Whether I’m on social media or attending an online event, every week someone asks me about accessibility and inclusive design meetup groups.
So I decided to create a list of all the accessibility and inclusive design meetup groups I could find online.
I’ve been updating the list since 2015.
With almost three dozen groups on the list, I wanted to make it easy for people to find a group.
Groups are organized by geographic region, then alphabetically by city within each region.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, groups have opted to go online with their events.
Which means you have more opportunities to learn about accessibility and connect with other accessibility professionals and advocates!
Note: I’ve loosened my standard to include groups that have met in the past year. I know many group organizers are struggling in their efforts to organize events during the pandemic.
If you notice a nearby meetup group hasn’t held a recent event, I recommend contacting them. They may be looking for volunteers, speakers, or new group organizers.
My list is updated quarterly.
Accessibility and Inclusive Design Groups
Africa
- Alexandria, Egypt: a11yARB – Arab Digital Accessibility and Inclusion
Asia
- al-Kuwayt, Kuwait: A11yKuwait Meetup
- Tokyo, Japan: Accessibility Virtual Reality Group
Australia and New Zealand
- Auckland, New Zealand: Auckland Digital Accessibility and Inclusive Design Meetup
- Canberra, Australia: Accessibility and Inclusive Design Meetup
- Perth, Australia: Perth Web Accessibility & Inclusive Design
Canada
- Hamilton, Ontario, Canada: a11yHam
- Mississauga, Ontario, Canada: Entrepreneurs and Professionals, with Disabilities
- Montreal, Quebec, Canada: a11yMTL meetup – web accessibility & inclusive design
- Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: a11yYOW – Ottawa Digital Accessibility and Inclusive Design
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada: #a11yTO
Europe
- London, England: London Accessibility Meetup
- Minsk, Belarus: Accessibility Club Minsk
- Stockholm, Sweden: t12t – Stockholm
- Swansea, Wales: Swansea Web Accessibility Meetup Group
- Utrecht, Netherlands: Inclusive Design & Accessibility
United States
- Atlanta, Georgia: A11Y Atlanta
- Austin, Texas: Austin Accessibility and Inclusive Design
- Boston, Massachusetts: a11yBoston
- Chicago, Illinois: Chicago Web Accessibility and Inclusive Design
- Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Accessibility
- Denver, Colorado: Creative & Inclusive City Design
- Lincoln, Nebraska: Nebraska Digital Accessibility
- Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota: Accessibility Twin Cities
- New York City, New York: Accessibility New York City
- Princeton, New Jersey: A11yPrinceton
- Raleigh, North Carolina: a11yRTP
- San Diego, California: San Diego Accessibility & Inclusive Design
- San Francisco, California: The A11y Global Collective
- San Francisco, California: Bay Area Accessibility and Inclusive Design
- Seattle, Washington: Blind Geeks and Friends
- West Hills, California: Accessible Web + WordPress
Worldwide
WordPress Accessibility Meetup Group is an international group, meeting online twice a month.
Accessibility Club is another meetup group focused on accessibility events in Europe. Meetup events have been held in Nuremberg, Berlin, Turku, and Munich, Germany as well as Minsk, Belarus.
Any group I missed? If you know of others, please share them in the comments.
Last updated November 23, 2022, originally published April 16, 2015
Good list, Deborah.
I’m surprised that there are 6 groups in Australia and only 2 in the UK (and neither of those are near me).
I used to go to the the UXPA Scotland meetings, but they haven’t been run for quite a long time now.
Hi Claire,
Thanks for your comment. There could be more accessibility and inclusive design groups in the UK, and I just haven’t found them. If you find any, let me know and I’ll add them to the list.
Sorry to hear the UXPA Scotland meetings haven’t been held in a while. I was office for our Michigan UPA (now UXPA) group for three years.
We don’t have a specific accessibility/inclusive design group in our area. I host accessibility talks through our Refresh Detroit and Detroit User Experience groups each year.
There’s another BAY Area group which meets regularly for dinners and discussions of accessibility-related topics. See:
http://www.meetup.com/Bay-Area-Accessibility-Dinners/
Hi Jennifer,
Thanks for the info. Do you know who the group organizer is? I visited the group and discovered it’s closed. The info on Meetup only shows one organizer’s first name. If someone doesn’t recognize who that person is, they may be uncomfortable joining the group.
The organizer is Ted Drake.
For the Bay Area Accessibility dinners, it’s not closed, so I am not sure why it would appear that way to you. There are well over 200 members, so there’s no reason for discomfort.
Here’s the link for the Seattle Meetup that I dm-ed you about on Twitter:
http://www.meetup.com/a11ysea/
Thanks, Jennifer!
Terrific list of meetups. I’ve added a task to my calendar to return here to review the list since I’m a nomad and always traveling so it’s a bit of a challenge to find local meetups on accessibility wherever I go.
Thanks for putting this together.
Hi Mark,
Thanks for stopping by. Glad you found the list useful! If you find other meetups in your travels, let me know and I’ll add them to my list.
Great list, Deborah! Here is another one to add: https://www.meetup.com/DINBay/
Thanks for putting this together.
Hi Tamar,
Thanks for letting me know. I’ve added the Bay Area Disability Inclusion Network to my list of groups. And thank you for leading and organizing their meetup events!