If Your Digital Content Isn't Accessible, You Could Be Leaving Behind Up to a Billion Users

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.”

Screen capture showing how the Libraries’ homepage appears to someone with macular degeneration and other visual impairments

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)
Crip Camp (free from Netflix on YouTube)

Knox County Public Library books (Many other book and movie titles also available. Check the catalog.)

Other books

Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche (available at UTK Hodges library and Amazon)
Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space (available at UTK Hodges library and Amazon)

Learn Something New

Both Gallaudet University and Sign Language 101 offer free introductory courses in sign language.
Learn braille
Or braille music

Play a Game

Take a Picture

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.

YouTube videos, Ted Talks, and podcasts

All Things ADHD and ADHD 365 podcasts
“Neurodiversity — the key that unlocked my world” Ted Talk by Elizabeth Wiklander
“How Apple Saved My Life” (video — vision impairment)
“First Call With My Son” (video — hearing impairment)
“I’m not your inspiration, thank you very much” (Ted Talk — Stella Young, comedian with multiple disabilities)
“I have 99 problems…and palsy is only one” (Ted Talk — Maysoon Zayid, comedian with cerebral palsy)
Crash Course videos on mental health and mental health in college

Knox County resources

Knoxville resources

UTK resources

Accessibility at the UT Libraries and how UT Libraries is working to ensure digital accessibility in its online resources
Student Disability Services
Korn Learning, Assessment, and Social Skills Center (to assist students with ADHD, dyslexia, and autism spectrum challenges)
- Including the FUTURE (development disabilities) and PASS (autism support) programs
College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences resources for Disability Pride Month
Office of Equity & Diversity where you can report a UTK campus accessibility issue
Accessibility of Learning Materials (OIT)
UT Policy IT0126 on IT accessibility

Other