Alladin Elteira, AbilityNet - WCAG 2.1 (The Upcoming Updates on Web Accessibility Guidelines)

Alladin is an accessibility enthusiast, currently working as an Accessibility & Usability Consultant for AbilityNet, a charity committed to creating a world where disabled people use computers, the internet and other digital technologies to achieve their full potential whether at work, at home or in education.

The talk will start with a general introduction to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), followed by an overview of the current WCAG 2.0 guidelines. Before covering how the guidelines evolved to WCAG 2.1, with the latest Candidate Recommendation released April 2018 and the final draft due in June 2018. We will have an overview of the new proposed Success Criteria, and what they mean to your organisation and business.

David Caldwell, Barclays - Supporting vulnerable customers using data

David is a Senior Digital Accessibility Consultant within the Digital Accessibility team at Barclays. His team are responsible for ensuring that the products and services that Barclays provides to customers and colleagues are accessible and support everyone to work, bank and live their lives. One of David’s biggest focuses is colleague education and is responsible for the delivery of the Accessibility Academy – Barclays role based training programme for technology colleagues. David joined Barclays in 2011 as a graduate and before joining the Digital Accessibility Team in 2013 worked in a range of technology roles across the bank. Outside of work, David is a Founding Ambassador for PurpleSpace – the world’s first leadership development and networking hub for disability network leaders where he advises on the future strategy for the organisation.

David will talk about how the world of financial services is heavily regulated but it’s also rich in data – when these two things come together interesting opportunities begin to appear. In this talk we’ll look at both what is being done, and explore the art of the possible, for supporting customers who are vulnerable and the impact of new and upcoming regulation will have on how customers control their own data to make support and personalisation easier.

Twitter: @cfunn 

Katy Arnold and James Buller, Home Office - Building Public Services for All

As Head of User Research at the Home Office, Katy is building a community of  practitioners and raising standards of user research across the department. Katy enjoys advocating for the value of user centred design and is passionate about building public services that work for everyone.

Katy is a regular speaker at conferences and events including EuroIA in Stockholm, Italian IA Summit in Rome, Service Design in Gov, UX Cambridge, UX Oxford, UX Sheffield, UX Bournemouth, Product Camp London, UX Crunch #GovDesign

As Access Needs Lead as Home Office James is leading a team guiding delivery teams to create accessible services. This includes: consultancy, training and testing to support inclusive design, research and service provision internally and externally to the department.  James enjoys spreading the message of accessibility and the means to practice it every day.

James is also volunteers as a trustee and Head of Communications and Membership for the charity that supports people with his rare visual impairment.

This talk will cover how we have placed accessibility high on the agenda at the Home Office. We will share how we have changed our approach to user research and design – with real examples of what worked well, and what didn’t – as we strive to build services which all humans can use.

We will share how including all users in our work – those with diverse skills, experiences and needs – has made us better researchers and designers.