Global Accessibility Awareness Day at Leeds

Global Accessibility Awareness Day, 18 May 2023

As part of our Digital Transformation strategy, the University is dedicated to improving accessibility for everyone, and we can all play a part in making the student experience more accessible. For our Accessibility Matters! campaign, we’re marking Global Accessibility Awareness Day on 15 May by asking colleagues to consider the accessibility of their digital content, with the aim of improving the digital experience of all staff and students.

Choose a pathway from the following options to see what you can do to help, and the resources and events that will support you in this process.

Choose a pathway

'I'm responsible for learning materials'

'I'm responsible for website content or digital documents'

What's Global Accessibility Awareness Day?

Join a Digital Accessibility Learn-along!

Would you like to learn tips and tricks for making your everyday documents, presentations and communications more digitally accessible? Small changes can make a massive difference to inclusion for our colleagues and students, so why not take an hour out of your working day to join in an online ‘learn-along’? During the session, you’ll work at your own pace through the dedicated workbook, choosing from topics such as Word, PDF and PowerPoint, with expert advice on hand from Patricia Quinn from the Digital Practice Team in OD&PL whenever any questions arise.

Tuesday 3 June, 1pm to 2pm
Thursday 5 June, 1pm to 2pm
Monday 9 June, 1pm to 2pm
Weds 18 June, 1pm to 2pm

Sound good? Sign up via our 'Digital Accessibility Learn-along' form to receive a calendar invite.

'Accessible online and digital resources starts with design'

'PDFs and accessibility: I learnt the hard way, so you don’t have to!'

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Why do I need to do this?

Digital accessibility is a legal requirement for the University, and inclusivity is one of our core values.

Although you may be new to digital accessibility, the regulations have been in place since 2018. In general, any documents published after 23 September 2018 should have met accessibility standards, as should all web pages since September 2020.

Following digital accessibility standards gives people with disabilities an equal experience and quite often helps everyone. When we don't do this, we inhibit the learning of thousands of students and make it harder for colleagues to teach, research, and provide services.

Hear how poor digital accessibility affects people across the University community.

When should I do this?

It would be great if you could make improvements during or before the week of Global Accessibility Awareness Day on 15 May. But if you miss it, you're more than welcome to make fixes on a day that suits you.

How can I make improvements?

For the best route to getting started, select one of our pathways: 'I'm responsible for learning materials' or 'I'm responsible for website content or digital documents'.

Our digital accessibility checklists cover making improvements to web pages, Word documents, PDFs, PowerPoint files and videos.

For Ally-specific advice, start with the Ally Help for Instructors.

What's Fix Your Content Day?

Fix Your Content Day is organised by the company behind the Ally accessibility tool the University makes available in Minerva. Previously, it was always held on Global Accessibility Awareness Day. However, since 2024, it has been held in the autumn. It's a global competition that encourages educators around the world to use that day to make improvements to their learning materials. Fix Your Content Day aims to encourage the creation of more accessible and inclusive digital learning content through use of the Anthology Ally product.