Like every year since 2011, the third Thursday of May is the date of the Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), which will reach its 12th edition next week.

The idea of a day focused on disseminating knowledge and information on accessibility and digital inclusion was born with a blog post written by an American web developer, who invited the developer community to work together to learn about accessibility in order to allow everyone to use their websites. A Canadian accessibility expert read the post and decided to join the cause: since that day the initiative has grown and the events on the subject during the GAAD have continued to multiply not only in America but all over the world.

Today GAAD is a day when developers, designers, usability professionals, content creators and everyone who wants to promote digital accessibility can organize workshops, seminars, conferences, events and share their knowledge in the way they prefer.

The website dedicated to the initiative gathers all the training opportunities that can be takenduring the week of the GAAD, which this year falls on May 18. You can find them here!

Furthermore, Inclusive Publishing  has put together a few ideas in its annual Publishers Toolkit to help you organize an event or an initiative on this occasion.

Accessibility days

In Italy, a multi-day event dedicated to the accessibility and inclusiveness of digital technologies is organized annually on the occasion of GAAD: the Accessibility Days, of which Fondazione LIA is a supporter.

This year’s event was anticipated by several previous initiatives in the months before, including a webinar on assistive technologies and Microsoft Word in which LIA took part. The main event will be held on the 18 and 19 May in the Sapienza University in Rome and it will be possible to attend live, and some content will be available via streaming: the full program is available on the Accessibility Days website.

LIA’s seminar on accessibility in Turin

In the same days, Fondazione LIA is organizing a seminar on accessibility aimed at the professional public  and in the contest of the 2023 Turin International Book Fair.

In preparation for the entry into force of the European Accessibility Act in 2025, the meeting entitled “Editoria di varia, scolastica, universitaria. Come diventare accessibili entro il 2025?” has the purpose of presenting and discussing projects carried out by publishers working in different market segments: non-fiction, school, and university publishing.

The session is organized in the framework of Aldus UP and these are the speakers:

• Andrea Angiolini, Editorial Director and Manager of the Digital Area at Società editrice Il Mulino
• Filippo Floridia, eBook Production Coordinator at Gruppo Mondadori
• Claudia Napolitano, Coordinator-Organizational Manager at Pisa University Press
• Cristina Mussinelli, Secretary General at Fondazione LIA

All the information for visiting the Fair is available in the Visit section of the dedicated website.