Global Accessibility Awareness Day Meetup

For our Global Accessibility Awareness Meetup we are delighted to welcome two fantastic speakers – Rashmi Kakde (Senior User Research Consultant, Next Gen Engineering - Accenture), and Duncan Stephen (Principal User Experience Consultant, User Vision).

It’s going to be a goodie, look forward to seeing you there!

Proceedings
6pm – Doors
6.30pm – Welcome & community announcements
6.45pm - Breaking Through Digital Barriers: Confronting Myths and Overcoming Excuses in Accessibility (Rashmi Kakde)
7.30pm - Perception–Cognition–Action analysis: How to avoid hazardous situations and improve accessibility (Duncan Stephen)

Breaking Through Digital Barriers: Confronting Myths and Overcoming Excuses in Accessibility
Join Rashmi as she shares her journey of confronting the prevalent myths and excuses that hinder digital accessibility. From dispelling common misconceptions to addressing resistance, this session empowers you with strategies to foster inclusivity in your digital endeavours.

Discover effective ways to advocate for accessibility when it's overlooked and gain practical insights into avoiding common pitfalls in digital design. Whether you're a designer, researcher, developer, manager, or accessibility advocate, this talk provides actionable advice and inspiring perspectives for creating inclusive digital experiences.

Don't miss out on the opportunity to learn about breaking down barriers, challenging the status quo, and shaping a more accessible digital future.

Perception–Cognition–Action analysis: How to avoid hazardous situations and improve accessibility
Perception–Cognition–Action (PCA) analysis is a method of uncovering the root causes of usability errors and accessibility barriers in systems.

The approach was developed for use in the design of safety-critical systems. It is described in the international standard IEC 62366 on the application of usability engineering to medical devices.

But this powerful technique can go so much further than that. It enables teams to understand specifically how a design can be improved to avoid hazardous situations, enhance accessibility and improve usability for a wide range of products.

Learn about how PCA analysis works, and how User Vision has applied it in our work on improving medical devices.

About Rashmi
Rashmi is a seasoned Senior User Research consultant with Next Gen Engineering, a division of Accenture. For the past two years, she has spearheaded user research initiatives for NHS England's DigiTrials programme, demonstrating her expertise in understanding user needs and shaping digital solutions and services. With over 14 years of experience, Rashmi has held diverse roles, including user researcher, UX/UI designer, and ethnographer, across various sectors, including public, private, and third sectors.

A passionate advocate for inclusion and accessibility, Rashmi has facilitated cross-disciplinary discussions and knowledge-sharing sessions on digital accessibility within healthcare, government, education, and heritage industries. She firmly believes that fostering empathy, curiosity, and open dialogue is essential for creating truly inclusive and accessible digital products and services.

Rashmi's commitment to championing accessibility extends beyond her professional roles, as she actively promotes awareness and education on the importance of inclusive design practices. Her dedication to empowering diverse communities and driving positive change underscores her belief that accessibility is not just a responsibility, but a fundamental value that enriches the digital landscape for all.

About Duncan
Duncan has significant experience in enabling people to make more human-centred decisions in the delivery and continuous improvement of services, websites and digital products.

For more than a decade, he has spearheaded user experience and service design initiatives with a wide range of organisations including: higher education institutions, government departments, major public services, healthcare services, financial services institutions, global transport providers and membership organisations.

User experience brings together his interest in web technologies with his background in social science. His degree is in economics and politics, and Duncan has a particular interest in behavioural science. This helps him understand what makes people tick. He enjoys incorporating this knowledge into his work to improve technology-focused services that need to be more human-centred.