AXSChat Podcast

Kathy West-Evans is a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC) who is fluent in American Sign Language. She has her MA in Public Administration and a Bachelor of Science. Kathy started in the field of rehabilitation in 1978. She has worked in a community agency, for the Washington State Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, at the federal level with the Rehabilitation Services Administration and...

Rob has played a highly significant role in developing accessibility over decades we are delighted to welcome him to AXSChat in his new role. He describes himself and his role below: “My mission is to create solutions that profoundly improve how people of all ages and abilities work, play and experience the world around them. From a business perspective, this is the best way to create customer val...

Chris has over 20 years of experience working with government agencies worldwide, international brands, neighbourhood businesses, mom-and-pop’s, and everything in between. In his current role at Pega, he is a UX Manager, and the Design Ops Lead. He helps drive their design system, Constellation, toward accessibility out-of-the-box for Fortune 100 companies. Send us Fan Mail Support the show Follow...

Marisol Villena manages inclusion, accessibility and equitable product and program development across Accenture’s enterprise metaverse, the Nth floor — enabling experiences that allow all employees to participate and thrive. Prior to that, Marisol spent the last two decades working in various roles across the company’s global IT team. Marisol has proven expertise in working in diverse, complex env...

Game accessibility specialist with a 16-year background in raising the bar for gamers with disabilities, though advocacy and awareness raising – writing, speaking, organising events, community building – and consulting, working with studios from the smallest indies to the largest AAAs, with publishers, platforms, industry and government bodies. Co-director of GAconf and coordinator of gameaccessib...

John has a PhD in Cognitive Science from the University of Edinburgh.  Since 2003 he has been working in the field of digital accessibility in France.  His particular interests are in the effects of transformations (such as accessibility) on organizations and the notions of viability and communication as stipulated by the early cyberneticists (Ashby, Beer, et al).  He has been with Atos in Paris s...

Charlotte Dales is the founder and CEO of Inclusively.  After working for five years at Deutsche Bank, Charlotte co-founded CAKE Technologies, a mobile payment app that was acquired by American Express in 2017.   In 2020, she launched Inclusively, the professional network and employment platform for candidates with disabilities to connect with inclusive employers. She was inspired by her cousin, C...

Shay Senior is the founder of Palta. Born in Israel, raised in Papua New Guinea and Guatemala. Shay’s background is in the unmanned vehicle's industry in which he worked in a variety of fields worldwide, since UAV pilot was his job in the military service. After his personal injury – being in a rehabilitation center he realized the gap between people with disabilities and the rest of society...

Stephanie Cadieux is a change leader, an advocate for diversity, accessibility, disability inclusion and an entrepreneur with more than 15 years of experience in planning and leadership roles. Her four-year appointment as the Government of Canada’s Chief Accessibility Officer began on May 2, 2022. Before her appointment, Ms. Cadieux was a member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from...

Axel Leblois spent over 20 years at the helm of information technology companies in the United States including as CEO of Computerworld Communications, CEO of IDC – International Data Corporation, Vice-Chairman of IDG – International Data Group, President of Bull HN Worldwide Information Systems – formerly Honeywell Information Systems, CEO of ExecuTrain and President of W2i, the Wireless Internet...

Molly Joyce has been deemed one of the “most versatile, prolific and intriguing composers working under the vast new-music dome” by The Washington Post. Her work is concerned with disability as a creative source. She has an impaired left hand from a previous car accident, and the primary vehicle in her pursuit is her electric vintage toy organ, an instrument she bought on eBay which engages her di...

Kate Nash OBE is creator & CEO of PurpleSpace (www.purplespace.org). Established in 2015 it is the world’s only leadership development membership hub for disability employee resource groups [ERG] / networks. PurpleSpace delivers leadership know-how to disability employee resource group leaders who want to accelerate the pace of cultural change for employees with disabilities. The global commun...

