Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2026 — 10 Years of Building for Everyone

Today is Global Accessibility Awareness Day. It's May 21st, and around the world, people are talking about web accessibility, digital inclusion, and building a more equitable internet.

And honestly? It feels surreal to be marking this day as Helperbird turns 10+ years old.

This week, I've been thinking a lot about where we started, where we are, and where we're going. Because GAAD isn't just a day for us—it's a reminder of why we do this work every single day.

How Helperbird Started

It was 2015. I was in college. I'm dyslexic, and the web was making my life harder, not easier. I'd sit down to read an article and hit a wall—tiny fonts, low contrast, dense blocks of text. Nothing was working for my brain.

So I built something. A simple browser extension with tools that helped me. Dyslexia-friendly fonts. Text-to-speech. Reading mode. Basic stuff, really. But it changed how I experienced the internet.

I shared it with friends. They shared it with others. And somehow, this little college project became something bigger.

Where We Are Now

Today, over 1 million people use Helperbird. We've got a 4.9 star rating. The extension works on Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari, and iPad. We've built 40+ tools—everything from grammar checking to immersive reading to color overlays.

But here's what really gets me: we're trusted by institutions like Harvard. Teachers use Helperbird in their classrooms. Students use it to do their homework. People use it to navigate the web in the way their brain needs them to.

That's not "built a business." That's "helped people access the internet the way it should have been accessible all along."

The Problem We're Still Facing

But let me be honest. The problem is massive.

According to the WebAIM Million study, 96% of websites have accessibility issues. Ninety-six percent. That's not a niche problem. That's the default state of the web.

Think about that for a second. If you have dyslexia, a visual impairment, motor differences, cognitive differences, hearing loss, or any neurodiverse brain—the web is actively working against you most of the time.

We built Helperbird as a band-aid. A really good band-aid. But a band-aid nonetheless. The real solution is websites building accessibility in from the start. And honestly? That's not happening fast enough.

What Makes Helperbird Different

So why does Helperbird matter in a world where the real fix is "websites should be accessible"?

It's free. The core tools—the ones that genuinely help people—aren't locked behind a paywall. We believe accessibility shouldn't be a luxury feature.

It's personal. I built this because I needed it. Every feature we add comes from real people, real needs. We listen when someone says, "I need this." And we build it.

It's user-driven. We're not guessing at what accessibility looks like. We're asking the community. The people using Helperbird—the ones with dyslexia, the ones with visual processing differences, the ones with ADHD, the ones who are just trying to exist on the internet comfortably—they're telling us what matters.

It works where you are. You don't need your school to approve it. You don't need your company to buy a license. You download it and it works. On Chromebooks, in Google Docs, on any website. That matters.

What We've Learned in 10 Years

A few things stick with me:

1. Accessibility is personal. There's no one-size-fits-all solution. The dyslexic student needs different tools than the person with low vision. Both of them have different needs than someone with motor differences. We've tried to build tools that let people customize their experience, because accessibility looks different for every person.

2. Cost is a massive barrier. We meet people every day who say, "I wish I could afford a screen reader" or "I need these tools but my school can't pay for them." That's heartbreaking. And it's fixable. Free accessibility tools exist. They should be the default.

3. Community matters. The people using Helperbird aren't just users—they're collaborators. They tell us what's broken. They suggest features. They test new tools. They become advocates. That's what's kept us going for 10 years.

4. This work is ongoing. We're not "done" with accessibility. We'll never be done. The web keeps changing. New barriers appear. New needs emerge. And we keep building.

What Accessibility Really Means

On days like today, people talk about accessibility in big, abstract ways. But let me tell you what it actually means:

It means a student with dyslexia can read an article without getting a headache.

It means a person who's hard of hearing can watch a video and still get the content.

It means someone with motor differences can navigate a website with their voice.

It means a kid with ADHD can focus on reading with a color overlay.

It means the internet works for everyone, not just people whose brains fit the default template.

That's accessibility. Not a nice feature. Not a legal checkbox. A human right.

What's Next

The work doesn't stop on May 22nd. We're still building. Still listening. Still asking, "How can we make the web work better for the people using Helperbird?"

But more importantly, we need the entire web to care about this. We need websites to build accessibility in from day one. We need companies to stop treating it as an afterthought. We need designers and developers to think about different brains from the first pixel.

That's the future I'm building toward.

You Can Help

If you're reading this and you care about accessibility—you can help:

• Try Helperbird. See what it does. Test it on your favorite websites. See what a more accessible web could feel like.
• Test your own website's accessibility. Use a tool like Axe or Wave. See where you're failing. Then fix it.
• Share an accessibility tip. If you know something that helps you navigate the web better—a tool, a technique, a browser setting—tell someone. Accessibility knowledge compounds.
• Advocate. Tell your school, your company, your favorite website: "This matters. Build it accessibly."
• Listen to people with disabilities. We don't need more people guessing about what accessibility should be. We need more people listening to the experts—the people whose lives depend on accessibility actually working.

Ten Years and Counting

I'm grateful. Grateful for the people who've used Helperbird. Grateful for the team that's helped build it. Grateful for the accessibility community that's pushing the web to be better.

And grateful for the work ahead. Because accessibility isn't solved. It's just getting started.

So today, on Global Accessibility Awareness Day, let's commit to something: let's make the web work better for everyone. Not just on May 21st. Every single day.

That's the real work.

Helperbird is free and works on Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari, and iPad. Join 1M+ people building a more accessible web, one browser extension at a time.