Screen capture showing how the Libraries’ homepage appears to someone with macular degeneration and other visual impairments
Do you create digital content? Whether you’re sharing an opinion, offering a service, or selling a product — if your digital content isn’t accessible to all, you’re simply creating barriers to your own work.
A billion people worldwide have some type of disability. Yet, a 2023 study of a million homepages found that 96.3% failed to meet at least one of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
As we celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) on May 18, 2023, UT Libraries wants to provide resources to help you learn more about improving the accessibility of your website, software, mobile app, or other digital product.
As stated by the GAAD Foundation: “Every user deserves a first-rate digital experience on the web. Someone with a disability must be able to experience web-based services, content and other digital products with the same successful outcome as those without disabilities. This awareness and commitment to inclusion is the goal of Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), a global event that shines a light on digital access and inclusion for people with disabilities.”
Check out this list of accessibility/disability-related books, movies, games, and Ted Talks:
Movies
Love on the Spectrum (Netflix)
Atypical (Netflix — autism spectrum)
Girl Interrupted (multiple commercial outlets and DVD at Hodges — adolescent mental illness)
A Beautiful Mind (multiple commercial outlets — mental illness)
Gattaca (multiple commercial outlets and DVD at Hodges — sci-fi eugenics)
Deaf U (Netflix — story of Gallaudet)
I am Sam (Prime Video — intellectual disabilities)
The Theory of Everything (Prime Video — Stephen Hawking/physical disabilities)
Is there an accessibility barrier in your life that you find disabling? Take a picture of it and send it to GAADphotos@gmail.com to help spread awareness! (You can also send in a picture of possible solutions or things that work well.) View the gallery of submitted photos here.
