Events & Activities

In honour of Global Accessibility Awareness Day and in collaboration with Accessibility Services (Blundon Centre), CITL’s Learning Technology Coaches would like to invite Memorial University’s instructional staff to participate in an accessibility document review process. Using best practices as outlined by WebAIM, coaches will use accessibility checklists for Word, PowerPoint and PDF documents to review documents and highlight items that can be adjusted to make it more accessible. These checklists focus on the accessible use of headings, appropriate inclusion of tables, images and other formatting features. This event is open only to instructional staff at Memorial University of Newfoundland Labrador.

CarMax & Edmunds, leaders in the automotive research and retail space, are hosting a series of discussions around the benefits of considering accessibility well before the first line of code is written. Conversations will include the development of design systems, the challenges of reducing readability to algorithms, and a design workshop.

HP Inc. celebrates GAAD by hosting two internal webinars – Europe and Americas time zone friendly and an Asia Pacific time zone friendly. We have approximately 3000 employees registered to join this webinar. The line-up includes, • Enrique Lores, HP President & CEO welcoming employees to the day. • Joe Devon, Co-founder of Global Accessibility Awareness Day, sharing his motivation for creating this day. • HP Customer Support and Product Design Specialists sharing ways HP provides an inclusive customer experience. • A conversation with special guest Anthony Purcell, Equipment Specialist/Founding Partner, sharing how he has used his personal experience to help others with accessibility needs and how we all play an important role as well. • Employee panel: Senior leaders lead a panel featuring HP employees with disabilities discussing how accessibility impacts work and life. • Advocate and caregiver panel: Senior leaders lead a panel featuring HP employees who are advocates or caregivers sharing their stories.

The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) under Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India is the nodal body to look after all the development agenda of Persons with Disabilities of the country. With the vision to build an inclusive society in which equal opportunities are provided for the growth and development of Persons with Disabilities so that they can lead productive, safe and dignified lives, the Department will be celebrating the Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) on 18th May 2023.

Keeping ‘inclusion’ as a central mandate, the Department with 65 institutes/organisations that are associated with DEPwD will be conducting events at more than 80 places across India. Celebrated on the 3rd Thursday of May every year the purpose of GAAD is to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about digital- web, software, mobile, etc. access/inclusion for people with different disabilities. Aligning with GAAD’s purpose and with the aim the to make technology accessible and usable by persons with disabilities the Department shall organise seminars/webinars on topics like accessibility of websites, social media platforms, mobile/PC as well as in banking systems, universal design, assistive technologies, and disability representations. Even distribution camps shall be organised to distribute aids and Teaching Learning Material (TLM) kits, launch new aids & assistive devices and further demonstrate accessible short films among other awareness generation programs. All the events shall involve experts from the field of technology accessibility, academicians, industry leaders, policy-makers among others. Moreover, thousands of Persons with Disabilities, many experts themselves in the domain of digital accessibility, shall also be participating to share their challenges and experiences.

The celebration and awareness generation of GAAD by the Department is national level celebration that is poised to bring together all relevant stakeholders on a single day across multiple locations of India to share knowledge, experiences, views and ideas, and discuss the latest developments and trends in the field of Digital and technological accessibility. The celebration shall thus further strengthen mutual confidence and interoperability of institutions as per the needs of PwDs and also enable sharing of best practices. The exercise will be yet another milestone in strengthening digital accessibility in continuation to the 3-day Web-Accessibility Workshop organised by DEPwD in March 2023. With the firm belief that every Person with Disability deserves a first-rate digital experience on the web, the celebration of GAAD is a progressive step of DEPwD to enable Persons with Disabilities to participate as independent and productive members of society.

This year iCIMS will be highlighting the theme of Progress Not Perfection. This topic drives home how web accessibility is a journey, and there is always room to grow. We will talk about how far iCIMS has come in the past 7 years since we started celebrating GAAD and highlight our goals for the future! This will be a hybrid company-wide event with on-site activities in both the Holmdel, New Jersey and Hyderbad, India offices while also streaming for remote employees.

Thanks to National Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities (NIEPID), Secunderabad, India of the Department for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India. Was happy to deliver the session in the National Webinar on the topic, Accessibility with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as an Enabler virtually. I believe the session was useful and created awareness among many special educators, institutional heads and on Breaking the barriers through Accessibility and Assistive Technology, by following up Global and National Guidelines for websites, documents and applications and being a change by starting our own born accessible documents.

In recognition of GAAD, eBay is hosting actor, model and deaf activist Nyle DiMarco as a guest speaker. Nyle will be speaking to our product, design and engineering orgs discussing and demonstrating the value of non-verbal communication and embracing one’s true identity. As he shares firsthand experiences from his life and career, he will help us gain a deeper understanding of the deaf community. In his powerfully emotive presentations, Nyle reveals his triumphs, challenges, fears and dreams, and encourages others to live their own lives authentically and define their own versions of success.

In celebration of Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), on May 18th Edward Jones is hosting an internal virtual event to highlight the work done to create a place of belonging for the firm’s associates and clients with disabilities. Speakers will highlight the need for accessible technology, disability strategy, digital accessibility education and promote internal resource group. Webinar will also include a panel discussion featuring branch and home office associates who will share their disability and accessibility experiences and perspectives. Although this event is limited to Edward Jones associates, we are proud to participate in the global movement to make digital accessibility and inclusion a priority for our clients and the firm.

Staff members will be provided training on how to conduct accessible online meetings and workshops in Microsoft Teams. VisAbility will also be releasing a short video on the GAAD website.

Live Webinar: Thursday, May 18th 11:00 AM (GMT+8 ) | 1:00 PM (AEDT) Join Monsido by CivicPlus for this special Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) with special guest panellist, Josh Tseng, where we will discuss how to get started with digital accessibility and how to convince your organisation of its importance. What you’ll learn in this special #GAAD2023 webinar:

• The state of website accessibility in Asia-Pacific
• Why web- and digital accessibility is vital to tackle in 2023
• Educating and convincing stakeholders in your organisation
• Ask us about how to get started with digital- and web accessibility!