Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD)

Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) is an annual event that takes place on the third Thursday of May. Its purpose is to raise awareness about digital accessibility.

The GAAD has an inspiring origin, beginning not with a simple but impactful blog post.

In 2011, a web developer named Joe Devon published an article that would ignite a global movement. Within the article, he expressed a compelling vision: "The digital world should be open to everyone, including those with disabilities".

This blog post planted a seed that would then grow into something far-reaching and by 2012 this seed blossomed into the first Global Accessibility Awareness Day.

GAAD

Thursday, May 16, 2024, help us celebrate the 13th Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD)! The purpose of GAAD is to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about digital access and inclusion, and the more than One Billion people with disabilities/impairments.

GAAD

Co-founded by Jennison Asuncion, an advocate for digital accessibility, and Joe Devon himself, the day was dedicated to highlighting the importance of making digital spaces accessible to all.

Their mission was straight to the point, simple and strong:

"Encouraging everyone to talk, think, and learn about digital access and inclusion."

To fully understand the mission and all the initiatives promoted by GAAD and the GAAD foundation explore their official website.

GAAD Foundation

The GAAD Foundation is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to disrupt the culture of technology and digital product development to include accessibility as a core requirement. Our vision is for accessibility to be built into the product development lifecycle for technology and digital products.

GAAD Foundation

In addition to being a very important initiative, the core message of GAAD resonates deeply with our commitment at Create with Swift to build a digital world that is accessible to everyone.

As technology evolves the responsibility to create apps that support different communities, ensuring that no one is left behind, increases.

Our Commitment to Digital Accessibility

Supporting developers in creating accessible applications is part of our mission at Create with Swift. We created a page to spread awareness and knowledge about the topic and share the tools that the Apple environment provides us to make it possible, Make it Accessible.

We are constantly updating and adding new content to it. Because of that, we would be happy to hear your feedback, suggestions, and requests to help it grow.

Make it Accessible

Make it Accessible Create applications that are truly for everyone App development is a continuously evolving field, and ensuring accessibility for all users is a crucial aspect of it. It’s a testament to a developer’s unwavering dedication to providing a digital experience in which every user, regardless of their cognitive

Create with SwiftPasquale Vittoriosi

Developers now have all the tools they need to create accessible products and experiences. It’s just a matter of ensuring that accessibility is part of your application design and not considering it a secondary objective.

Let's Celebrate

For this reason, we invite developers and the wider community to join us in celebrating GAAD by spreading the word about this amazing event and committing to the principles of accessible development. Together we can make a significant impact.

Global Accessibility Awareness Day is more than just a day of observance; it is a movement towards a more inclusive future. We are committed to being part of this change and are excited to see what we can achieve together.