Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2024 (GAAD)

Did you know that an estimated 1.3 billion people around the globe have a disability? And while that figure represents over 16% of the global population, digital accessibility is still a major problem for people with disabilities. Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2024 is an annual event that aims to promote thinking and learning about digital access and inclusion.

In today’s blog, Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2024 (GAAD) takes centre stage. We’ll discuss the GAAD Foundation and take a closer look at current digital accessibility statistics.

At Careers with Disabilities, we believe that everyone has the right to fair and inclusive employment opportunities. As such, we’ll take the opportunity to share some valuable tips on how employers can avoid accessibility issues in the workplace. This way, job seekers with disabilities can benefit from the same opportunities as those who don’t have a disability.

Let’s get into it.

What Is The GAAD Foundation?

The GAAD Foundation is a nonprofit organisation set up in 2021, 10 years after Joe Devon and Jennison Asuncion launched the first Global Accessibility Awareness Day. This foundation works to make digital products more accessible for people with disabilities. 

The aim is to make accessibility a core part of how technology is developed. In this way, accessibility would be built into the product development lifecycle for technology and digital products. 

What Is Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2024?

On the third Thursday of May every year, we celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day. It will fall on the 16th of May 2024. This day will be all about focusing attention on digital access and inclusion. It will promote making digital products accessible to all, regardless of ability or disability.

According to the government’s Family Resources survey, there are 16 million disabled people in the UK. That’s 24% of the population. However, with the average adult spending over 6.5 hours per day online, there’s no denying we live in a world where technology and digital products are at the forefront. 

You’d think, therefore, that digital accessibility in 2024 wouldn’t be an issue. 

You’d be wrong.

The State of Digital Accessibility in 2024

Digital Accessibility refers to the design and development of digital products (websites, mobile apps, etc.) to be usable by everyone, regardless of their ability. Access to receive information, including the web, is defined as a basic human right by the United Nations.

As a way of analysing this, the website WebAIM does a yearly report on the accessibility of the top 1 million home pages.

The 2024 report comes with some disappointing results. 

Detected errors

Compared to last year’s report, there has been a 13.6% increase in the number of accessibility errors per page. In 2023, there were 50 errors/page while in 2024, there were 56.8 errors/page. These “errors” are elements of the page that make it harder for people to use the website.

Home page complexity

There was an 11.8% increase in home page complexity, the number of elements on the home page. This would mean that users with disabilities would come across an error in 1 of every 21 home page elements.

WCAG Conformance

WCAG conformance refers to how well a website or digital product meets the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). In the 2024 report, 95.9% of home pages had detected WCAG failures. 

The causes of the most common accessibility errors include:

• Low contrast text – 81.0%
• Missing alternative text for images – 54.5%
• Missing form input labels – 48.6%
• Empty links – 44.6%
• Empty buttons – 28.2%
• Missing document language – 17.1%

Nevertheless, the results also show that the quality of web pages is becoming more polarised. There are both fewer websites with a lot of errors and more websites with very few errors compared to the past. In simpler terms, good websites are getting better and bad websites are getting worse.

What we can understand from these figures is that much still needs to be done to improve digital accessibility. This goes for product developers, policymakers and regulators, advocacy groups like GAAD, and employers.  

How Employers Can Support Disabled Employees

Promoting EDI and digital accessibility is essential for any forward-thinking employer. There are many ways you can support employees with disabilities to create a more inclusive and accessible work environment. 

Here are some key areas to consider:

Accessibility (physical and digital)

• Ensure physical accessibility of the workplace, including ramps, accessible restrooms, and ergonomic furniture.
• Provide assistive technology like screen readers, speech recognition software, and captioning for meetings.
• Offer flexible work arrangements like remote work options or adjusted schedules to accommodate disabilities.

Communication

• Maintain open and inclusive communication with employees about their needs and preferences.
• Provide training on disability awareness and sensitivity for all employees, including managers.
• Use clear and concise communication methods, and offer alternative ways to receive information if needed (e.g., transcripts of meetings).

Accommodations

• Work with employees to identify and provide reasonable accommodations that address their specific needs. This could include modified equipment, adjusted workloads, or additional breaks.
• Be flexible and proactive in finding solutions that work for both the employee and the business.

Become a Disability-Friendly Employer Today

Want to be a part of the solution? Deciding you want your business to be more disability-friendly is the first step to creating a more diverse and fair workplace environment. 

We’re here to help you do just that.

Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2024 could be just the beginning for your organisation. By working with external disability inclusion specialists, such as Careers With Disabilities, you can demonstrate your commitment to disability inclusion. 

Our resource hub offers free guides for both job seekers and employers interested in digital accessibility and inclusion. We also offer a range of employer services to support your business in reaching its inclusivity goals. These include advertising roles on our disability-friendly job board and inclusivity screening.

Get in touch today and show your commitment to digital accessibility for all.