On May 20, the world day to promote awareness of Web accessibility, known in English as Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). The purpose of this day is to talk, think and learn about the accessibility of digital technologies. For this reason, Apple will give rise to a series of sessions included within the Apple sessions, which will be carried out in sign language to attend to those people with disabilities.
Apple has deployed a Web page to celebrate World Accessibility Awareness Day. We will be able to join the live virtual sessions presented in American Sign Language in addition to the integrated Apple VoiceOver assistance. The basics of the iPhone and iPad will be explored and some tips will be shared. From the drop-down you can find dates and times where the events take place. GAAD sessions will be virtual and they will be hosted on Webex. There is also a “Today at Home” session in ASL that focuses on using the Clips app.
Although we did not think about it enough, it is more important to create an accessible website that works with multiple Internet browsers than to create the most attractive site, because for some people, an accessible Internet makes a big difference in their daily lives. Last year WebAIM analyzed a million pages on the Internet and found that at least 98% had an accessibility failure, being the average of errors of almost 61 in the visited pages. The most common failures were:
Given that there are close to one billion people with a disability in the world, we are ignoring that whole group. It is necessary to make suppliers aware of these needs and at least Apple with these sessions tries to reduce the existing gap for these people. I wish it would be extended to more countries, not only in the United States because not only there are people with disabilities.
