GitHub unveils new initiatives for Global Accessibility Day

In light of Global Accessibility Awareness Day, GitHub, thea AI-driven developer platform, has unveiled new internal initiatives aimed at enhancing inclusivity for its community of over 100 million developers. These efforts, led by GitHub's inaugural Head of Accessibility, Ed Summers, strive to ensure accessibility for all on the platform.

The latest projects include an 'Accessibility Design Bootcamp', designed to bolster awareness of web accessibility optimisation and advocacy among cross-functional collaborators. A new 'Accessibility Champions program' has been created to equip GitHub employees with the ability to champion accessibility in their respective teams. An 'Engineering Fundamentals' initiative has been set up to embed accessibility as a key pillar, thus promoting scalability by defining, measuring, and sustaining engineering supremacy throughout GitHub.

Summers asserts the importance of disabled voices in the accessibility conversation and tech space, stating, “A popular mantra within the disability community is, ‘nothing about us without us’. Given that technology is a vital part of everyone's lives, it is absolutely essential that individuals with disabilities have the opportunity to contribute to, and guide the development of technology."

The importance of having disabled developers is evident in the newest episode of the Coding Accessibility series. It showcases blind developers, Jamie Teh and Michael “Mick” Curran, who have both established thriving communities led by and aimed at the blind. Their open-source software is used globally by hundreds of thousands of visually impaired individuals. GitHub is proud to host Teh, Curran, and their communities, emphasizing that empowering people with disabilities to build technology is the best way to enhance its accessibility.

Promoting an accessibility-focused culture is a prioritised goal at GitHub. "We are working to build a culture of accessibility within GitHub. Our accessibility culture is built on company-wide training for every Hubber, our Engineering Fundamentals program, our accessibility design bootcamp, our accessibility champions program, and the Primer design system. GitHub is continually growing and evolving to meet the needs of developers. Our accessibility program must grow with it,” states Summers.

An integral part of fostering an accessibility-minded culture at GitHub involves extensive company-wide training. All staff at GitHub, referred to as 'Hubbers', learn about various types of disabilities, assistive technologies for individuals with disabilities, disability etiquette, and why accessibility is crucial for the platform. This knowledge base aids in shaping the accessibility effort across the company and ensures that each Hubber contributes to inclusivity on GitHub.

The 'Engineering Fundamentals' program underlines the importance of accessibility governance by serving as the foundation of GitHub’s accessibility culture. With objectives to define, measure, and sustain engineering excellence while keeping accessibility in focus, various scorecards are used for continuous monitoring of services to ensure they meet preset expectations of accessibility.

Offering abundant accessibility programmes and initiatives underlines GitHub's dedication and commitment to making developer ecosystems more inclusive to all. However, as highlighted by Summers, creating an inclusive, accessible future is a never-ending effort that must evolve with the prevailing needs of developers.