Global Accessibility Awareness Day
Thursday, May 15 is Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) (opens in a new window). The purpose of GAAD is to get everyone talking, thinking, and learning about digital access and inclusion, particularly from the perspective of people with different disabilities.
What can I do?
The digital world we now live in was meant to benefit everyone, but in the US alone, roughly 44.1 million people who live with disabilities (opens in a new window) face serious barriers on the web that we can all help remove. We can do this together! Let’s get started.
Discover accessibility settings that work for you
- Enlarge your font: Some webpages use fonts that can be difficult to read, but our browsers have settings to help:
- In Chrome, go to Settings > Appearance
- In Firefox, go to Options > Language and Appearance
- In Microsoft Edge, go to Settings > Reading;
- In Internet Explorer, go to Settings > Accessibility and select Ignore font sizes specified on web page
- Alternatively, on any browser, you can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl and + or Command and + to enlarge font size, and you can use Ctrl/Command and 0 (zero) to go back to the default.
Analyze digital content for accessibility
- Check for sufficient color contrast: When digital content has enough contrast, it ensures users with low vision can still access it. Try using a contrast analyzer, such as the WebAIM Color Contrast Checker (opens in a new window) or download this one from The Paciello Group (opens in a new window).
- Check the order of elements: All of us, but especially users with disabilities, rely on a logical, linear layout of headings and hyperlinks. Try navigating through a page using only the Tab key to see whether the order of page elements is logical.
Try navigating the web in alternate ways
- Surf the web with a screen reader for an hour: A screen reader is a device that allows users with low vision to access visual content by converting it to non-visual output, such as audio or braille.
- Try the free screen reader: NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA) (opens in a new window).
- Mac users can enable VoiceOver (opens in a new window).
- Window users can use Narrator (opens in a new window).
- Accept the No Mouse Challenge: Some users are unable to operate a mouse. Instead of using your mouse, try using only the keyboard instead (opens in a new window). Can you access all the features and operate all the buttons, sliders, and other controls without a mouse?