WP Accessibility Day (WPAD) is a global, volunteer-run virtual event dedicated to improving accessibility across the WordPress ecosystem. It brings together designers, developers, business owners and accessibility advocates to share practical guidance, raise awareness and build community.
Organizers
June Liu serves as WPAD marketing co-lead and sponsors coordinator. With a background in project management, she keeps initiatives organized and on schedule. David Denedo, a visually impaired web designer and content creator based in London, contributes to marketing and post-event work and brings essential lived experience to accessibility advocacy.
Origins and community
WPAD began with Joe Dolson and expanded as Bet Hannon and Amber Hinds joined the effort. Now in its fifth year, the event has grown into a truly international collaboration with volunteers across Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe. The organizing approach is intentionally inclusive: people with any skill level can contribute, whether as designers, translators, sponsors, speakers or general volunteers.
Event overview — 2025
– Dates: October 15–16, 2025. WPAD runs continuously for 24 hours to welcome a global audience.
– Format: Talks are pre-recorded to ensure polished presentations and to reduce technical risks for speakers in regions with limited connectivity. Speakers join live chat during their scheduled slots to answer questions and engage with attendees.
– Platform: Zoom Events. A single lobby provides access to sessions, chat, sponsor materials and community interaction without forcing attendees to jump between platforms.
– Accessibility features: Live human captioning, American Sign Language interpreters, support for other sign languages as needed, and multilingual translation teams.
Content and topics
WPAD covers moral, legal and technical aspects of accessibility with sessions designed for designers, developers and business owners. Topics typically include:
– Accessible design patterns and inclusive UI/UX (keynote by Vitaly Friedman, Smashing Magazine)
– Legal risk management and compliance for agencies and businesses
– Screen reader demos and practical guidance for assistive technologies
– Video and media accessibility and post-production workflows
– Auditing WordPress themes and plugins: testing and checklists
– Building accessible Gutenberg blocks
– Accessibility challenges and approaches in the Global South
– Automation, emerging tools and implementation techniques
Sessions aim to make the business case for accessibility, explain legal responsibilities and offer hands-on technical guidance so teams can put improvements into practice.
Global inclusion and translation
To maximize global participation, talks are prerecorded to reduce live-connection issues for presenters. Volunteer translators and some paid professionals localize talks in multiple languages (Spanish, French, Hebrew and others). Post-event production includes chaptering and indexing videos to improve navigation and reuse.
Access, replays and archives
– The event is free; registration is required to access sessions on the day.
– Replays are published after post-production on the year subdomain (for example, 2025.wpaccessibility.day) and on YouTube.
– Past events are archived by year for easy reference (for example, 2024.wpaccessibility.day).
Funding and structure
WP Accessibility Day is organized by volunteers and recognized as a 501(c)(3) public charity. Organizers and volunteers are unpaid; event funds cover platform fees and accessibility services. Some translation and professional accessibility services are paid to ensure quality and sustainability.
Sponsorship tiers range from Micro ($150) and Bronze ($500) with web and logo benefits up to higher tiers that often fill early. Sponsors, donors and media partners help pay for live captioning, sign language interpreters, platform costs and translation.
How to get involved
– Attend: Register at the event site for access.
– Volunteer: Join teams such as tech, vendor coordination, chat moderation, captioning or event operations.
– Translate: Contribute as a volunteer translator or apply for paid translation roles.
– Speak: Submit proposals for future events; speaker selection is anonymized to focus on topic quality.
– Sponsor or donate: Help fund accessibility services and event operations.
– Become a media partner: Promote and amplify the event.
Why WP Accessibility Day matters
Accessibility is both a moral imperative and a practical requirement. WPAD teaches actionable techniques, highlights legal and business risks, and fosters global collaboration so the web better serves people with visual, auditory, cognitive and motor differences. By combining polished prerecorded talks with live chat engagement, captioning, interpretation and translations, WPAD makes accessibility knowledge broadly available and immediately useful to the WordPress community and beyond.
Links and registration
Main site and registration: wpaccessibility.day (use the year subdomain for specific event pages, for example 2025.wpaccessibility.day)
Schedule and replays: 2025.wpaccessibility.day/schedule and the year subdomain archives
WP Accessibility Day focuses on practical, inclusive learning and community support so teams everywhere can create more accessible web experiences.