Accessible Sovereignty: Why the Four Freedoms Depend on Inclusion
Sovereignty is a practice; accessibility is the power to exercise it.
Mike Gifford, CivicActions
9:35am, Feb 1, 2026 (UB5.230) | FOSDEM 2026
Community Track
Thank organizers. Drupal Core Accessibility Maintainer. Chapter author in Digital Accessibility Ethics: Disability Inclusion in All Things Tech — Digital Accessibility and Open Source Need Each Other
Opening: Sovereignty is a discipline, not a product. Inclusion is the practice that keeps freedom usable.
A legal right (the license) without functional power (accessibility) is an empty promise. Full submitted
abstract is preserved in the comment above the cover slide.
The Core Premise
- Digital sovereignty is built on the Four Freedoms—but without accessibility, that freedom is theoretical
- Accessibility & software freedom are interdependent: each enables the other at scale
- Sovereignty = the ability to perceive, operate & control. If you cannot use the tool, you are not
sovereign
Accessibility & Freedom are related concepts.
Define digital sovereignty as the ability for people & their communities to control & adapt the digital
tools, data & infrastructure they rely on.
“Open without accessible” is exclusion — a library with the lights turned off vs a visible, usable one where
everyone can use, study & share. Pair governance with tooling (licensing checks, accessibility automation in
CI/CD) so freedom is testable, not aspirational.
How the Four Freedoms Enable Accessibility
- Freedom 0 (Use): use assistive tech & a11y configurations (Percievable)
- Freedom 1 (Study): inspect claims & verify accessibility (Operable)
- Freedom 2 (Share): allow others to reuse a11y versions (Understandable)
- Freedom 3 (Improve): fix bugs & upstream improvements (Robust)
Freedom is the soil, but accessibility is the gardening.
Freedom 2: forges must be navigable & usable. Freedom 3: editors & IDEs (VSCode, Vim, etc.) &
authoring platforms (ATAG 2.0) need to be accessible.
Resources:
If POUR breaks, the freedoms are theoretical.
Accessibility at the Foreground of Sovereignty
- A11y predates free software: necessity drives innovation
- Accessibility is how people actually exercise sovereignty
- Free software makes accessibility enforceable & scalable
- Durability depends on the right to inspect, fix & share
Accessibility is the practical foreground of sovereignty—functional power to exercise rights.
Barriers to access predate FOSS. See the first wave of adaptive tech: early
accessibility inventions.
Both accessibility & free software ask us to think beyond the present self. Use POUR as the operational
lens that keeps freedoms real across contexts.
Liberté 0: A11y as Freedom 0
- A decade ago at FOSDEM, Liberté 0 asked: what is Freedom 0 worth if disabled people cannot use it?
- With 1/4 of people having a disability, accessibility must be fundamental—baked in, not bolted on
- Early leadership by Armony Altinier with Christophe Strobbe, Sébastien Hinderer & Samuel Thibault
How much has changed in a decade?
Core claim: accessibility missing from GNU Freedom 0. Stallman said add it later; Liberté 0 said inaccessible
software already violates Freedom 0.
Resources:
Armony Altinier founded the effort with Christophe Strobbe, Sébastien Hinderer, Samuel Thibault & others.
Activities: talks at open source conferences, practical guidance for accessible sites/docs & a legal
structure to persist beyond one leader.
Inclusive Design: The Multiplier for Participation
- Permanent: low vision, mobility limits, cognitive load
- Temporary: broken arm, eye infection, jet lag
- Situational: glare, bad Wi‑Fi, noisy room
- Curb-Cut Effect: screen reader fixes often improve SEO & performance
-
Book Announcement: Digital Accessibility Ethics — Disability Inclusion in All Things Tech
These states rotate through a community. Building flexibility now protects the future you & keeps the Four
Freedoms usable when circumstances change.
Reference: Digital
Accessibility Ethics — Disability Inclusion in All Things Tech.
- I am one of 39 authors from 10 countries contributing to Digital Accessibility Ethics: Disability Inclusion in All Things Tech, releasing later this spring. Together we bring over 600 years of combined accessibility and disability experience.
- The book introduces the first digital accessibility ethics framework.
- My chapter applies the framework to issues facing the open source community.
- Chapter title: "Digital Accessibility and Open Source Need Each Other".
- The framework centres 10 values essential to inclusion in open source.
- I focus on honesty, transparency, trust, accountability, awareness, education, and sustainability as core open source values.
- The framework is practical: actions to take and questions to ask to build more ethical open source projects.
- Learn more and pre-order: Digital Accessibility Ethics: Disability Inclusion in All Things Tech.
Open Source Accessibility Summit
GitHub hosted a free side event at All Things Open in October 2025
- Community Communication & Collaboration
- Development Process Integration
- Information & Documentation Gaps
- Lack of Awareness & Knowledge
- Organizational & Leadership Challenges
- Testing & Tooling Difficulties
GitHub commitments:
Pair accessibility linting with SCA/license checks so pipelines guard freedom & compliance together.
Governance for Accessibility
- Ship accessible defaults & review checklists, pattern libraries by default
- Upstream-first fixes prevent forks of inaccessible code
- Require accessibility checks in build workflows
- Assign an accessibility champion to keep the discipline funded, accountable & reinforced by leadership
Ground the abstract in community practice:
Keep accessibility governance upstream: defaults, checklists & champions prevent forks of inaccessible
code. Tie checks to build workflows so they run with every change.
For role-based actions, see the handout table: Accessibility
handouts.
Treat Accessibility Issues as Bugs
- When people cannot report bugs or suggest fixes, Freedom 3 is lost
- Exclusion from contribution turns sovereign users into passive consumers
- Fix the gap: accessible editors, forges & involve people with lived experience of disability
- GitHub Magazine README: Fix Accessibility
Bugs
Participation gates define who holds power. If you cannot use the tools or contribute, the Four Freedoms are
hollow.
Sunlight is the Best Disinfectant
- Open, accessible collaboration is the engine of sovereignty
- Contribution workflows must be perceivable, operable, understandable & robust (POUR)
- Accessible issue queues prove progress toward perfection
- Participation gates define who holds power. Make contribution pipelines inclusive.
Link role-based actions in the
handout
table for accessibility accountability.
Sustainability Requires the Freedom to Improve
Sustainable systems require the freedom to inspect, adapt & improve.
- Lightweight, inspectable code is greener & more accessible
- Emergencies require tools that work for everyone, everywhere
- Transparency enables repair: do not hide barriers, report them publicly
- Web Sustainability Guidelines connect openness, efficiency & accessibility
We are in a climate crisis!
Accessible, inspectable code tends to be lighter & more sustainable. Inclusive tools matter in emergencies
when conditions are bad for everyone.
See the Web Sustainability Guidelines for the link between openness,
efficiency & accessibility.
Prioritize Building an Inclusive Community
- Ensure your team is engaging in upstream bugs
- Hire developers with disabilities
- Ship with accessibility mode enabled by default
- Require accessibility sign-off in PR templates
Closing: Sovereignty & inclusion are practiced.
Fund the roots or the forest dies. Close with action: money, policy, hiring. Inclusion is the practice that
sustains freedom.
