Recent Events:

Tom Miller, Colour Consideration in Design and Development

Tom will talk to our attendees through some considerations that developers and designers will need to have when using colours.

He'll be sharing some useful hints and tips for both professions and how they can complement each other's skills to create a good looking digital service using accessible colours. He will also be revealing what it's like to be a developer with colourblindness.

  Tom's Presentation

Nana Manitara, User research study

Poor mental health is one of the most significant issues in England. Irrespective of age, income or background, we all know of someone who has, or have personally experienced mental health challenges ourselves. According to Mind, approximately 1 in 4 adults in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year.

Nana was recently asked to undertake user research for Every Mind Matters; a new national platform from Public Health England that “aims to support everyone to feel more confident in taking action to look after their mental health and wellbeing by promoting a range of self-care actions.” The task? To engage with various individuals impacted by mental health conditions on how they would benefit from using the website while also testing its usability. 

Listening to peoples’ stories was sometimes very emotional, however the experience was positive and rewarding for all involved. Although it wasn’t the first time she conducted research with sensitive groups, she has learnt a lot and would like to share her learnings with the community of Accessibility in Nottingham.

Rob Trent, Life, Accessibility and Art

Rob Trent is the Managing Director and Co-Founder of disability awareness tool AccessAdvisr. He'll be taking us through the story of his life, how he found a way to express his artistic talent, and how AccessAdvisr came to fruition.

Leena Haque, The Myth of a Normal Brain: Rewiring Conventional Thinking with Neurodiversity

Ever considered how hard it is to concentrate in classrooms or in meetings because the patterns on the walls are alive?

Why do the words in an email begin to dance and whirl the closer you get to a deadline?

What if you couldn’t find the words to properly explain why you do things differently to everyone else?

What if you preferred to explain things using pictures instead?

Neurodiversity promotes new perspectives and ways of thinking that spur more creative solutions and innovations. This talk offers the opportunity for people from diverse backgrounds to connect and learn about these differences in a unique way and understand that there is a huge amount of untapped potential being overlooked by society in general. Come and be part of a Neurodiverse mind and discover how differently wired brains interact with their environment and the world around us.

Luke Shaw, Poetry Performance

Luke will perform his poem, “Glass heads,” which has been written specifically for Accessibility Nottingham and has a focus on neurodiversity. He will also be performing some specially chosen poems with a relevance around inclusion and wider societal issues.

  Watch the "Glass Houses" poem

Sophie Kang, Increasing Service Accessibility to the Deaf Community

Sophie will be talking about the work of Sign Solutions who are specialist providers of communication support for Deaf people across the UK. With more than 151,000 people in the UK preferring British Sign Language as their first language, Sign Solutions enable instant communication for Deaf customers via their 24/7/365 InterpretersLive! video interpreting service. Sophie will go into depth on how this helps businesses and the process.

Lucy Ruck, Why is Accessibility so Difficult, Shouldn’t it Just be Easier?

Lucy Ruck, Taskforce Manager at Business Disability Forum will provide you with a brief introduction to the work of Business Disability Forum and will go into a little more detail around the work of the Technology Taskforce, including their world-renowned Accessibility Maturity Model (AMM), and Accessible Technology Charter. She will also share with you where you can access this free information and many other useful resources.

  View the presentation

This Is The Sea, Entertainment + Mental Health Talk

Gaz from This is the Sea will be providing entertainment for the evening and playing a set for attendees. He will also be briefly talking about mental health, and how it's OK to not be OK.

Sam Coulson, Supporting Independent Living Through Innovation

This talk and demonstration is being given by Sam Coulson, who represents Sight and Sound Technology, a company that specialises in developing assistive technology for those with disabilities. Sam will be taking us through the journey of his past experience and will talk about Sight and Sound Technology, and how they've become the centre of the UK's assistive technology industry.

Sam will also be demonstrating innovative assistive technology, giving all of our attendees an insight into how it helps those with disabilities.

University of Nottingham Sign Language Society, Importance of Sign Language and Sign Language Workshop

In this engaging workshop and talk, the President and the Vice President of the University of Nottingham Sign Language Society will be taking us through their journey with Sign Language, spreading awareness of Sign Language and taking us through some British Sign Language signs that we'll all find useful.

