What is Covid Accessibility Bug Bounty?

Thursday, May 20, 2021, marked the tenth Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) with the purpose to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about digital access/inclusion and people with different disabilities. Marking this special day, BarrierBreak, a leader in the digital accessibility delivering an offshore solution launched the #CovidAccessibilityBugBounty.  

Why Covid Accessibility Bug Bounty?

Covid-19 made access to information even more critical for people with disabilities globally. The need for digital accessibility is even more heightened today wherein we rely on the web and mobile apps. Digital Accessibility is now a mandate in countries like US, UK, Australia, India and EU but often it is about getting the accessibility standards implemented and monitored so it benefits the people. 

The campaign required people across the globe to put their accessibility skills to use by testing Covid-19 websites or mobile apps in their countries and identifying accessibility bugs. 

“We wanted to bring the disability and the community together to crowdsource accessibility bugs on websites and mobile apps across the world. It isn’t a problem in just India or UK. It is a problem that is affecting the 1 billion plus people with disabilities across the world. While we can expect government to implement accessibility standards and guidelines, we also need to support them in these challenging times,” says Shilpi Kapoor, CEO – BarrierBreak. 

Supporting Organizations 

The support of #CovidAccessibilityBugBounty came from global organizations who supported by bringing on their local communities to submit bugs. This initiative by BarrierBreak include Ability Net, Access Israel, Billion Strong, David Berman Communications,  Disability:In,  Funka,  HearColors,  Helm, Hilfsgemeinschaft, IAAP, Knowbility, Linkenium, NCPEDP, NewzHook, Ruh Global Impact  and  247 Accessible Documents. 

The Impact  

On the day of the launch, #CovidAccessibilityBugBounty campaign recorded the following:

• Bugs reported: 368  
• Unique website/mobile apps: 89  
• Accessibility Contributors: 77  
• Countries: 23 

The #CovidAccessibilityBugBounty campaign also made it to the Diamond Inclusive Digital Agency list along with some other prominent GAAD events by Apple, Facebook, Xbox, United Nations etc.  

Next Steps 

• A detail Report which includes the bugs submitted, countries and domains list is visible on the website. This will help to build transparency on the state of accessibility on Covid-19 information websites & mobile apps. 
• Follow #CovidAccessibilityBugBounty on twitter for regular updates. People who submit the bug can tweet about it and tag their fellow testers to continue the momentum. 
• BarrierBreak has also sent emails to concerned authorities – supporting them to implement accessibility. 
• Seeing the immense response for the #CovidAccessibilityBugBounty campaign, what started as a campaign is now an on-going initiative by BarrierBreak. The initiative has more than 500 bugs reported with 96 contributors till date. The portal is open for people to continue to submit bugs by testing Covid-19 websites or mobile apps in their countries. 

Support #CovidAccessibilityBugBounty. Get Testing!

The post Covid-19 Accessibility Bug Bounty to promote Digital Accessibility – GAAD 2021 appeared first on Leader in Offshore Accessibility Testing | Section 508 Compliance | WCAG Conformance | BarrierBreak.

1. CES 2019

   URL: https://www.ces.tech/
   Date: Jan 8 – Jan 11, 2019
   Venue: LAS VEGAS, NV

2. ATIA 2019

   URL: https://www.atia.org/conference-attendees/registration/
   Date: January 30 – February 2, 2019
   Venue: Chicago

3. Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2019

   URL:  https://www.mwcbarcelona.com/
   Date: February 25 – February 28, 2019
   Venue: Barcelona

4. The Fourth International Conference on Universal Accessibility in the Internet of Things and Smart Environments – SMART ACCESSIBILITY 2019

   URL: https://www.iaria.org/conferences2019/SMARTACCESSIBILITY19.html
   Date: February 24- February 28, 2019
   Venue: Athens, Greece

5. 34th CSUN Conference

   URL: https://www.csun.edu/cod/conference
   Date: March 11 – March 15, 2019
   Venue: Anaheim, CA

6. AOTA Annual Conference & Expo

   URL: https://www.aota.org/Conference-Events/annual-conference.aspx
   Date: April 4 – April 7, 2019
   Venue: New Orleans, LA

7. Web4All 2019

   URL: http://www.w4a.info/2019/
   Date: May 13 – May 14, 2019
   Venue:  San Francisco, CA

8. M-Enabling Summit – Promoting Accessible Technologies and Environments

   URL: http://www.m-enabling.com/index.html
   Date: June 17 – June 19, 2019
   Venue: Washington, DC

9. AHEAD Conference-Association on Higher Education and Disability

   URL: https://www.ahead.org/events/calendar
   Date: July 8 – July 13, 2019
   Venue: Boston, MA

If there are any events that we have missed in the list below, please mention them in the comments section so that the list can be updated.

The post Accessibility Conferences and Events to look out for in 2019 appeared first on Leader in Offshore Accessibility Testing | Section 508 Compliance | WCAG Conformance | BarrierBreak.