Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2026
Join 55 people pledging 204.5 hours to improve accessibility in WordPress.
Thursday, May 21, 2026
Help improve accessibility for 42% of the web.
Join us in celebrating Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) by pledging your time to improve accessibility in WordPress. Whether you’re a developer, designer, content creator, or site owner, your skills can help make the internet more usable for millions of people with disabilities. Even one small fix—like adding alt text, fixing heading levels, or improving keyboard navigation—can make a big difference.
What is GAAD?
The purpose of GAAD is to get everyone talking, thinking, and learning about digital access and inclusion for the more than one billion people worldwide with disabilities/impairments.
GAAD is a nonprofit event. The 15th annual event is taking place on Thursday, May 21st. Learn more about GAAD.
Why WordPress
WordPress powers 42% of the web. Imagine the impact you can have by dedicating a few hours to accessibility. Whether you work on a plugin or theme, contribute to WordPress core, or make your own website more accessible, you’re helping create a more inclusive internet for everyone.
In 2025, 86 people pledged 382 hours. Help us beat last year’s contribution and make a bigger impact in 2026!
Take the pledge. Give an afternoon. Change the web.
Ways to Help
- Report accessibility issues for a popular WordPress plugin or theme. (More on this below.)
- Report accessibility issues in WordPress core.
- Test patches or submit a new patch for open accessibility tickets in core.
- Provide feedback or PRs for Gutenberg Accessibility issues.
- Make your own website more accessible.
- Solve accessibility issues in your WordPress product.
- Caption accessibility videos on WordPress.tv
- Run a webinar to train your team on accessibility.
New this year!
Live Theme Accessibility Testing Workshop
Want to participate by testing free WordPress themes for accessibility and providing feedback to their developers, but not sure how?
Join Amber Hinds for a live theme accessibility testing workshop on Zoom.
10:00 AM – Noon U.S. Central (3:00-5:00 PM UTC)
Get a walk-through of the WordPress theme accessibility-ready testing process and contribute to WordPress while you attend! This isn’t just a “sit and watch” webinar. Attendees will learn by doing as Amber walks you through the testing process for real themes, with Q&A throughout. You’ll leave the session with testing complete or in process and the ability to share immediate feedback with theme developers as your GAAD contribution.
To get access: make a pledge below, and select the option to be invited to the Zoom webinar.
Submit Your Pledge
Make a public pledge to work on accessibility in WordPress on May 21, 2026 by filling out the following form. Have questions? Read FAQs
See Who’s Pledged
The following people have pledged to contribute to accessibility in WordPress for Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2026.
Alexis Toliver
4 hours pledged:
I’ll be learning about WordPress as a developer and helping with WPAD.
Audrey Homan
1 hour pledged:
Testing UVM's new WordPress theme for accessibilityCarin Handsun
4 hours pledged:
accessibility hello themeDebra Deacy
2 hours pledged:
Sending accessibility tips to our web editors.
Deneb Pulsipher
1 hour pledged:
I'll test themes to see if they qualify for "accessibility-ready".Faye Randell
2 hours pledged:
Learning ADA and apply to my website
Heather Harkins
1 hour pledged:
Testing themes
Jen M
3 hours pledged:
Live Theme Accessibility Testing WorkshopLukas Berredo
2 hours pledged:
Live Theme Accessibility Testing Workshop
Paola Gonzalez
6 hours pledged:
Testing Accessibility-ready
Radina Matic
4 hours pledged:
Haven't worked directly on WP in a while, looking forward to the webinar and contributing.
Rhonda Breier
4 hours pledged:
Testing our sites, themes and plugins for Accessibility and training the editorsRichard Wilkinson
2 hours pledged:
Understanding how to test themes to better inform clients and developers on costSamantha Merrett
3 hours pledged:
Testing word press features and core editor training others.Teri Miller
2 hours pledged:
I am a technical writer and will continue to make my doc more accessible.Tracey Sorenson
1 hour pledged:
Testing accessibility ready themes
Event FAQ
No! You don’t need to be an expert or a developer. Anyone can contribute—whether by reporting issues, testing with a screen reader, or making simple improvements to their own site. Every effort helps move the web toward greater accessibility.
Here are some resources if you want to learn how to accessibility test:
- Manual Accessibility Testing: How You Can Check Website Accessibility
- How to Test Your Website for Accessibility Problems Webinar
We will also be hosting a workshop via Zoom starting at 10 AM Central (3 PM UTC) on May 21st to help anyone learn how to accessibility test a theme. Choose the option to register for the webinar when you submit your pledge to get invited.
Even making simple content or design fixes on your website can make a big difference. Many of the most common accessibility issues on websites can be easily fixed in the editor without requiring edits to code.
If you have questions during the day, post them in the WordPress Accessibility Facebook group or the accessibility channel in Make WordPress Slack. Members from our team and the community will be available throughout the day to answer questions and point you in the right direction.
That’s perfect. Even one hour spent fixing a heading structure, testing a form, or reporting an issue can make a difference. This day is about collective action—every contribution adds up.
If you’re a developer who wants to volunteer time fixing accessibility bugs, please check these links for open accessibility tickets in WordPress Core and Gutenberg:
- Core Accessibility Tickets
- Gutenberg Accessibility Issues
- Issues with
accessibilityfocus - Needs Accessibility Feedback label, representing UX changes seeking feedback on accessibility.
- Issues with
If you want to contribute to accessibility in a popular plugin or theme, look on GitHub to see if they have an open repo, then check for issues tagged with ‘accessibility’ or ‘a11y’. If they don’t have a public repo, try opening a support thread on WordPress.org and asking them how you can contribute.
You can submit issues on GitHub for plugins and Gutenberg, or on WordPress Trac for Core. Report accessibility issues in WordPress core here.
Many plugins have templates for reporting issues that make it easy to get started. Learn how to create a GitHub issue. You will need to create a free GitHub or WordPress.org account to report issues or create Trac tickets.
If you have questions during the day, post them in the WordPress Accessibility Facebook group or the accessibility channel in Make WordPress Slack. Members from our team and the community will be available throughout the day to answer questions or collaborate on volunteer efforts.
If you want to reach out to an individual participant, click the link on their profile, above, (if they have provided one) or try looking for them in community Slack or Facebook groups.
We challenge WordPress plugin and theme companies, agencies, and hosting providers to go all in: have your entire team dedicate May 21st to accessibility.
Imagine the impact if your developers fixed accessibility issues, your designers audited interfaces, your support staff documented common barriers, and your leadership committed to more inclusive products. This is your chance to lead by example—set aside your usual work for one day and focus on building a better, more accessible web for everyone.
Rally your team, make the pledge, and show the community what’s possible when accessibility is a priority.
That’s totally okay! Making your own website, plugin, or theme more accessible is a valuable contribution. Every improvement, no matter how small or where it happens, helps make the web a more inclusive place.
Your efforts matter, and they’re absolutely welcome as part of this pledge, even if they are on your own for-profit products or website. What matters is that you choose to focus on accessibility rather than other open bugs, enhancements, or content.
Nope! We take people at their word—there’s no formal reporting or tracking. This is about collective goodwill and shared commitment, not proof of contribution.
That said, we’d love to hear what you worked on! If you’re comfortable, share your progress or reflections at the end of the day on May 21st to inspire others and celebrate the impact we’ve made together. Optionally tag us @EqualizeDigital on social or reply to the signup confirmation email to let us know what you did.
We’ll share a round-up of posts and a summary of the contributions in our newsletter the following week. Read last year’s post-GAAD summary as an example.
This is a community-led initiative in celebration of Global Accessibility Awareness Day. It is not an official WordPress event.