Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD)

May 15th this year is the 14th annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). The purpose of GAAD is to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about digital access and inclusion, and the more than One Billion people with disabilities/impairments. A lot of discussion around digital accessibility has been occurring around MSU Denver lately as staff and faculty work to get our content accessible, both to provide inclusive education by removing barriers, as well as complying with House Bill 21-1110 and other state and federal regulations.

Disability by the numbers

2023 census estimates from the American Community Surveys show that about 11.7% of non-institutionalized Coloradans have a disability, with an estimate of around 13.6% in the United States. On the other hand, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that more than 1 in 4 (28.7%) adults in the US have a disability (2024) with 13.9% of those identifying as living with a cognitive disability, 6.2% with a hearing disability, and 5.5% with a vision disability. Cognitive disability is defined by the CDC as “serious difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions,” and this can include cognitive disability due to aging as well as those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and others. The discrepancy in numbers could be due to the census estimates not including people who are institutionalized, people not disclosing disability status on the phone surveys (whether due to not wanting to disclose or not considering themselves to have a disability even with a diagnosis), and people who are unaware of their disability. 

Removing Barriers

With the estimates that more than 1 in 4 students may have a disability, both physical and digital accessibility are crucial values for higher education institutions to hold. Accessibility and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) are all about removing as many barriers as possible to provide inclusive experiences and equitable access.

Faculty are responsible for creating new content that is accessible and remediating older content as time and resources allow. The Instructional Accessibility Group in the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Design has detailed guides available on our website for implementing proactive instructional accessibility, as well as some Quick Tips that can improve accessibility a few minutes at a time. The IAG also runs live virtual 30-minute Accessibility Bytes trainings during the fall and spring semesters on instructional accessibility topics as well as one-off accessibility Access Checks or an entire accessibility Course Review. Email the IAG at [email protected] to request Access Checks, Course Reviews, or department meeting visits or trainings.

Together we can all build a culture of accessibility at MSU Denver.

GAAD Events:

• All GAAD Events
  
• Celebrate GAAD all May with Level Access
  
• 15 May 2025. Virtual Accessibility Event: Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) – Committing to Change. University of Minnesota, University of Illinois, University of Michigan. 
• 28 May 2025, 11a-12p MST. Webinar: “Leveraging AI for Accessible and Inclusive Learning: Practical Strategies for Diverse Learners.” Online Learning Consortium.

Additional Resources:

• “Demystifying my diagnosis of autism.” Mayo Clinic. 19 July 2024.
• Disability and Health Overview. Center for Disease Control.
• “I felt broken until my autism diagnosis at 70.” BBC. 10 November 2024.
• (Video) Justina Miles’ ASL performance for Super Bowl 2023 half time show with Rihanna.
• (Video) Justina Miles: What If You Couldn’t Talk? TEDxPenn.
• Legal Obligations for State and Local Colleges and Universities. National Association of the Deaf.
• Navigating Higher Education with Visual Disabilities. Marc Grossman, American Federation for the Blind. July 2010
• “Screen Reader Demo for Digital Accessibility.” Mark Sutton. University of California San Francisco. 31 May 2016.
•  Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. W3C. (MSU Denver strives to meet WCAG 2.1 for its digital presence.)
• “Why are more adults being diagnosed with ADHD?” Speaking of Psychology podcast, episode 321. American Psychological Association. Audio and transcript.