Where Access Changes: Reflections from GAAD 2026

Terri Shermett • May 21, 2026

Last Thursday, May 21, marked the 15th annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day — a worldwide moment to get people talking, thinking, and learning about digital inclusion. At Lighthouse for the Blind of the Palm Beaches, Treasure Coast & Okeechobee, we marked the occasion with an executive strategic briefing: Where Access Changes.


The conversation brought together leaders who don't just talk about accessibility — they build it, fight for it, and live it.


The Panel

  • Lisa Stella, our Executive Director, who has spent her career advancing independence for people who are blind or visually impaired
  • Emi Hutton, Digital Accessibility Subject Matter Expert and a member of our Board of Directors
  • Christopher Bylone, Belonging Practitioner and Founder of Innovation Unbiased
  • Alex Oliveira, Founder and CEO of Prediq, who hosted the discussion


Together, they tackled something uncomfortable but necessary: why, fifteen years into GAAD, the digital world still leaves so many people behind.


Five Things That Stuck With Us

1. The scale of the problem is bigger than most leaders realize. 1 billion people worldwide live with a disability. That's roughly one in six of us. And according to the WebAIM Million Report, 98.1% of the world's top one million home pages have at least one accessibility failure — with an average of nearly 61 errors per page. This isn't a niche concern. It's a default condition of today's web.


2. The clock is ticking on compliance. The Department of Justice's Final Rule takes effect on April 26, 2027, requiring WCAG 2.1 AA compliance across digital properties. As the panel pointed out, reactive fixes cost roughly 10 times more than proactive design. Organizations waiting for the deadline are setting themselves up for both higher costs and higher legal exposure.


3. Accessibility is a market opportunity, not just a risk. People with disabilities control an estimated $1.9 trillion in annual disposable income globally (Return on Disability Group, 2025). When you design for accessibility, you're not just avoiding lawsuits — you're opening your product to a massive and historically underserved market.


4. The curb-cut effect is real. Curb cuts were built for wheelchair users. They ended up helping parents with strollers, travelers with rolling luggage, and delivery workers with carts. Digital accessibility works the same way. Captions help people in noisy environments. High-contrast design helps anyone reading on a phone in sunlight. Voice navigation helps hands-free mobile users. Designing for the margins improves the experience for everyone.


5. Lived experience belongs in the room. One of the panel's strongest themes: you cannot design accessible products without people with disabilities at the table — not as test subjects, but as colleagues, designers, and decision-makers. Authentic feedback from people who navigate digital barriers every day is the single best defense against both poor design and litigation.


Why This Matters Here

Since 1946, Lighthouse for the Blind has helped people who are blind or visually impaired reach their highest level of independence. For 80 years, that mission has evolved alongside the world it serves — from teaching daily living skills to advocating for the digital environments where so much of modern life now happens.


Accessibility isn't a checkbox. It's a culture. And cultures don't change in a single day — not even on GAAD.


Watch the Webinar

Whether you're an executive thinking about compliance, a designer building products, or someone who simply believes the internet should work for everyone — there's something in this conversation for you.