AXSChat Podcast

Ricardo García Bahamonde is the Head of Accessibility & Digital Inclusion for the Iberia Region at Atos. He has worked in the field of Digital Accessibility and Disability Inclusion since 2004 and has broad experience in consulting, project management, business development and training assignments in the United States, Latin America, the Middle East, and Europe helping companies, governments,...

Shaun Mosley is a Designer / Researcher at Nava Public Benefit Corporation. With seven years of experience in Product Design, he applies technology in order to create a more equitable society. As an active member of the civic tech community, Shaun fills his time pushing for prison abolition, mentoring new technologists through Code for Atlanta, and making Georgia the best state for Black people to...

John Samuel is the Cofounder & CEO of Ablr, where he focuses on helping organizations be more inclusive by removing the barriers that have hindered people with disabilities from accessing education, retail, entertainment, and employment. John’s passion for his work is very personal as he is blind and wants to make sure the obstacles he has faced are removed for others. Over the past 15 years,...

Rama Gheerawo is an international and inspirational figure within design. He won a ‘Hall of Fame’ award for his work at the Design Week Awards in 2019 and was named a 2018 Creative Leaders by Creative Review alongside Paul Smith and Björk, As Director of the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, he uses design to address issues around age, ability, gender and race. He is a serial innovator in the fields...

Susi Miller – eLearning accessibility expert and author  Susi Miller is an industry-leading expert on accessible learning design and the founder and director of eLaHub ( www.elahub.net ). The author of Designing Accessible Learning Content (Kogan Page, 2021), Susi has more than 30 years of L&D experience in public, private and not-for-profit sectors. She is a skilled instructional designer, eL...

Influencer, business leader, campaigner, Co-Author of “Net Positive: how courageous companies thrive by giving more than they take”, recently published October 2021. Paul Polman works to accelerate action by business to tackle climate change and inequality. A leading proponent that business should be a force for good, Paul has been described by the Financial Times as “a standout CEO of the past de...

Christopher Patnoe is the Head of Accessibility and Disability Inclusion for EMEA at Google. He leads Google’s efforts around the accessibility of product, people, policy and partnerships – with a new 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 passio...

Joan O’Donnell is a longstanding advocate for inclusive employment practices. She is the author of the Future of Work a Remote Opportunity for Open Doors in Ireland and also evaluated the effectiveness of Irish employment policy as part of an EU study for Eurofound. She is the Project Manager of FreedomTech, which aims to ensure that we develop a comprehensive ecosystem of supports around AT, conc...

LaMondre is a motivational speaker, mentor, and professional figure in the area of people with disabilities. As CEO of Billion Strong, he leverages skills that enable him to inspire audiences to embrace diversity and create communities where people feel more welcome. By his second birthday, LaMondre was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy, which compelled him to take steps to improve himself re...

Helen Wilson has worked in the digital community for over 20 years as a Digital development and Web designer, Learning Technologist, Digital Design FE Teacher and more recently in local authority digital content at Worcestershire County Council.  Helen has Masters degree qualifications in Education, as well as Online and Distance Education. Her passion is focused on the experiences of the end-user...

As IBM Z’s Chief Penguin, Dr. Melissa Sassi created her own IBM job title, job description, and leads Student & Entrepreneur Experience worldwide within the IBM Z division of IBM. This role includes being the Founder & Global Head of IBM Hyper Protect Accelerator, an IBM program focused on empowering early-stage startups to build and scale via business and technical enablement. Dr. Sassi h...

Sumita Kunashakaran Zero Project Manager, Civil Society Sumita Kunashakaran is the Manager of Civil Society outreach at the Zero Project. In effect, she manages the civil society engagement portfolio at the Zero Project, which boasts partners in over 180 countries. In addition, she actively manages the Impact Transfer program, a joint program between the Essl Foundation, Fundación Descúbreme and A...

Jenny McLaughlin has worked within the airport industry for over 19 years. This began at East Midlands Airport as an Environment and Safeguarding Officer achieving ISO14001. The last 14 years have been at Heathrow Airport in a number of departments including Environment, Airside and now Infrastructure as a project manager.  Jenny has delivered a number of business changes, from new aircraft de-ici...

