Session 5. Tech Inclusion: Hearing the 1 billion
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9.45–11.15am, Friday 23 September 2022
Why have the voices of one billion people living with disabilities gone unheard, and how do we right this wrong? The need to know that every one of us matters, is at the fore, and technology development which can be a bridge, barrier or anything in between, should be a point of focus for us all. This challenge is a complex one and this session boldly delves head-on into some of the painful and crucial questions in hearing the one billion. It is time to reverse the microscope and take up the cry of “nothing for us without us”.
Keynotes: 9.45 – 10.25
- Chair: Christopher Patnoe
- Speakers: Leslie Leland, Sarah Pink, DotPlot, Vera.AI
Lightning talks: 10:25– 10.40
- Chair: Mark Walker
- Speakers: Sam Waller, Neil Milliken
Case studies: 10.40 – 11.15
- Chair: Mark Walker
- Case studies: Irene Mbari-Kirika, Michal Rimon & Yuval Wagner, Wilfred Kainz
Session 5 Presenters
Keynotes
Leslie Leland
Leslie (pronouns she/her) leads Google’s Devices and Services Inclusive Design and Accessibility initiatives as part of Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP). Her teams lead Product Inclusion strategy and standards for Pixel, Nest Home and Fitbit brands.
Since 2006, Leslie has been an engineering leader for diverse products such as Mobile Search, Android Home and Project Tango Augmented Reality. She has also led engineering teams for Google.org for Flu Trends, Social Impact Knowledge Panels and Google for Non-profits.
Sarah Pink
Sarah Pink (PhD, FASSA) is Professor and Director of the Emerging Technologies Research Lab at Monash University, Australia, and international Visiting Professor at Loughborough University, UK and Halmstad University, Sweden. Sarah is a Design and Futures Anthropologist. Her latest book - Emerging Technologies / Life at the Edge of the Future - is published in September 2022.
DotPlot
Biography coming soon
Vera.AI
Biography coming soon
Lightning talks
Sam Waller
Sam Waller is a researcher within the Inclusive Design Group at the Cambridge Engineering Design Centre. Sam championed the Inclusive Design Toolkit website, together with a website for e-commerce image recommendations, Vision and Hearing Impairment Simulator software, Cambridge Simulation Gloves and Cambridge Simulation Glasses. Sam developed Clari-Fi, which helps to evaluate the visual clarity (i.e. perceptibility) of icons, images and text that are intended to be viewed on a mobile device.
Neil Milliken
Neil Milliken is VP & Global Head of Accessibility & Digital Inclusion at Atos, responsible for policy, programs and client facing delivery.
Neil is Vice Chair of the ILO Global Business and Disability Network. He is a former invited expert for the W3C Cognitive Accessibility Taskforce , member of the Atos Scientific Community & Atos Distinguished Expert .
He is co-founder of AXSChat Social Media Community & Podcast with a focus on Accessibility & Inclusion.
Neil serves as advisor / NED on a number of boards including: Valuable500, Genius Within, World Institute on Disability, Billion Strong & Institute of Coding.
Case Studies
Irene Mbari-Kirika
Irene Mbari-Kirika founded inABLE in 2009, and serves as Executive Director. inABLE’s mission is truly “visionary,” because it empowers blind and visually impaired students in Africa through technology. Due to Irene’s ability to form strategic relationships, inABLE is a leader in inclusive education, accessible computer skills training, and assistive technology research. Irene’s leadership has created technology-powered special-educational environments to improve the lives of marginalized youth in Africa. Her recent venture, Technoprise Consulting, is a next-generation tech inclusion global company. Technoprise employs people with disabilities who provide digital accessibility services to public and private sector companies around the world. Irene holds a Global Master’s of Arts, International Affairs, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University in Massachusetts, USA. In recognition of her many accomplishments in service to Kenya, Irene was awarded the Order of the Grand Warrior of Kenya in 2016 by the Kenyan government.
Michal Rimon
Yuval Wagner
Biography coming soon
Wilfred Kainz
Wilfried Kainz is the Head of Research for the Zero Project.
Located in Vienna, Austria the Zero Project finds and shares solutions that improve the daily lives and legal rights of all persons with disabilities.
In his role as Head of Research, Wilfried oversees the research process and coordinates the accessibility features of the Zero Project Conference.
Since 2015 he has been active as a management consultant and continues to channel his lessons learned into the Zero Project.
Chairs
Christopher Patnoe
Christopher Patnoe is the EMEA lead for Accessibility and Disability Inclusion at Google. He leads Google's efforts around the accessibility of product, people, policy and partnerships across EMEA - with a particular focus on Emerging Markets. He has more than 25 years experience in Tech working at companies like Apple, Sony Ericsson and Disney where he's built hardware, software, and services. His current passion is Accessibility at the intersection of immersive technologies (AR/VR) and consumer hardware. He is the chair for the Immersive Captions Community Group with the W3C, is the Accessibility Working Group Chair for the XR Association, and sits on the Board of Trustees for the American Foundation for the Blind, the GAAD Foundation, and Digit Music. Christopher has a degree in Music from UC Berkeley.
Mark Walker
Mark is the Head of Marketing at AbilityNet, a UK charity that believes in a digital world accessible to all. AbilityNet is the UK's largest specialist accessibility practice and also provides free IT support to any disabled or older person, as well as services to employers to make their workplace more accessible. Mark also runs AbilityNet's TechShare Pro conference, Europe's largest gathering for the accessibility and inclusive design community.
