Black text on white background: Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD)

Global Accessibility Awareness Day

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Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) is the third Thursday of May each year. The goal is get everyone talking, thinking, and learning about digital access and inclusion for people with disabilities.

Infographic titled “Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD)” from The National Center for Disability, Equity, and Intersectionality (www.thinkequitable.com). The infographic features a purple, blue, and white color scheme with icons and charts to explain digital accessibility and the significance of GAAD. Header: Title: “Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD)” Subtitle: “GAAD is the third Thursday of May. The purpose of GAAD is to get everyone talking, thinking, and learning about digital access and inclusion for people with disabilities.” Logo: Circular icon in blue, green, and purple with the organization's name: "The National Center for Disability, Equity, and Intersectionality." Section 1: What is Digital Accessibility? Definition: Digital accessibility refers to the ability of people with disabilities to independently consume and interact with digital applications and content. It ensures that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with digital content. Icons: Eye with check mark, "CC" for captions, and a speaker with soundwaves, representing accessibility features. Section 2: Observing GAAD Stat 1: 71% of users with disabilities will abandon a website that is not web accessible. Stat 2: Individuals with a disability require at least one assistive technology product or software. Stat 3: 72% of adults with a disability own a smartphone device and require accessible support. Icons: Person with headset, person with screen reader, smartphone. Section 3: State of Accessibility Content: Web Accessibility in Mind (AIM) evaluated home pages of the top one million websites and detected 50.9 million accessibility errors, averaging 51 errors per web page. Icon: Web page layout icon. Section 4: Languages Content: 85.1% of web pages specified a language. Western languages generally had fewer errors. Bar chart showing average number of errors per page: English: 39.8 (white bar) Dutch: 46.9 (green bar) German: 50.4 (yellow-orange bar) Indonesian: 54.9 (red bar) Section 5: Most Common Failures Content: Pages with many errors had more common failures. Bar chart displays data for most common accessibility failures: Low contrast text: 79 errors Missing alt text: 56 errors Missing labels: 48 errors Empty links: 45 errors Empty buttons: 30 errors Missing language: 16 errors Section 6: GAAD Timeline 1973: Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act mandates federal agencies to make electronic and information technologies accessible for everyone. 1990: The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law. 2010: The Communications and Video Accessibility Act updated older legislation for 21st-century technology. 2021: Global Accessibility Awareness Day was established. A horizontal arrow runs through this timeline, with dates and events marked on it.

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