UMBRAAD 2025 - Building a More Inclusive Web

On 15th May 2025, Umbraco hosted its annual accessibility event, UMBRAAD—coinciding with the 14th Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). This virtual event brought together Umbraco developers, editors, marketers, and digital leaders for a day full of practical talks, live demos, and powerful conversations—all focused on building a more inclusive web.

But for me, the journey started months earlier.

As a member of the Umbraco Accessibility Guild—a community-driven team dedicated to improving accessibility within the CMS—I was involved behind the scenes. Our team spent weeks planning social posts, putting out speaker calls, finalising the schedule, and making sure everything was ready for the big day.

The Day of the Event

The morning kicked off with our Guild members gathering on Zoom, checking backgrounds, and doing a quick run-through of the agenda. By 9:45 AM, we began admitting attendees from the waiting room, and just like that, UMBRAAD 2025 was underway.

Calum Ryan – State of the Accessible Web
We opened with a talk from Calum Ryan, who gave a compelling overview of global accessibility trends. His talk highlighted interesting statistics—94.8% of homepages still contain WCAG 2.2 errors, and 55.5% of web images lack alt text. These figures are a reminder that while we’ve made progress, there’s still a long way to go.

“Accessibility can be simple. Just by fixing alt text, empty links and form labels, it can improve the web for everyone.”

Pete Lister – Mission Critical: Using Umbraco to Deliver Emergency Management Solutions
Next up, Pete Lister, CEO of Effect, shared how Umbraco is being used to support emergency and climate response communications. He walked us through the lifecycle of an emergency—emphasising the need for quick, accessible content creation and delivery. In high-stress situations, accessibility isn't just a best practice—it's essential.

Fireside Chat: Neurodiversity and the Web
Our first fireside chat explored neurodiversity in digital spaces. This open, inclusive conversation featured both neurodiverse and neurotypical panelists sharing personal experiences and practical advice. Together, they discussed how designers, developers, and content creators can better support cognitive inclusion through thoughtful design and flexibility.

Rachael Sutherland – Accessibility as a Team Sport
In the afternoon, Rachael Sutherland spoke about embedding accessibility into teams and workflows. Her talk broke it down into four key phases:

1. Discover

2. Define

3. Develop

4. Evolve

She emphasized building strategies that go beyond technical compliance, fostering shared understanding and continuous learning across teams. Measure your success, keep learning, share resources, challenge and support each other.

Dennis Kardys – The Practical Web Accessibility Playbook
Dennis Kardy gave the last talk of the day. He talked about the relationship between accessibility and project stakeholders, and how accessibility never seems to be the priority until it is. This talk gave a lot of insight into why accessibility matters and how it’s our responsibility as developers and designers to include accessibility from the beginning, along with tactics for implementing a sustainable web accessibility strategy.

Practical Tools & Testing
Throughout the day, we also explored accessibility testing tools—from Chrome extensions and keyboard navigation to screen readers and how using the different tools together can provide a full rounded experience. These sessions were packed with actionable advice and real-world examples.

“For screen readers, the code is the user experience.”

This quote really stuck with me—it reinforces how critical it is to test with real assistive technology and not rely solely on visual checks.

Final Reflections

“If you design for the edges, you get the centre for free.”

This idea echoed throughout UMBRAAD 2025. Accessibility isn't a bolt-on—or worse, an overlay. It's a fundamental part of inclusive design, development, and communication. And this year's event made that message crystal clear.

Whether you’re a developer, designer, content editor or marketer, accessibility belongs to all of us.