David Brun Founder Gateway Navigation CCC Ltd. Specialist designing indoor and outdoor audio based navigation networks. Drawing on my past experience as a small business owner, twenty-years with TD Canada Trust in the Branch Network and Pacific Regional Office and my authentic experience as a blind person both as an advocate and not-for-profit board member, provided me with the perspective, passio...

Furrah Syed, FRSA is an Artist and Educator based in London. A strong advocate for making art accessible to all, Furrah’s abstracts are focused on texture, movement and colour energy which can not only be seen but can also be experienced using the sense of touch. Her inclusive approach to sharing art led her to design and develop her Art Appreciation Workshop for the Blind and Partially Sighted in...

 Heather is the Founder of Equivalent Design, the leading global accessible graphics firm for advancing disability inclusion and equality. Her more than 20 years of leadership experience driving accessible design was ignited by challenges she experienced having motor and vision disabilities. Ms. Neff leads a team of talented and diverse individuals, including people with disabilities, who are work...

Denise Reed Lamoreaux has 30+ years of experience in Learning and Development, Marketing and Communications, Leadership, and Diversity and Inclusion.  SHe has won over 40 international awards for her efforts, and is a sought after speaker across the globe.  One of her career highlights was presenting at Copenhagen 2021, the world's largest human rights conference, on the topic of Transgender...

Josh is Open's Inclusive Innovation Programme Lead. He is leading our work on a grassroots inclusive innovation for an exciting global initiative being launched in 2022. He also works across the broader Open team on innovation projects we are working on internally and externally. Prior to stepping into this significant innovation role, Josh had joined Open as our Lead for the Mobility / Dexte...

  Keely Cat-Wells is an Entrepreneur and Disability Activist dedicated to making social, systemic, and economic change. As the founder and CEO of C Talent Keely has been named a One Young World Entrepreneur of the Year 2022 , Forbes 30 Under 30 Entertainment honouree , Diana Award winner , an AdWeek Young Influential , GBEA Young Entrepreneur of the Year , and has been appointed as an Advisory Boa...

  Before recently retiring, Yazmine Laroche was Canada’s first Deputy Minister of Public Service Accessibility. In this role, she was responsible for overseeing the efforts of the Canadian public service to meet the requirements of the Accessible Canada Act.  A career public servant with extensive experience, she has served in a variety of leadership roles in many federal departments and agencies....

  Using his experience in program management, software development, and technical consulting, Cam brings a unique and refreshing perspective on how teams can tackle digital accessibility within their organization. People appreciate his hands-on knowledge of planning, executing, and delivering accessible results with practical, real-world solutions. Cam sticks to down-to-earth stories and engages g...

 Gareth Ford Williams founded the BBC digital accessibility team in 2005 and in 2010 became Head of UX Design and Accessibility. After nearly 18 years, he decided to leave the BBC to focus on accessibility and inclusive design data with the start-up ab11y.com. During his time at the BBC the accessibility team delivered a number of ground breaking accessibility projects covering many types of produ...

In his role as Director of Accessibility, Dave is leading the accessibility portfolio for Surface Products aligning with Windows and product innovation roadmaps to empower users of all abilities.  Dave is a leadership coach, enterprise agile leader and trainer with over 20 years of product management and leadership experience, which he leverages to drive large-scale transformation in complex organ...

 Jim is currently the Head of Accessibility and Digital Inclusion for UK&I at Atos. In this role he manages a team that provides both accessibility services to clients and also to the internal Atos staff. He has worked in the accessibility field for almost eight years, having previously been part of the Quality and Learning and Development programs at Atos and Siemens for nine years. Prior to...

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 Tara is currently the Xbox Game Studios Accessibility Lead. In this role, she conceptualizes strategic programs and spearheads development initiatives to establish and promote a superior yet accessible gaming experience across all Xbox Game Studios titles. She is also the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Game Accessibility Conference (#GaConf), a two day conference fully dedicated to accessibili...