ITU Office for Europe and the Zero Project co-organized an SME Online Masterclass on "How to design for disability inclusion", which was held virtually as part of the SME Programme of ITU Digital World 2021, on Thursday, 10 June 2021 from 14:00-15:00 CEST. This session conducted within the framework of the Regional Initiative for Europe on "Accessibility, affordability and skills development for all to ensure digital inclusion and sustainable development" and the Accessible Europe initiative, more precisely its workstream on fostering the ICT centric innovation ecosystem.
Companies that embrace Inclusive designed products and services with diverse users in mind reach a more significant number of the intended audience and outperform their peers. Globally, more than one billion people, or 15% of the world population, experience some forms of disability, representing a significant portion of untapped resources due to design exclusion. This 60-minute training session explored why businesses should invest in accessibility, the potential return of having an inclusive design in mind, and practical advice on how and where to start the journey of inclusive design.
Speakers:
Laurie Henneborn, Research Managing Director, Accenture
Laurie Henneborn is an Accenture Research Managing Director who leads research and thought leadership development focused on raising awareness and taking actions pertaining to disability inclusion and equality in the workplace. Some of her past works in this space have included Getting to Equal: Disability Inclusion Advantage and Getting to Equal: Enabling Change. She is also on the board of directors for AAPD and sits on the Disability Inclusion Leadership Council at Accenture. Laurie is especially passionate about coaching and mentoring colleagues with “invisible" disabilities and chronic diseases, drawing from her own experience since being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2004.
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Dafydd Henke-Reed, Senior Accessibility and Usability Consultant, AbilityNet
Dafydd Henke-Reed is a senior Accessibility and Usability Consultant for AbilityNet. He helps to lead and develop a team that provides accessibility consultancy for clients such as Microsoft, HSBC and the NHS, ensuring accessible apps, websites and more. He has presented many webinars for AbilityNet including 'How technology can help with dyslexia' and 'Accessibility Anti-Patterns'. He also spoke at TechSharePro 2019 conference about Accessible gaming. Diagnosed with Autism and Dyslexia, Dafydd also has a professional and personal interest in neurodiversity.
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This Masterclass has benefited from Live Human English Captioning and International Sign Language Interpretation.
