GAAD – The Global Accessibility Awareness Day

On May 16th, we will be celebrating the 13th Global Accessibility Awareness Day.

GAAD is a day where we collectively attempt to engage everyone in thinking about inclusion and access in digital spaces by everyone, including the 1 billion people on the planet with known disabilities and/or impairments.  At the university of Brighton, we’ve been participating in GAAD with the wider community beyond our campuses for the last seven years.

In the past

The Digital Learning team has created helpful tutorial videos about using accessibility enhancing tools using one’s iPhone. Here’s an example:

We’ve also spent time running workshops on campus, and also sharing tips in social media to help increase the accessibility of our teaching resources, in both the creation and consumption of a wide range of materials that place inclusion at the forefront.

What’s On (UoB members only)

This year, we’ll be participating in GAAD in a few ways.

Firstly, we ask that you use this opportunity to take a look at your own learning materials, and website-areas.  Accessibility isn’t just about digital tools. There’s an ethos for accessibility and inclusion at the university of Brighton, focused on EDI and the student experience. If your materials are needing a bit of work (after looking at your Accessibility Summary on your module) you can get help!

On Monday 13th, from 11:00-12:30, we are running an online workshop on Creating Accessible Documents. Learn how to make your Word & PowerPoint documents and web pages accessible. Click here to register for this event.

On Tuesday 14th, from 12:00-13:00, we are running one of our regular Ally Workshops. Learn how to use Ally in your modules, to help improve accessibility in your learning materials. Click here to join at noon on the 14th

On Wednesday 15th, from 14:00-15:30, we are running an in-person workshop on Creating Accessible Documents. Learn how to make your Word & PowerPoint documents and web pages accessible. The workshop will be held in Watts G6, on the Moulsecoomb campus. Email isworkshops to book your place.

Thursday 16th (the actual GAAD day) we will be holding ‘Drop-in Office Hours’ from 10:30am – 12:30pm and again from 13:30-15:30.  These office hours will be online in our Ally Team – Join Code: kchj4zy

Anytime: Keep an eye on our Information Services Workshops page for our  Creating Accessible Documents  and Ally sessions. Also, you could also request a session for your whole course team.

What’s On (Globally)

GAAD is meant to be a global day. Events will be occurring on-line and in person. Here’s a link to the listed events on GAAD’s website. The list will be continuously updated up to the day itself, so visit this page often to see if events are added near you.

Resources for Accessibility

GAAD has a page of wonderful resources for accessibility. Here’s a link to the GAAD Resources.

We have (UoB members only) guidance pages about Accessibility at the university, Ally in My Studies and more, including Accessibility S.C.U.L.P.T. and Accessibility in our Libraries.