Global Accessibility Awareness Day

Last updated
Global Accessibility Awareness Day
Gaad-keyboardlogo.jpg
Also calledGAAD
Observed byworldwide
TypeInternational
SignificanceEducate people about accessibility
DateThird Thursday in May
2022 dateMay 19  (2022-05-19)
2023 dateMay 18  (2023-05-18)
2024 dateMay 16  (2024-05-16)
2025 dateMay 15  (2025-05-15)
Started byJoe Devon, Jennison Asuncion

Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) is an awareness day focusing on digital access and inclusion for the more than one billion people alive today who live with disabilities or impairments. [1] It is marked annually on the third Thursday of May. [2]

Contents

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. [3]

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 or inclusion and people with different disabilities." [4] 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. [3]

Global Accessibility Awareness Day launched in May 2012. It was inspired by a blog post from November 2011 [5] [6] 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:

See also

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References

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  2. "About". Global Accessibility Awareness Day. Archived from the original on 17 May 2022. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
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  4. Asuncion, Jennison. "Global Accessibility Awareness Day". Global Accessibility Awareness Day. Archived from the original on 2018-05-09. Retrieved 2018-05-08.
  5. "About". GAAD. Archived from the original on 2022-05-17. Retrieved 2022-05-18.
  6. "CHALLENGE: Accessibility know-how needs to go mainstream with developers. NOW". MySQLTalk.com. 2011-11-27. Archived from the original on 2022-05-18. Retrieved 2022-05-18.
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