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On May 19, 2016, we celebrated Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). Its purpose is to make the public aware that digital technology (e.g. Internet, mobile devices, software) must be accessible. To celebrate and promote GAAD, organization all around the world held activities. They occurred in the real and virtual worlds.
For instance, the Chicago Accessibility and Inclusive Design Meetup performed an accessibility audit in a workshop setting. Results and recommendations were provided to the participants. The Los Angeles Accessibility and Inclusive Design Meetup hosted a Hackthon to find solutions to accessibility barriers that persons with disabilities face. Apple Stores across the country hosted workshops on accessibility features in Apple products like the Mac, iphone, and ipad.
Internationally, GAAD was celebrated in London where business leaders discussed how they solved accessibility problems for specific groups and across the UK. The Open University, also in the UK, held a series of events to let persons without disabilities feel what operating a computer is like if they couldn’t use their hands or couldn’t see. Such activities included not using a mouse for ten minutes, using a screen reader to find contact information on a webpage, and turning the monitor off to depend completely on a screen reader. Even a whole city council will learn about web accessibility in Martano, Italy courtesy of POIESIS, a non-profit organization that specializes in cultural and web accessibility.
“Hundreds of the accessibility community from Europe and North America took part in this series of events for GAAD and in the BTIC at Atos we had representatives from the government, industry, banking, academic and user communities. In addition, there were demonstrations of the latest technology and plenty of opportunities to network, renew old friendships and make new ones,” said Neil Milliken, ATOS, Head of Accessibility & Digital Inclusion
GAAD events also happened online. I attended two of them. Tobii Dynvox, the leader in speech synthesizers and adaptive computing, hosted Advanced Windows Control (Eyegaze) Webinar. Since I tried Eyegaze, software that allows a person to operate a computer with the eyes, I wanted more information. The webinar did not fail at doing this. Eyegaze isn’t used only by persons who have limited hand mobility; it also is used in certain games. Windows 10 and voice synthesizers can be used with Eyegaze. The eye-control program can be operated in Mouse Emulator and Gaze Selector. In the former mode, the user simulates mouse movements (e.g. left click, right click, hold down), so the eye tracking would be more precise. With Gaze Select, the user transfixes his gaze on one of the options that appear on the size of the screen, such as left click, and then eye select the item to be activated. When an option is chosen, no other option can be applied accidentally. For instance, if you select the left click, you can’t right click anything or pull up the keyboard because of an unwanted head or eye movement. Interesting to note that Eye Gaze users have difficulty activating carousel links and links that are very small.
The Paciello Group, a leading expert in web accessibility, held Inclusive Design 24, a webinar each hour about some aspect of technology accessibility. Since mobile accessibility is becoming more prevalent, I chose How to Use WCAG for Mobile Accessibility, which was yet another informative webinar. Mobile accessibility isn’t only for persons for disabilities; it’s for everybody. For example, Alternatives for gestures, such as voice commands, can help people whose hands are doing other things like driving or cooking. W3C has formed a task force to see what standards and techniques need to be applied to meet mobile accessibility. While the task force found that much of WCAG 2.0 can apply to mobile accessibility, it still needs specifications for mobile devices. So the task force has been working on a draft of WCAG Mobile Accessibility Best Practices that contains guidelines and techniques. Examples were presented through most of the webinar.
Has the media covered GAAD activities enough to reach business leaders, web developers, and government officials about the importance of that day? A quick search was done to see how many news entities and blogs featured GAAD. Among the most notable ones were Microsoft, Apple, The Chronicle of Higher Education, UK, and Jewish Week. None of the major news, business, or computer publications have featured GAAD.
In her podcast, Why Does Global Accessibility Awareness Day Matters, Debra Ruh, CEO of Ruh Communications, discusses the importance of GAAD regarding education, employment, and technology innovations. This theme needs to reach as many news outlets as possible to educate the public that electronic and information technology (E&IT) must become accessible so persons with disabilities can integrate fully in society.
Learn more about our work at www.RuhGlobal.com or follow us on Social Media @rosemusachio, @debraruh and @ruhglobal on most channels.
#AXSChat: Join Debra Ruh, Neil Milliken, and Antonio Santos for a weekly Twitter Chat on Disability Inclusion, ICT Accessibility, Built Environment, CRPD, Empowerment and Employment. Just search the hashtag #AXSChat at 3pmEST and join the conversation. You can learn more about AXSChat at www.AXSChat.com.