On Thursday, May 18, like many other organizations worldwide, United Spinal celebrates Global Accessibility Awareness Day, and we do it with pride.
Celebrated for the past 12 years, GAAD was initially created “to get everyone talking, thinking, and learning about digital access and inclusion” to benefit the more than 1 billion people around the world who live with disabilities. The goal of GAAD is lofty, to be sure, but also critically important and long overdue. The mechanism for change is to “disrupt the culture of technology and digital project development to include accessibility as a core requirement.”
Even though disability is fundamental to the inclusion of everyone, this is revolutionary thinking. This brings to the fore the very notion that the inclusion of people with disabilities must be a centerpiece of technology and innovation, beginning with idea generation and remaining straight through until products are adopted. The translational nature of full inclusion is the only way accessibility can be truly accomplished.
For accessibility to be recognized and fully incorporated into technology and innovation, society has had to shift its thinking and reevaluate how it understands the value of disability inclusion. This societal shift has been slow and is the product of hard-fought tenacity by disability activists who have advocated for justice.
While embracing disability has been slow on a societal level, advancing the awareness and importance of accessibility is deeply embedded in the ethos of United Spinal and how it has striven to operate every day. United Spinal has integrated accessibility – not just digital accessibility but all forms of accessibility – into all its work. We understand accessibility not to simply be a mandate or series of compliance measures but an opportunity for everyone to benefit, whether in the workplace, the healthcare setting, the community, or any other aspect of social life.
Just as accessibility is fundamental to inclusion, accessibility and inclusion are fundamental to how United Spinal works to create a better world.
“The current vision of the Tech Access Initiative is that digital inclusion and technology accessibility are the very mechanisms by which people with disabilities gain access to fundamental human rights. This belief is so deeply ingrained in our work that we understand access to technology as a fundamental human right.”
— Brooke Ellison, Vice President of Technology and Innovation
Keeping Technology Accessible for Everyone
This year’s theme for GAAD is “keeping technology accessible for everyone.” As wheelchair users and people with spinal cord injuries have often been left out of the fruits of technological advancement, the United Spinal Tech Access Initiative is organized around this idea.
Working with our Tech Access Council team and the Tech Access Group members, we are committed to ensuring technological equity and digital accessibility for wheelchair users across the country. We learn from their insights and try to ensure that their perspectives are incorporated into every phase of innovation.
In the coming years, as the TAI continues to grow, we plan to take on new facets of technology access to help ensure that the people for whom technology stands to have the most significant marginal impact, namely wheelchair users and other people living with disability, play an active role in how technology is developed from start to finish.
But it is more than that. The current vision of the TAI is that digital inclusion and technology accessibility are the very mechanisms by which people with disabilities gain access to fundamental human rights, like education, employment, healthcare, and community participation. This belief is so deeply ingrained in our work that we understand access to technology as a fundamental human right.
We understand accessibility to be a path to the future and a path to the rich, full lives people want to live. As we consider Global Accessibility Awareness Day, we should consider accessibility in just those terms and nothing less.
It is through accessibility that people, irrespective of background or ability, can achieve their potential and live the lives of value they deserve.
For more #GAAD coverage, read Adaptive Technology Equals Independence for the Disability Community and Five Ways You Can Promote Global Accessibility Awareness Day. Learn more about United Spinal’s Tech Access Initiative. Join our Tech Access Connection Facebook Group and our monthly Tech Talk event. Join us by signing up for a free membership. To support our mission, donate here.
