Born from Twitter Web Accessibility London unconference (a11yLDN) is a follow-on from Accessibility Boston unconference, individuals from London and UK have come together to contribute to the event. Led by Makayla Lewis, the group includes: Jim O’Donnell, Alison Smith, Graham Armfield, Doria Pilling, Janet Stollery, Karen Mardahl, Léonie Watson and David Randall.
Makayla Lewis is a PhD student in HCI at City University London Centre for HCI Design. She is funded by EPRSC to research online social network experiences and challenges from a perspective of end users with motor impairments esp. cerebral palsy. Her passion for her research is due to a personal connection to disability. As a primary carer for a parent with cerebral palsy, a volunteer at ULO’s directed at young adults with disabilities and a British Sign Language learner, she believes that the web (esp. online communication) should be available for all. Twitter: @maccymacx | Blog: http://www.makaylalewis.co.uk
Graham Armfield is a freelance web developer and accessibility consultant. He believes that the web should be for everyone and has many years experience in building accessible websites for large corporates and small businesses.
His company is called Coolfields Consulting and their website is: http://www.coolfields.co.uk | Twitter: @coolfields
Alison Smith is a freelance arts professional and artist within the arts and creative industries. Her specialist background is in delivering Disability Arts projects and community engagement. Founder and Director of Pesky People a campaign to challenge and tackle digital discrimination of Disability and Deaf people online via social medium. Recipient of Unltd4iP Level 1 Award (April 2010), Inspiring Voices Award (March 2010), shortlisted for SMK Foundation Award – Consumer Action (July 2010). Website: http://www.peskypeople.co.uk/ | Email: info@peskypeople.co.uk
Doria Pilling is a researcher at the Centre for Disability and Social Inclusion, City University London. In recent years one of Doria’s main research focuses has been on the barriers to Internet access for disabled people and how to overcome these. She led a pioneering study on disabled people’s own experiences of Internet use funded and published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (http://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/1859351867.pdf). She also carried out a study with a colleague in the United States on how initiatives can encourage non-users to use the Internet (http://www.businessofgovernment.org/report/bridging-digital-divide-hard-reach-groups).
Jim O’Donnell has been a web developer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich and National Maritime Museum for 12 years. He is interested in the web as a tool for learning and communication, and passionate about building web sites that are accessible for all.
Blog: Eat Your Greens! | Twitter: @pekingspring
Karen Mardahl is a technical writer who is passionate about accessibility. She loves tweeting and blogging about her belief that technical communication and accessibility go hand and hand. In addition to her own accounts, she also tweets as @stcaccess or blogs at http://www.stc-access.org for the Society of Technical Communication.
Twitter: @kmdk Personal website: http://www.mardahl.dk
Léonie Watson
David Randall is a freelance front end web developer with 12 years in the industry. He has a huge passion for web standards and building sites that are accessible to as many as possible, irregardless of impairment, technology, or situation. Twitter: @davidjrandal
The ‘A Team’ would like to thank Lex Quiambao and Zoe Kumaramangalam from Action Disability Youth Project for there brilliant work on the Web Accessibility London logo and website background. Lex and Zoe are graphic artists with motor and cognitive disabilities. They were asked to visually illustrate their view of the web and the independence it gives them.