Ben Leach, Making Your Social Media Accessible

Ben will be talking you through how to make your social media accounts as accessible as they can be, including easy tips on how to implement subtitles on social videos, adding alt text to images, and emoji etiquette.

Emma Maraio, My Superpower? Being Dyslexic

In this interactive talk Emma will be talking about the benefits and methods for engaging individuals with dyslexia, and how thinking ‘More dyslexic’ can make us all better at our jobs.

Adrian Stokes, Accessibility Quiz

"What is wrong in terms of accessibility?”  Covering not only compliance to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines but readability, usability and emotional accessibility too, you will be amazed how much can be packed into a one-page quiz! And how small things have a potentially big impact!  Don’t miss this opportunity to improve your knowledge in a relaxed and fun way. 

Alex Hambley, The Accessibility Nottingham Website (With Jonathon Hawkins)

HeX Productions interns Alex and Jonathon discuss the process involved when developing and designing the new Accessibility Nottingham website; including how they made it accessible.

Alex will be going into detail from a web development perspective, whilst Jonathon will be discussing from a digital marketer and content writer perspective.

  View Alex and Jon's presentation

James Hall, Illustrating Our Accessible Website

James illustrates an example of an accessible website through the newly launched HeX Productions site. Providing an overview of the process involved when undergoing an accessible redevelopment: including the testing processes involved.

Krissie Barrick, The Big Hack, and The Business Case for Accessibility

Krissie will introduce the Big Hack, Scope’s flagship Digital Influencing Programme which seeks to make the digital world more inclusive. As part of the Big Hack, Scope are developing a number of resources for businesses and product teams to support them in the roll-out of inclusive design as a culture and practice. This includes; the business case for inclusive design, a resource hub for inclusive design (for which we are seeking contributors), and a number of hackathons geared at breaking down barriers disabled people face. Krissie will chat through these tools, take any questions, and invite the room to share experiences, knowledge and suggestions for the Big Hack.

  View Krissie Barrick's presentation

James Hall, Dyslexia – What it Means to Me

10% of the population are dyslexic. And James’ family are no exception; he is one of three in his family living with dyslexia. James discusses what this means to him, and his experience of living with dyslexia.

Luke Shaw, "Through Our own Future Eyes, Judge" and “That is That”

Luke performs two unique poems, “Through our own future eyes, judge” and “That is that.” both with a focus on inclusion.

Sean Gilroy, BBC Cape

Sean talks you through neurodiversity: the fact it impacts 10% of the population, but only 1 in 10 employers consider it in their organisations. Sean will also talk through his involvement in BBC Cape and cognitive design to promote a positive environment.

Luke Shaw, Poetry Performance

Luke will perform his poem, “Glass heads,” which has been written specifically for Accessibility Nottingham and has a focus on neurodiversity. He will also be performing some specially chosen poems with a relevance around inclusion and wider societal issues.

  Watch the "Glass Houses" poem

Zara Gemmell, Trailblazer for Accessibility Apprenticeships

Zara discusses how she became a trailblazer for a new accessibility apprenticeship, Chaired by Global Head of Accessibility at Atos, along with other accessibility concerned businesses and organisations.

Richard Kish, How Broxtowe Borough Council Became Accredited by Shaw Trust

As a member of Browxtowe’s Communication team, Richard gave us an insight into how they became accredited by Shaw Trust Accessibility Services, how they received help, and how they became more accessible during the process.

Ben Leach, The Importance of Keeping Your Content Editors Trained

Ben runs through why it’s important for content editors to consider accessibility when uploading and editing content on a website.

James Hall, A Little Accessibility Goes a Long Way

James Hall, Creative Director at HeX Productions talks about how implementing small accessibility changes can go a long way for those with disabilities online.

Julie Cable, What is Shaw Trust Accessibility Services? (With Graham Rees-Evans)

Julie and Graham from Shaw Trust go into detail about how their services work and what they do.

Nick Thorley, A Blind Ultra-Marathon Runner

Nick takes us through his inspirational journey as a blind ultra – marathon runner. Including how he got to where he is today, and the battles he faced while running the London Marathon blind.