 Maria Ferraro was appointed Member of the Executive Board and Chief Financial Officer of Siemens Energy AG and Member of the Executive Board and Chief Financial Officer of Siemens Energy Management GmbH effective May 1, 2020. Prior to her appointment, she held several senior management positions in Corporate Finance within Siemens in the United Kingdom, as well as in Canada, Germany and the Unite...

Kathy Martinez an internationally recognized and disability rights leader, joined Disability Rights Advocates as President/CEO in March 2021 after having spent six years as SVP, Head of Disability and Accessibility Strategy for Wells Fargo. While with Wells Fargo, Kathy helped to weave disability into the overall diversity agenda to expand the bank’s capabilities and programs to better serve both...

Phyllida is an appearance activist and CEO of Face Equality International. After sustaining life-changing facial scars in a car accident in 2015, she set out to reshape the negative narratives that dictate the public perception of scars and facial differences. She is a passionate face equality campaigner, aiming to gather momentum for the equity and inclusion of the facial difference community. Sh...

Morten Bonde is a skilled senior art director with twenty years of experience developing advertising campaigns for brands in Denmark and abroad. He’s worked with both large and small companies and most recently has been responsible for a number of successful LEGO commercials and animated short films. Oh, and he’s legally blind! Morten has an incurable eye disease, causing him to slowly lose his si...

 Beatriz Gonzalez Mellidez is an inclusive user experience professional based in Germany, Certified Professional in Web Accessibility CPWA (IAAP's WAS+CPACC) and User Requirements Engineer (CPUX-UR).  Her current role is Principal Product Designer at SinnerSchrader, an Accenture Interactive company. She has worked as a UX consultant across several countries and in five languages. Her passion...

 Hector is a Subject Matter Expert in accessibility, assistive technology and disability issues. Microsoft Tech Evangelist for Europe, Middle East and Africa. Subject Matter Expert in accessibility, assistive technology and disability issues. Previously, co-creator of the learning curve for eye gaze technology, a pedagogy for children (and often adults) to embrace technology despite complex physic...

Graduated from Frankfurt Goethe University in Biochemistry, Alexandra Nothnagel worked in parasitology for the German Federal Agency of the German Federal Ministry of Health Paul-Ehrlich-Institute and as an Early Stage Researcher in Molecular Neurobiology with a Marie S. Curie Fellowship at ENS Paris. Alexandra is founder of the ResearchAbility initiative, an international multi-association projec...

Judge Ginger Lerner-Wren was elected Broward County Court Judge, (17 th Judicial Circuit, Florida) in 1997; where she pioneered America’s first specialized Mental Health Court; dedicated to the decriminalization and diversion of persons arrested with mental illness, and neurocognitive disorders. The Court is a national and global model; and has diverted over 23,000 women and men out of Broward Cou...

Jessica McKay, Anthony Vasquez, Erica Braverman –  19th of October 2021, 8 pm GMT Before becoming Knowbility’s Director of Community programs, Jay started her journey in education. First as a music therapist and then as an assistive technology specialist, with the goal of building inclusive learning environments for all. She serves as an advisory member for the National Center for Accessible Educa...

Gavin Neate Founder and CEO of Neatbox 18 years working directly with disabled people in the charity sector combined with his determination to address the challenges his clients were facing on a daily basis led Gavin start his own solution led company. His unique skills and passion for positive change make him a superb evangelist for equality, diversity and inclusion. Send us Fan Mail Support the...

  Genius Within CIC is a social enterprise established by Dr Nancy Doyle in 2011 to help neurominorities unlock their talents, whilst acknowledging and celebrating that this diversity forms part of the rich tapestry of human experience.   Genius Within is aware that many Neurominority children and their families remain unsupported. For this reason, they created Blooming Genius, an independently ru...

  Kate Nicholson, JD, is a health policy and civil rights attorney and a nationally-recognized expert on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). She served in the U.S. Department of Justice’s civil rights division for 18 years, where she litigated and managed cases, coordinated federal disability policy, and drafted the current ADA regulations. Kate developed intractable pain after a surgical m...