In the Federation, we know that technology accessibility is critical to the success of blind people, and people with other disabilities, in the twenty-first century. After all, today technology is ubiquitous at home, at school, at work, and in the community. Unfortunately we have all experienced technology that was not built upon the principles of accessibility and as a result poses tremendous barriers for us. On the web, unlabeled buttons, images without alternative text, poorly labeled links, and poor heading structures are the everyday reality for blind users.

Lack of awareness is one reason that inaccessible websites abound in 2016, years after accessibility standards and guidelines were created. Spreading the good news about accessibility is one way that we, blind patrons of the web, can be part of the solution to inaccessible websites. We already spread the good news through sessions at our state and national conventions, through our everyday conversations with the people we meet in the world, and through the work of the technically minded among us whose jobs center around accessibility.

One additional way that we can increase awareness about the importance of technology accessibility among the general public is to host accessibility events for the sighted public and those in the various technical fields (e.g., designers, developers, usability specialists, etc.).  The Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) initiative is one vehicle for hosting such events.  The GAAD initiative was co-founded by a software developer and an accessibility expert, who happens to be blind. Worldwide, GAAD will be marked on Thursday, May 19 this year with in-person and virtual events; last year there were seminars, hackathons, webinars, free website usability assessments, and even a film launch tweeted by Stephen Fry!

Last year, several members of the NFB of Maryland, who were energized by a last-minute idea, managed to conceptualize, plan, and organize a GAAD event in a hectic six-week sprint. This year the organizing committee has grown, as has the planning window, phew! Here in Baltimore, we’ll be marking GAAD on May 24 with a free event co-sponsored by the Towson-Lutherville-Cockeysville Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland and the Towson University Department of Computer and Information Sciences. The second annual Baltimore GAAD event will be a three hour evening event. Included in the agenda are Accessibility 101, a session introducing attendees to accessibility testing and coding best practices, and a panel of persons with disabilities sharing their lived experiences with accessible and inaccessible technology. To learn more about the Baltimore event, please visit www.BaltimoreGAAD.org or email [email protected] with comments or questions.

We encourage other Federationists to consider spreading the good news about accessibility by hosting an accessibility event for the public. With the National Federation of the Blind network at your fingertips, it is a relatively easy endeavor. We facilitate the Baltimore GAAD event using the powerful strategies that the Federation has taught us; we leverage volunteers, in-kind donations, and professional networks.