This week is a heavy week for accessibility and disability posts (two in a row!) but sometimes that’s just the way it works out. I feel like it’s a fairly accurate representation of my real life, too – sometimes disability-related things are a bigger focus in my life, and sometimes they’re more in the background.

I recently found out that today is Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), so I wanted to do a quick post to highlight the day and what it’s trying to achieve. GAAD focuses on technology, and making it more accessible to people with disabilities. I’m really glad to learn that this day exists, and that some group of people are working towards this goal globally.

Technology moves so quickly that sometimes, I don’t think people slow down to think about who the technology is really serving. I’ve talked about representation of people with disabilities here before, but I think it’s so important in terms of technology. These innovations have the potential to have profound implications on people’s lives… positively and negatively. We need to make sure that the technology we’re building and designing is going to improve everyone’s lives, and not just deepen the divide between those who can utilize it, and those who cannot.

That’s why I think representation is so key, and why I won’t shut up about it. Because including people with disabilities in all stages of technological development is the only way to make sure that the technology created is something that we can actually use