyone Benefits from the Digital Revolution – On Global Accessibility Awareness Day, the Office for Students in the UK emphasised the importance of listening to disabled students at a critical juncture for digital learning and accessibility.
- Is Accessible Learning Better for Everyone? – Susi Miller for Training Industry
- Joining the Dots: Accessible Teaching and Learning – Alistair McNaught
GAAD Articles for Technical Audiences
- Digita11y Accessible hosted a GAAD event day which included presentations and session on some technical topics.
- The Microsoft Ability Summit was held a few days before GAAD and helped focus attention on the upcoming celebrations, the full recordings are available on the Microsoft Enable YouTube Channel.
Case Studies and Experience Posts
- Kogan-Page took the opportunity to post a case-study on the occasion of GAAD entitled, Accessible Learning: Why eLearning is Not Always Enough a first-hand learning experience from Esi Hardy, a disability inclusion expert.
- Technology for Good – podcast focusing on ICT accessibility, specifically for persons with disabilities. Featuring Dipendra Manocha from The DAISY Forum of India.
- Improving Online Storytelling For Blind and Low Vision Readers – Robin Spinks, RNIB
Inclusive Design Awareness
There were a number of events and articles aimed at increasing awareness about inclusive design and the impact that this can have on the reader:
- Designing for Cognitive Disabilities-Tolu Adegbite blog piece
- Accessibility is about than just Contrast – Nick Groeneveld for The Designer’s Toolbox
- Giving a Damn About Accessibility: A Candid and Practical Handbook for Designers – Fabricio Teixeira
These are just a few of the fantastic events that took place throughout the day and we hope to be able to build on our resources and advice for next year. There was a huge effort worldwide from many digital organizations and we’d welcome feedback on news and information from other sources that may be of interest to our readers.