Category: gaad

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fun gaad

Accessibility Daze — a GAAD rap song

Fun! Accessibility Daze — a GAAD (Global Accessibility Awareness Day) rap song via YouTube. A transcription is inline below.

Lyrics:

GAAD’s the celebration, this year a musical potion. Sight, sound, touch for all a sonic solution. AWOL, Coop, y’all ready to set it in motion? Yeah.

We come from many places with different biologies to celebrate GAAD and accessible technologies. Why we do what we do, it isn’t a mystery. You just have to go back in time and learn a bit of history.

It started way back in 2011 with nothing more than a blog post by Joe Devon. He was ashamed by devs’ lack of inclusivity, so he suggested we raise awareness of accessibility. Joe’s idea, it was really quite simple. On this day, the idea, it would ripple. Jennison saw the post and had a revelation to help Joe form a foundation, ain’t that amazing? Yeah.

Give them a standing ovation, they made it happen. Bring attention to tech exclusion, that’s why we’re rappin’. Digital access for all is our mission, so bring us your attention, show you how to make a difference. Get ’em.

One in six people on Earth have disabilities. It’s not a lie, the largest minority unequivocally. When sites and apps aren’t built to be accessible the experience is tough, and we need to be more flexible. Visual, auditory, motor, even cognitive, 1.3 billion, all the same, no one’s prerogative. GAAD is the first step to clear the haze. We’re here to pave the way through accessibility days.

Did you know that most sites and apps, they ain’t accessible? The worst part is most bugs are easily addressable. We can’t be followers. No, we got to be the leaders. Alt text on images enabling screen readers. Closed captions available when you play a video. Accessible content should be nothing more than trivial. Motor disabilities can make it impossible to interact with sites when navigation’s illogical.

Maybe with AI, we can open a eye to UI that’s usable without batting a eye. Whether they can’t use their eyes, ears, or any other senses, enable your websites. Don’t put up any fences. I said “screen reader” before, but let me rewind. It helps the dyslexic and others, not just the blind.

We can all make a difference all of the time. Don’t call me crazy. Just design your app to meet the W-C-A-G.

SPEAKER: Find out how to get involved. Visit accessibility.day. Glad to be GAAD — Global Accessibility Awareness Day.

Related:

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event gaad

Announcing GAAD’s New Date for 2015 and Beyond

This is a guest post by Jennison Asuncion.

GAAD logo

When Joe Devon and I launched Global Accessibility Awareness Day in 2012, neither of us had any idea if it would take flight. It still honestly amazes us how much the mainstream tech and the digital accessibility communities, in addition to others who have an interest in raising awareness of digital accessibility and inclusion have run with the idea. As of 2014, in-person and virtual events, those targeted at the general public and internal audiences have been held on six continents and in multiple languages. We truly appreciate all the support and eagerly await what everyone has in store to celebrate GAAD in 2015 and beyond.

May 9 was the date that Joe and I randomly chose when we first launched GAAD, and we marked the event on that date in 2012 and 2013. When we were advised this date conflicted with some local holidays, this year, we moved it to May 15. After further discussion, and to try simplifying things, Joe and I have decided that rather than a specific date, starting in 2015, we invite you to join us in marking Global Accessibility Awareness Day on the third Thursday of May. This means that the next GAAD will fall on Thursday May 21, 2015.

“we invite you to join us in marking Global Accessibility Awareness Day on the third Thursday of May”

Thinking of marking GAAD? Take a look at some of the public events and other activities from the last three years. To stay up-to-date, Like GAAD on Facebook or follow GAAD on Twitter. e-Mail us with any questions at globala11yawarenessday at gmail dot com.

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application gaad image twitter

Easy Chirp now provides accessible images for your Tweets

Although improving, accessibility of Twitter and third-party applications has been an issue over the years, and even more so, the images within tweets.

You can now provide accessible images for your Tweets using the web-accessible Twitter client Easy Chirp (@EasyChirp) which allows a title (a short description) and a long description to be entered along with the image. The title is required.

EasyChirp2 logo beta

This announcement comes on May 15 in recognition of Global Accessibility Awareness Day (#GAAD).

Web Axe author Dennis Lembree is also the founder of Easy Chirp. Last month, Mark Sadecki of the W3C (@cptvitamin) approached Dennis with an idea for authoring/posting accessible images on twitter. Together they brainstormed a plan.

Dennis implemented the plan within a couple weeks but ran into issues during testing. Proper support for the longdesc attribute is still behind in some browsers and assistive technologies. To ensure that everyone has access to the long description, it will also appear directly in the content of the page. Addendum: Here’s an example of the final image page.

Easy Chirp also provides a help page which explains the difference between a short and long description and provides information on a couple limitations of the feature.

To create a tweet with an accessible image:

  1. Log in to Easy Chirp with your Twitter account.
  2. Select Write Tweet.
  3. Select Add Image.
  4. Select an image from your device.
  5. Enter a title of the image (short description).
  6. If necessary, enter a long description of the image.
  7. Click the Upload Image button. A URL will be inserted in the tweet input (textarea).
  8. Finish writing the tweet and click the Post button.
  9. Happiness!

Please help the accessibility of the Twittersphere and write a long description or two. Need some ideas? Here are some tweets with interesting images that you can re-post. But be sure to credit the original author!

The image hosting service itself is provided via the Imgur API. Easy Chirp also provides some help and tips on its alt text feature.

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color gaad roundup wordpress

Round Up: SVG, ARIA, GAAD, WP, Ai Squared

Some great links of late:

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gaad

Reflecting on GAAD

[A guest post by Jennison Asuncion (@Jennison), co-founder of GAAD]

On May 9, people from around the world took part in public events, hands-on experiences, and other activities to mark the first Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). Conceived by Joe Devon, the idea started because Joe, as a developer, and not someone who knew much about accessibility to begin with himself, blogged passionately last November that all devs need to possess basic awareness of and do their part in making the web accessible. He further declared that there needs to be a day to bring focus, and suggested May 9 as a good a day as any.

As someone who is constantly thinking about and actively pursuing ways to make digital accessibility, “accessible”, to the mainstream IT and related communities myself, you cannot imagine my excitement when I stumbled upon, purely by accident via Twitter, Joe’s blog post, on that random Saturday night when it went live. After reading it, I was immediately in touch with Joe, raising my hand to be his co-pilot for the effort. The rest is now history, and a pretty good testimonial of the power of social media in its own right.

What inspired me most, outside of Joe’s genuine interest and enthusiasm, was how willing people were, in stepping forward to either run an event and/or promote GAAD, without much time at all to spare. Thank you everyone. The truth is that Joe and I share a common trait, equally hectic schedules between our day jobs and our other involvements, which meant GAAD crept up on both of us. Thankfully, leaning on our generous networks, social media, and word of mouth, everyone who took part, in what ever way, has much to be proud of. Now that the date is set, and the event is out there, GAAD 2013 and beyond can only keep growing. Check out Joe’s post-event recap to see where he plans bringing his energies next.

Involvement with GAAD has only reinforced my belief that we, working in digital accessibility, only benefit when we engage with and support members of the mainstream design, development, and related communities in raising the profile of and addressing digital accessibility.

Get involved- express interest in holding an event for GAAD 2013. Volunteer to translate some of our text into other languages.

Editor’s Note

There were many blogs and press articles written about GAAD. Here are some: