Global Accessibility Awareness Day down under

To celebrate the second Global Accessibility Awareness Day, Thursday 9 May, a number of volunteer groups are holding events in capital cities around Australia. In Sydney, A11Y (accessibility) Bytes, will bring like-minded individuals together for a night of lightning talks about innovation in technologies that help to include people of all abilities.

Global Accessibility Awareness Day is an annual event that encourages web professionals and designers to participate in activities and exercises that raise the profile of web and digital accessibility. It started in 2012 after Los Angeles-based web developer Joe Devon posted the idea on his blog. He worked with accessibility professional Jennison Asuncion to invite people to participate.

A group of Sydney-based volunteers has come together to organise an event that invites everyone to discuss digital accessibility, called A11Y Bytes.

Event organiser Sarah Pulis said the idea for A11Y Bytes is to stimulate discussion and interest in digital accessibility amongst those who may not be familiar with the concept:

“Digital accessibility should be more than just how we make our websites accessible. It’s about how we use technology to meet people’s needs and preferences, and this is what we’ve tried to capture in this event.”

Held in a bar in Sydney’s CBD, the topics for the lightning talks at A11Y Bytes are broad, covering the accessibility of touchscreen devices, web accessibility, 'gamestorming' and indoor mapping.

Pulis adds that creativity and innovation is often overlooked in accessibility, and she hopes the event will help challenge such preconceptions.

One speaker, Euan Ramsey-Stewart, will be presenting a talk with Megan Taylor about the Simplified Information Mobility and Orientation (SIMO) project. The SIMO team worked to develop an app to help people who are blind and vision impaired navigate indoor spaces using Wifi access points and a mobile device.

Danielle Breckon is a Sydney-based web designer who is presenting a lightning talk called 'Gamestorming Accessibility'. In her job as a web designer, she applies the process of generating different scenarios called 'gamestorming' and will use this process to find out ways to include accessibility in web design.

Another talk by digital strategist Rachel de Sain will look at how getting online can help to support older people and reduce social isolation.

The event will also provide an opportunity for the community to network and chat about their experiences with digital accessibility. Thanks to the support from sponsors, the event will be live captioned and have an Auslan interpreter.

"Being an accessibility event, of course we wanted to ensure that that the needs of our audience were catered for. We also wanted to show that if a free community event can provide these services, then why aren't all these other events out there doing this?" said Pulis.

Visit the A11Y Bytes website to register to attend the event.

Other events in Australia include:

A list of GAAD events being held around the world is available.