Autism Accessibility & Inclusion

We're back from a 12 months hiatus with a new experiment in meetups...

We're creating a mashup of communities around a common theme to see how the different perspectives tackle the challenges that face them.

In this meetup, we're bringing together 3 communities to discuss how they're increasing Autistic acceptance and inclusion:

• Secondary education
• Software development
• Living with Autism

Our 3 speakers are:

• Matt Parker (Testing Tackled)
Autistic inclusion in organisations

Accessibility is often looked at from the perspective of physical disabilities like vision impairment, motor skills etc, especially in the context of software.
Autistic challenges cover a diverse spectrum and therefore building products with autistic inclusion in mind isn’t a perfect science. Addressing the accessibility and diversity within our organisations and teams is a big step.
Inclusive teams generally drive greater diversity and accessibility into products. Matt will be looking at the importance of inclusive and accessible teams and some initial steps to consider in opening doors and removing barriers in your organisation.

• Paul Davenport (Abbots Lea School)
ASD, Digital Day and how employers can help students with Autism”

Employers & schools need to work more collaboratively to provide autistic students the best opportunities for a successful transition from education to professional career.
In this talk, Paul will share his experience of the challenge, the benefits it provided for his students, Vodafone's perception of the day & how your organisation can be more inclusive & accessible for autistic students

• Rachel Morgan-Trimmer (Sparkle Class)
The Power of Change: learning to live as a "weirdo"

Being called a weirdo from an early age but never really understanding
why, Rachel talks about how she finally learnt to embrace being
different. Weaving personal experience, fascinating facts, and stories
from the people she's worked with, Rachel shows you how you too can
learn to live with your own challenges.

• Sponsors
Equal Experts
Without them, we have no event

• Venue
Free beer, wine, and pizza, great company, lively event at the awesome Avenue HQ on Liverpool's iconic waterfront

• What to bring
Bring yourselves, bring people from work, bring your phones to take pictures, be active on social media during the night, and bring your sense of humour and fun

• Important to know
We encourage everyone involved in the IT eco-system. This event is not just for testers. Part of that eco-system are recruiters, and recruiters are very very welcome, but please be aware this is a safe environment where tapping people up for jobs will not be tolerated

Bios

• Paul Davenport
Paul has spent 18 years working in SEND education where he uses his passion for improving the outcomes for students with Autism as he believes that they should leave school with the maximum choices available to them.

He was named one of BIMA's '100 most influential people in digital industry' after winning the 'champion for change' category due to his work both inside and outside school in helping the neuro-diverse develop in digital industry.

• Matt Parker
A tester, consultant and coach with over 17 years in testing he is dedicated to addressing and improving inclusion and accessibility for the Autistic Community, inspired by his Autistic son.

• Rachel Morgan-Trimmer
Rachel of www.sparkleclass.com is a business coach and consultant
specialising in neurodiversity. Described as "funny" and "inspiring",
she brings a unique blend of professional and lived experience to her
work. Passionate about accessibility, Rachel transforms people's lives,
helping them to not just cope with their challenges, but to thrive.

• Equal Experts (sponsor)
https://www.equalexperts.com/
At Equal Experts we’re a global community of more than 1200 experienced consultants, comprising user researchers, designers, strategic thinkers, product people, BAs, developers, architects, QAs, devops and more – all bound by our shared set of values.

Our network model means experienced, pragmatic people are always invited to join us (even if you’re not looking for an imminent move). Once in the network, you’re part of our community and we’ll keep you informed of new developments and opportunities. When the time is right, we’ll work quickly to find you new challenges.