Next Wednesday 9th of May is the very first Global Accessibility Awareness Day. According to the #GAAD website “Global Accessibility Awareness Day is a community-driven effort whose goal is to dedicate one day to raising the profile of and introducing the topic of digital (web, software, mobile app/device etc.) accessibility and people with different disabilities to the broadest audience possible.”
Here in Brisbane, we are marking the occasion with another one of our regular Meetups as part of the Brisbane Web Accessibility & Inclusive Design group. On the agenda for the evening will be a discussion on National Disability Insurance Scheme (or NDIS) and what impacts it will have on the non-profit sector in Australia in regards to web accessibility.
At the Brisbane Rally to Make it Real for the NDIS – Radcliffe Place, Brisbane City
Following the numerous national rallies held around Australia on Monday for the Rally to Make it Real campaign, Prime Minister Julia Gillard addressed supporters in Sydney to pledge federal government support for the scheme as well as introducing the new reform a year earlier than recommended by the Productivity Commission. Even so, there is still a long way to go including the backing of the states’ around Australia and identifying how much money will be allocated by the federal government to support it overall.
Essentially, the NDIS will totally revolutionise the way disability services in the non-profit sector are implemented, by going from a centralised approach to the introduction of individual contracts for services on a person to person basis. The reforms of this scheme have been likened to the introduction of Medicare and will challenge the not for profit sector in the way they operate, to how they are funded as well as how they will provide services to their clients and community.
Please join us on Wednesday 9th May at our offices in Fortitude Valley to celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day and to find out more about the importance of web accessibility in the future and the implications for the non-profit sector and the NDIS.
You can follow Global Accessibility Awareness Day on Facebook.
Charlie Carter is passionate about web accessibility and is a partner at Webbism.
You can follow him on Twitter @dangercharlie
