Advocacy

Keely Cat-Wells (she/her) & Dan Edge (he/him)

Together we’ll discuss disability representation within the entertainment, media & advertising industries and how that affects our society. They will discuss the social model of disability, intersectionality and encourage turning any doubts into questions.

Read more about Representation Creates Reality →

Aaron Esau (he/him)

This is a crash course in how to help you as a disabled person (or anyone) to improve accessibility. We will discuss figuring out what the problem is, sift through possible solutions and how to test and iterate to a working solution for the user.

Read more about How to make / improvise your own accessibility and adaptive devices and mods. Crash Course. →

Anna E. Cook (she/her or they/them)

Many accessibility defects originate in design, so why do the bulk of accessibility considerations fall to developers and quality assurance? In this talk, we will discuss why we need more accessibility designers, what it means to be an accessibility designer, and the day-to-day responsibilities of an accessibility designer. Learn how you can advocate to create accessibility designer roles and begin to train yourself to specialize in accessibility as a designer.

Read more about Why We Need More Accessibility Designers →

Meryl Evans (she/her/deaf)

Do all deaf people know how to read lips? Know sign language? Can they drive? There are many misconceptions about deaf and hard of hearing people. Meryl will set the record straight on common misconceptions. Come to this A11yTalks session to get the facts about deaf and HoH people to enrich your accessibility and inclusion efforts.

Read more about Shattering Assumptions About Deafness →

Albert Kim (he/him)

Two of the biggest gaps in digital accessibility include lack of accessibility guidelines around mental health and how to bridge the knowledge divide between advocacy and professional. Albert Kim, the founder of Accessibility NextGen and a W3C invited expert on mental health, will be discussing his digital accessibility journey and the role Accessibility NextGen is playing to help people in the early stages of their accessibility journeys learn and grow together.

Read more about Bridging the A11y Gap: Mental Health & the Next Generation →