Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) takes place on the 3rd Thursday of May each year. Individuals are encouraged to take an hour to experience first-hand the impact of digital accessibility (or lack thereof). This year GAAD takes place today on Thursday 21st May 2026.
Within this blog post, you can find out about asynchronous and synchronous content available to you to help you understand how to ensure your practice is accessible.
This blog content is relevant to colleagues in all roles across our University.
How can I increase my awareness and understanding of digital accessibility?
Asychronous resources
There are plenty of resources you can use to get started and learn about how you can make further considerations around accessibility and encourage others to do the same.
You can check out the following resources available at Newcastle:
- Our Blog Series from GAAD in 2023
- Our Blog Series from GAAD in 2025
- LTDS Digital Accessibility webpage – in particular you may wish to look at: Summary of Accessibility Resources at Newcastle and Designing for Diverse Learners checklist
- LTDS Universal Design for Learning webpage (You may also wish to look at The Universal Design for Learning Guidelines).
Accessibility in Practice Webinar
As well as engaging with the online asynchronous recordings, you can also sign up to attend our Accessibility in Practice online webinar to learn more about how you can ensure your digital content is accessible in practice. The next session is being delivered on Wednesday 1st July, 15:00-16:30. If you can’t make this session, please select the ‘declare interest‘ button so that you can be notified when a further session is added.
Additional resources
The University’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Team also deliver a Disability and Accessibility session aims to provide colleagues with baseline knowledge and skills to effectively support disabled students and colleagues at Newcastle University.