May 19 is Global Accessibility Awareness Day
At Western, everyone should be able to learn, work, and make waves. We can make this part of our daily work and learning by continuing to work toward inclusive digital spaces for Western’s students, staff, faculty, and community members. Join Western and the global community in this effort by celebrating Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) on May 19.
What is GAAD?
Global Accessibility Awareness Day is a day to learn more about and support digital inclusion by taking part in events around digital accessibility and taking steps to build more accessible digital content. You can learn about how it started and its purpose through GAAD’s about page.
How do I celebrate GAAD?
There are a lot of ways you can celebrate GAAD:
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Find webinars, workshops, or other remote presentations around digital accessibility. The GAAD Event page has plenty of virtual options, as well as in-person and private events. (The assistive technology learning lab is a good intro-level online seminar to sign up for before May 19. For a web development focus, the accessibility fundamentals bootcamp is a great choice.)
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Learn about Western’s digital accessibility resources. Check out the accessibility resources on Western’s brand and communication guide, which includes an accessibility guide, training, and other resources for building accessible digital content.
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Find one thing you can fix today. It can be as simple as running an accessibility check on a Word document or improving your webpage’s link text, or it can be more involved like improving the color contrast of a website—and everything in between. If you’re making improvements or learning more, you’re celebrating GAAD!
Where can I learn more?
To learn more about GAAD, visit accessibility.day. Visit the Accessibility at Western page to learn more about digital accessibility resources available to students, staff, faculty, and community members.