From pledge to practice: Building a more inclusive open source ecosystem

Last year, GitHub took a pledge to help improve the accessibility of open source , centered on three goals: Empower people with disabilities to contribute to open source. Increase the availability and adoption of open source assistive technologies. Improve the accessibility of mainstream open source projects. This pledge came with a clear responsibility: turn intention into practical, community-led action. Over the past year we’ve had the chance to work with maintainers, contributors, educators, accessibility advocates, and people with disabilities who are doing the hard, real work of building a culture of inclusion within open source communities. This post shares our progress over the past year and two ways you can help right now. Mark your calendar If you want to help shape what happens next, start here: Register for Open Source Accessibility Community Day (July 9) Register for the Open Source Accessibility Summit (October 19) Progress since the pledge Our approach has focused on programs, partnerships, and open tooling that support the pledge goals in real projects and communities. Empowering contributors with disabilities in open source In May 2026, we hosted the Open Source Assistive Technology Hackathon at GitHub headquarters in San Francisco. Over two days, contributors, maintainers, educators, advocates, and people with disabilities collaborated on open source assistive technology projects addressing real access barriers. By the numbers 124 attendees on site across two days 16 featured projects at kickoff 25+ projects worked on during the event 190+ registrations, with 120+ people on the waitlist Six event partners and supporting organizations To support meaningful participation, we also hosted: A GitHub Learning Room with hands-on guidance for GitHub workflows, including NVDA screen reader and keyboard-only navigation NV Access office hours with the team behind NVDA screen reader to support project teams and troubleshooting Accessibility Documentation The G