The Access for All: from policy to reality conference is being hosted on September 30th at The Riverfront Theatre in Newport, Wales. Running from 10am to 4pm, the event offers a powerful day of accessibility insight and action, aiming to improve digital design so it works better for both organisations and their end users.
Attendees will go away with practical tools and actions enabling them to make immediate improvements to their digital assets, while also helping them to understand why designing for accessibility is so important
At a time when numerous institutions proudly promote accessibility policies and inclusive values, the fact is that many disabled people continue to face barriers in employment, education, transport, digital access, healthcare, entertainment and public life. This conference aims to confront these uncomfortable truths head-on.
More than just another conference, this event will place people with lived experience centre stage, amplifying voices too often excluded from the decisions that affect them every day. These include Paralympians, coaches, accessibility specialists and specialised academics.
Access for All is organised by Cewri, a consultancy, coaching and training business that works every day to help organisations design and deliver digital products, services and technology that work better for people and the planet.
Why Access for All is important:
Accessibility affects a huge and growing sector of the population. In 2024/25, 25% of the UK population – 16.7 million people – were disabled. In Wales, the figure was 26%.
Disabled users are being failed by poor design and accessibility. Research shows that 70% of disabled online shoppers abandon websites that are difficult to use. And nearly 98% of websites still fail basic accessibility standards. Organisations that invest in accessible design can improve usability, reduce drop-off, reach a much broader audience and serve that audience better.
On a commercial level, exclusion has a cost. Disabled households have an estimated £274 billion in annual spending power. Products, services and customer journeys that create barriers risk turning away customers and limiting market reach.
Not only that, accessible design often improves experiences for everyone. W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) highlights benefits for older people, mobile users and people with low bandwidth, those with poor literacy, temporary or situational limitations and new or infrequent users.
The key messages of the Access for All: from policy to reality conference:
Access for All brings policy, professional expertise and lived experience together to close the gap between intention and reality.
Accessibility is more than a compliance requirement – it is a strategic opportunity to reach more people, improve experiences, strengthen brands and design better products and services.
In addition to offering practical tools and actionable take-aways, this is an opportunity for delegates to see inclusion differently; to challenge assumptions, and hear perspectives that may change the way they think, leaving them inspired and equipped to design better businesses, products and services for everyone. Leave seeing the world differently.
Confirmed speakers:
Ellie Challis, Paralympic gold medallist – Youngest member of Paralympics GB at Tokyo, winning 50m backstroke silver aged 17 and converting to gold at Paris 2024. Her story brings a powerful perspective on participation, opportunity and high-performance sport.
Alex Rosser, Team Wales para swimmer, Commonwealth Games – Represented Wales at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Finished fourth at the World Para Swimming Series final in Berlin.
Gavin Evans, Operations Director, Digital Accessibility Centre – Gavin has worked in accessibility for 20 years, supporting organisations globally to improve user experiences for disabled people across websites, applications, mobile and other digital platforms.
Mike Taylor, Senior Accessibility Analyst & Training Manager, DAC – A totally blind digital technology user who combines deep professional expertise with lived experience of using screen readers and digital services every day at work and at home.
Aled Davies, Head Coach, Swim Conwy – GB performance coach of champion para-athletes, including Ellie Challis. He brings insight into understanding individuals, adapting environments and enabling people to perform at their best.
Professor Harold Thimbleby, Swansea University – Professor Emeritus of Computer Science and former ACM Distinguished Speaker. He has delivered 600+ talks, debates, keynotes, workshops and seminars, including at Cambridge, MIT, Oxford, Stanford, the Royal Institution, Royal Society and House of Lords. His own experience of increasing disability informs his campaigning on overlooked design problems.
Gemma Helyer, Senior Product Designer – Freelance designer specialising in user experience, accessibility and complex user journeys, with 11+ years across fintech, government and eCommerce. She combines professional practice with lived experience of ADHD, dyslexia, hearing loss and visual correction.
Martyn Jones – Martyn was the Education, Diversity and Inclusion Manager at South Wales Police and former CEO at Learning Disability Wales and Diverse Cymru. He is Interim Chair of the Wales Committee and served on the Human Rights Commissioner Working Group and Disability Advisory Committee.
Liz Johnson – Liz is a broadcaster and commentator, a retired British swimmer who has won gold medals in the Paralympic Games and the International Paralympic Committee world championships.
Joanna Goodwin, event organiser and CEO of Cewri said: “Accessibility is not about designing for a tiny minority. Accessibility offers opportunities for everyone – consider video captions, electric toothbrushes and dropped curbs – all of these were designed to meet an access need but now have use for anyone. One in four people in the UK are disabled and accessibility failures aren’t abstract technical problems. They can mean someone cannot buy something, book something, pay a bill, apply for support or access information independently. That is exactly why the people affected by the decisions of organisations need to be considered from the beginning. Technology should be an answer to a problem, not the starting point for one.”
Access for All: from policy to reality places people with lived experience centre stage, amplifying voices too often excluded from the decisions that affect them every day.
For more information and booking go to: https://www.cewri.org/events
ABOUT CEWRI
Cewri is a consultancy, coaching and training business helping organisations design and deliver digital products, services and technology that work better for people and the planet.
The Welsh-based company’s work spans user-centred design, accessibility, inclusive design, digital sustainability, ethical technology, delivery, organisational capability and training. Cewri works with organisations to understand problems before committing to solutions, challenge assumptions, improve how teams work and make more deliberate decisions about the things they create, procure and operate. Cewri’s work enables products and services to be designed around real human needs, and across languages, cultures and abilities. https://www.cewri.org
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cewri/