Global Accessibility Awareness Day is May 16

Mon, 06 May 2024 14:07:43 -0400
accessibility, blind, braille, disability, text

May 16th is Global Accessibility Awareness Day! This day is dedicated to discussion and brainstorming about digital accessibility, bringing the experience of one billion people with disabilities to the forefront of online and computer-based experiences.

Many of the common accessibility errors within websites are simple to fix-it takes building a habit of clicking that "add alt text" button after uploading an image or double-checking that a link has more than one descriptive word as link text. These are two of the most common errors found one websites according to WebAIM. Today, at UMBC, take a moment to familiarize yourself with web accessibility at UMBC and review your, and your department's digital presence.

Some ways to honor/make progress on Digital Accessibility:

UMBC Staff that manage websites can work with Monsido tools to support their department's website accessibility.

UMBC Faculty can check their online course materials and learn more via Instructional Technology's link on Course Accessibility to Support All Learners (pawing IT's helpful posts raises awareness too).

Additionally Instructional Technology and CourseArc have an online webinar on Accessible and Inclusive Course Content happening online Wednesday May 8th at 10a, more information is linked here.

There are many other events, celebrating Global Accessibility Awareness Day, and Deque (an organization that specializes in accessibility and digital equality) is hosting an upcoming training about digital accessibility fundamentals. This training will cover the following:

What is digital accessibility and why is it important?

How do people with disabilities navigate the web?

How can you champion accessibility to make a difference in your organization

North American compliance guidelines and laws

This training is intended for all audiences, including policymakers, management, content creators, developers, designers, testers, and everything in between.

Credit: Elisabeth Woolner via unsplash.com.