Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) Learning Opportunities

Thursday, May 19, 2022 

In accordance with the 11th annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), we encourage everyone at ACC, students, staff and faculty, to celebrate accessibility by increasing knowledge, skills, and awareness of accessibility topics and the importance of equal access and equal opportunity for people with disabilities.

Below are some suggested opportunities across the internet in celebration of GAAD 2022. Participate in any of the official GAAD-related opportunities listed below to support Global Accessibility Awareness Day. If you need more flexible options there are accessibility-related videos, training opportunities, and guides to increase your knowledge of best practices, and improve the accessibility of your documents, communications, meetings, and events. Keeping accessibility in mind ensures everyone can have an opportunity to participate.

 

GAAD 2022 Webinars and Training Opportunities

Virtual Learning Opportunities 

Fix Your Content Day
19 May 2022 | 12:00 AM-11:59 AM (Global)

Blackboard Fix Your Content Day, a 24-hour global competition committed to creating accessible and more inclusive digital learning content. The objective of the day is to mobilize instructors and staff to fix as many digital course files as possible through Blackboard Ally. Learn more about Ally: https://www.blackboard.com/teaching-learning/accessibility-universal-design/blackboard-ally-lms

Learn more about Fix Your Content Day by Blackboard Inc. (now part of Anthology)

20+ Years of Standards and Best Practice – Is the Web Accessible Yet?
19 May 2022 10 AM

In May 1999, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0 were published by the World Wide Web Consortium W3C – the standards maker for the world wide web. Countries, states, and municipalities have adopted and adapted standards as the internet evolved.

In honor of Global Accessibility Awareness Day, the Texas Governor’s Committee on People with Disabilities will host a webinar on May 19 at 10 AM. Ms. Sharron Rush, Executive Director for Knowbility, will explore where we started, what we’ve learned, and how we move forward to ensure equal access to the world wide web for all.

Register for Is the Web Accessible Yet? by the Texas’s Govenor’s Committee on People with Disabilities

Basic Accessibility Fundamentals Bootcamp (Virtual)

19 May 2022 | 11:30 AM-01:30 PM CDT(CST 10:30am-12:30pm)

In celebration of this year’s Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), Deque is offering its Accessibility Fundamentals Bootcamp training for free. Join this live training on Thursday, May 19th from 12:30 to 2:30 PM ET.

Learn more about Basic Accessibility Fundamentals Bootcamp by Deque

Virtual Accessibility Awareness Lab

18 May 2022 | 2:00 PM-3:00 PM America/Detroit (CST 1:00 pm-2:00pm)

In celebration of this year’s Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), Deque is offering a free virtual Accessibility Awareness Lab on Wednesday, May 18th from 2:00 to 3:00 PM ET. Attendees will develop insight, empathy, understanding, and inspiration to work in new, more accessible ways.

Learn more about Virtual Accessibility Awareness Lab by Deque

Diversability Unplugged: Disability & Digital Accessibility

18 May 2022 | 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM CDT (CST 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm) (Global)

Join us on Wednesday, May 18, from 7 pm – 8:30 pm ET for Diversability Unplugged: Disability & Digital Accessibility, in partnership with Fable. We will have another powerhouse panel discussion centered around lived experience, advocacy, and careers available in the accessibility space. Our panel includes: Dona Sarkar, Director of Tech, Microsoft Mark Mcguire, Digital Accessibility Consultant Sheri Byrne-Haber, Senior Staff, Accessibility Architect Samuel Proulx, Accessibility Evang., Fable

Learn more about Diversability Unplugged: Disability & Digital Accessibility by Diversability

 

Self-Guided Learning

The links below are available for developing your knowledge of accessibility topics at your own pace for those unable to attend the scheduled GAAD opportunities listed above.

Virtual Panel: How Persons with Disabilities Use the Web (Deque)
Archived Youtube Video from Deque
An honest and enlightening panel discussion about the variety of skills, tools, and approaches employed by individuals with diverse disabilities. The individuals on the panel display a real-world cross-section of the variety of cognitive, physical, and social disabilities and differences that challenge and enrich the human experience. Panelists courageously share the challenges, techniques, tools, and technologies they use for accessing online and other digital information sources. Listen to their stories about how they use the web as a person with a disability. This video is a great introduction for people who want to hear about the challenges, what works, what doesn’t. Real accounts from people with disabilities.

Accessible Content Guides

Accessibility Cheatsheets from NCDAE
Printable, one-page guides for making your materials more accessible and other guides from The National Center on Disability and Access to Education (NCDAE)

Accessible Document Guides from WebAIM
WebAIM (Web Accessibility In Mind) articles for creating accessible documents. Explore the WebAIM site for other valuable accessibility-related content.

Color Contrast Tools
Colorzilla is an excellent tool for extracting the color value from any page element. Additionally, WAVE can analyze contrast ratios for all page text elements at once.

Closed Captions

Other Accessibility Sites to Explore

ACC Resources