Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD)

At a time when much of our daily lives –from education and employment to access to essential services– takes place in digital environments, web accessibility has become a key factor in preventing new forms of exclusion. However, millions of people around the world still encounter barriers when browsing the internet due to designs that fail to take into account diverse abilities. This day invites reflection on how the digital environment is built and encourages changes that ensure no one is left behind in the technological transformation. 

What is web accessibility? 

This involves designing content that can be perceived by everyone –for example, through alternative text for images– that is easy to use with different devices or assistive technologies, such as screen readers, and that presents a clear and understandable structure. Designing with accessibility criteria improves the digital experience for everyone, regardless of their abilities or circumstances.

These principles form the foundation of inclusive design and ensure that digital solutions can be used by as many people as possible.

What’s more, an accessible website not only improves the experience for these users, but also enhances overall usability, benefits those facing temporary or situational limitations (such as a slow connection or low-visibility conditions), expands organisations’ reach and helps ensure regulatory compliance in many countries. 

The origin of Global Accessibility Awareness Day ción sobre la Accesibilidad Web 

In 2011, Joe Devon, a digital accessibility advocate and web designer, wrote a blog post expressing concern about the lack of awareness and understanding of web accessibility within the technology community and proposed the creation of a dedicated day to encourage discussion and learning in this area. His goal was for the global digital community to reflect on the importance of creating websites that are accessible to people with disabilities. A few months later, Jennison Asuncion, a digital accessibility expert, came across the post via Twitter and contacted Joe Devon to promote the initiative globally. 

Following this milestone, Global Accessibility Awareness Day was launched in 2012 as an initiative driven by technology professionals to focus attention on digital accessibility and the challenges faced by millions of people when using the internet. 

Since then, the day has been observed every third Thursday in May and has grown in global significance, mobilising companies, developers, institutions and citizens to reflect, learn and take action in favour of a more inclusive digital environment. 

Iberdrola’s commitment to web accessibility 

At Iberdrola, we maintain a strong commitment to web accessibility as part of our approach to sustainability and digital inclusion. We work continuously to ensure that our digital platforms are accessible, integrating accessibility from the design phase through to the ongoing development of our digital environments. 

To this end, the development of the Iberdrola website is based on compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2 established by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium). These guidelines also form the core of standards such as ISO/IEC 40500 and the UNE 139803:2012 standard and represent the most up-to-date international benchmark in web accessibility. 

We understand accessibility to be an ongoing process that requires continuous review, improvement and adaptation to new needs and technologies. Advancing towards accessible digital environments is also a way of exercising shared social responsibility and reinforcing a people-centred digital culture.