A11y North: Newcastle | Summer 2026

We're back for our second event at Opencast, Newcastle!

This time we've got the wonderful Nathan Rowland (Sunderland Software City / Tech For Good Hub) with his talk, Accessibility in the age of AI interfaces:

Artificial intelligence has the potential to be one of the most powerful assistive technologies ever built and the fastest new way to shut people out. Which of those two futures arrives is a design choice we are making right now rather than something the technology decides on its own.

This short talk holds those two truths in tension, not giving way to either techno-optimism or doom, because the reality we're seeing is that both are arriving simultaneously. New advancements are being made, and old exclusions are being re-entrenched.

Leave this talk able to tell the difference between an AI tool that includes people and one that locks them out, and willing to ask that question before the next one gets built.

Following the pizza break, we will have Enough is enough: Assistive AI, cheating, and equity from our very own Ben Tillyer (A11y North / University of Oxford):

People with disabilities are stigmatised in education and employment, often facing the harmful assumption that assistive technology and reasonable adjustments give them an 'unfair advantage' or an 'easy life'.

As mainstream AI is becoming integrated into assistive technology and productivity suites, headline-grabbing clickbait on 'AI cheating' is amplifying the stigma.

This begs the question: When navigating a world that wasn't built for them, when is 'enough' enough?

Agenda:
6:15 - Introduction
6:30 - Accessibility in the age of AI interfaces
7:15 - Pizza break
7:30 - Enough is enough: Assistive AI, cheating, and equity
8:00 - Wrap up

Access needs/Dietary Requirements
If you have any access needs or dietary requirements, please reach out to us.

Logistics:
Exact Location via what3words: ///device.normal.cheese
Free parking is available, but attendees must enter their car registration into the touchscreen at the front desk.