Long Live Sport: Stay at home content Week 10 — Global Accessibility Awareness Day
Thursday 21st May celebrated Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). Held annually on the third Thursday of May, GAAD was launched in 2012 as a means of raising awareness of digital access and inclusion for the more than one billion people with disabilities and impairments globally.
2020s GAAD took place in a context very different from previous years. The restrictions imposed on all people due to coronavirus provides a very real experience and point of empathy for the importance of accessibility. Feeling restricted and cut off from any aspect of daily life or recreation can impact someone’s mental and physical wellbeing. With that in mind, we’re celebrating some of the most notable recent news and stories surrounding accessibility.
Navigation
Google announced the launch of Accessible Places this week, a Google Maps feature to help wheelchair users identify whether a listing has the requisite facilities including access at the entrance, toilets, parking and seating. Both rewarding businesses that provide these features, and also providing a valuable service to the 130 million global wheelchair users.
Increased Focus
Apple has dedicated an entire section of its website to accessibility features and launched a dedicated team for accessibility support. Alongside its own announcements, the App Store Twitter account also highlighted some of the best innovation stories in this space. They include Paratriathlete Rob Balucas who began handcycling and couldn’t find a place to track his progress. He partnered with Strava to develop a handcycling mode. Another standout was Larry Guterman who developed SonicCloud as a way to take the functionality of a hearing aid and bring it to iPhones.
Esports
Microsoft continues to develop new features and compatibility for its award-winning Xbox Adaptive Controller. The device provides access not only to recreational gaming, but also in competitive Esports. The “Quad Gods” are an example of a competitive team that has emerged as a result of greater accessibility.
Workshops
The UK Government Digital Service (GDS) ran an entire day of workshops on Thursday, focused on accessibility best practices and strategies. GDS announced that they will be releasing videos of the sessions on their YouTube channel very soon.
Moving Forward
We started this thought process with mention of the fact that the restrictions placed on all of us potentially provide an empathy point for anyone who hasn’t had significant visibility or awareness of accessibility issues. But CNET’s team have done a great job in their podcast series The Daily Charge of detailing exactly why the accessibility movement is hampered even more disproportionately during this unusual period.
Sport’s Return and Accessibility
As we discussed last week, sport is at the point of looking to resume. A key question in terms of accessibility in the short term will surround people being able to watch games and engage with their favourite sports without being physically present. But even as sport gradually returns to ’normal’, there will be older people, single parents, those with chronic illness and lots more who more permanently fall into the category of those who struggle to attend games. Streaming and fan engagement solutions are a vital link for fans to their favourite sports and teams.
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