Is accessibility an afterthought?

Tori_Scope

The Big Hack

Scope's The Big Hack put together a piece for Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), which aims to highlight the failures in digital accessibility. They asked some Scope colleagues to explain what GAAD means to them.

I've put a few the quotes below, but you can read the full article here to find out more about what GAAD is, and why it's important  

Paul Fuller, Executive Director of Partnerships

Global accessibility awareness day means that the world is acknowledging that access and inclusion for everyone is important.

It tells the 1 billion disabled people that society cares enough to make digital content, navigation, and information accessible to everyone.

The more people who are educated on digital accessibility, the more inclusive the world becomes.

Chloe Tear, Content Designer

Since losing my eyesight, technology has enabled me to carry on doing the things I enjoy. The only barrier is inaccessibility. We should make things accessible every day, not just on Global Accessibility Awareness Day. It benefits everyone and access shouldn’t be an afterthought.

Graham Findlay, Co-Production Lead

For me, Global Accessibility is all about aiming for the end of the accessibility rainbow, namely Inclusive Design.

Inclusive Design means that any service or product can be used easily by anybody, whether they are disabled or not.

If we want true global diversity, we need to make sure that our products are accessible and easy to use for all our customers and audiences.

Fola Tayo, Interim Inclusion Business Partner

GAAD gives me hope. It puts a spotlight on accessibility, even if it’s just for the day.

It makes me optimistic that people will take the opportunity to listen and learn about accessibility.

And I do hope they will take the next step and make their websites accessible.

This means that at some point, I’ll be able to click on any website without worrying about whether it is going to be accessible to me.

Other posts

We've put up quite a few posts about digital accessibility here on the community. Here are a few that may be of interest:

• Is online shopping accessible?
• Have you tried these 5 accessibility apps?
• Have you ever made an accessibility complaint?
• Is the video game industry doing enough to make gaming accessible?
• Assistive phone apps and the vital help they provide

Think something's missing? Write your own post about digital accessibility!

Over to you...

Do you find digital resources accessible?

What would make digital resources more accessible to you? 

Do you feel as though accessibility is an afterthought when it comes to designing digital services?