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Global Accessibility Awareness Day
The role of the Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) is to make people aware of the topic regarding accessibility. A lot of websites that are currently live, do not conform with the main guidelines for an accessible website (WCAG2.2 guidelines) which are the standard to create a more inclusive digital world for everybody.
More information regarding this day can be found here: https://accessibility.day/
What does Accessibility mean?
Accessibility means to create an inclusive world that is good to navigate for people with disability. That applies to the ramp for wheelchair users as well as enough contrast for website texts. It's about reducing daily obstacles, no matter if they are digital or not.
A lot of people only associate permanent disabilities with accessibility. However, these people only represent a part of the population for whom this topic and its implementation will have a positive impact on their daily life. Besides permanent disabilities, there are other, lesser known types that are often not associated with being a disability:
Situational Disability
A mother tries to send a text message with a screaming child in her arms.
You are sitting in the sun and want to read a news article.
Temporary Disability
A boy has a cycling accident and broke his arm, not being able to use his mobile properly anymore.
You have an ear infection, but still would like to watch a film.
These are all examples of disabilities that we usually don't see as one, but everyone will experience at least once in their lifetime. These are also types of disabilities. To make digital media also available for situational and temporary disabilities, a standard is needed that includes all types of disabilities, also the permanent ones.
It does not only support permanent disabilities, but encouraging a standard and looking at the consequences of accessibility throughout the web is helpful for everybody.
