This year’s European Accessibility Summit is set to happen on 17 November – in Brussels and online.
Organised by the European Disability Forum with the support of Microsoft, the Summit aims to bring together policy makers, industry, accessibility experts, and the disability movement to discuss the most critical topics related to accessibility in the EU right now.
Register for the European Accessibility Summit
Agenda
09:00 – 09:10: Introductory Remarks
- Catherine Naughton, Executive Director at European Disability Forum
- Neil Barnett, Chief Accessibility Officer at Microsoft
09:10 – 09:25: Keynote
09:25-10:30: The European Accessibility Act: national implementation and enforcement
The European Accessibility Act began to apply in June 2025, meaning that many products and services should now be accessible to persons with disabilities. In this panel, we will explore how national public authorities have helped businesses prepare for its implementation, what they are doing to ensure compliance with the accessibility requirements, and the role of organisations of persons with disabilities in supporting implementation and enforcement.
Moderated by Susanna Laurin, Managing Director and Chair of Funka Foundation
Speakers:
- Wojciech Drzewiński, Head of the Polish Market Surveillance Authority
- Ana Carla Pereira, Director for Equality and non-discrimination, European Commission
- Wouter Bolier, Accessibility Policy Officer at Ieder(in)
- Nikolaus Eckereder, Head of Unit at the Austrian Market Surveillance Authority
10:30-11:00: Fireside chat on Inclusive Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be both a powerful tool for inclusion and a source of risk if it is not designed inclusively. This fireside chat will explore how to create AI solutions that promote accessibility, use representative data, and address potential discriminatory outcomes.
Speakers:
- Rylin Rodgers, Disability Policy Director, Microsoft
1::0 – 11:30: Coffee Break
11:30-12:30: Audiovisual Media: ensuring accessibility across providers
With the revision of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive foreseen for 2026, this panel will explore how broadcasters, streaming services, and video-sharing platforms can make audiovisual content more accessible to persons with disabilities. Speakers will discuss the impact of legislation, the specific characteristics of different media providers, and the latest trends in audiovisual accessibility.
Moderated by Jonathan Elebjörk Wahlström, European Disability Forum’s Executive Committee member
Speakers:
- Veronika Rot, Member of the Access Services Steering Group at the European Broadcasting Union.
- Marta Sanagustin, Head of Sector at the European Commission
- Peter Korn, Director of Accessibility, Amazon Devices & Services
12:30 – 13:30 Lunch
13:30 – 14:15: Electronic communications: removing barriers for end-users with disabilities
Electronic communications, such as telephone and internet services, are essential for full participation in society. The European Union seeks to ensure their accessibility through the European Accessibility Act (EAA) and the recently proposed Digital Networks Act (DNA). This panel will assess the progress made so far and explore how technological innovations can help remove the remaining barriers to accessible electronic communications.
14:15 – 14:45: Coffee Break
14:45 – 15:30: Fireside chat on accessibility: Lessons Learned and Priorities Ahead
Jenny Lay-Flurrie, Vice President at Microsoft, and Inmaculada Placencia, Member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, will discuss how technological developments have advanced accessibility for persons with disabilities. They will also reflect on the lessons learned and explore future priorities and opportunities for progress
Speakers:
- Inmaculada Placencia Porrero, Member of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- Jenny Lay-Flurrie, Vice-president of Microsoft
15:30 – 16:00: Assistive Technologies
Discover the latest innovations in assistive technologies and learn how they can empower persons with disabilities to participate more independently and fully in everyday life, education, employment, and digital environments.
- Ioana Tanase, AI and Accessibility Program Manager, Microsoft
16:00 – 16:10: Closing Remarks
In-person attendance by invitation only.
Register for the European Accessibility Summit
Meet the Speakers
Catherine Naughton
Executive Director, European Disability Forum
Catherine Naughton is the Director of the European Disability Forum (EDF), a unique platform which brings together representative organisation of persons with disabilities from across Europe. She was the Vice President of the Social Platform from 2017 until 2023. Social Platform is the largest network of European rights- and value-based civil society organisations working in the social sector.
Catherine has an academic background in public health, and 25 years of experience in the field of disability- with a particular focus on inclusive development: the rights of persons with disabilities in low and middle income countries. She has worked in many countries, and at the EU and International level in promoting the inclusion of person with disabilities in mainstream development and humanitarian programmes.
Neil Barnett
Susanna Laurin
Managing Director and Chair of Funka Foundation, a Research and Innovation Centre focusing on end user involvement, disabilities, empowerment and accessibility. She has been a thought leader in the field of digitalisation, inclusion and e-government for more than 25 years and she is a frequent international lecturer and debater.
Susanna is the Chair of the ETSI/CEN/CENELEC Joint Technical Body on eAccessibility, responsible for the development and update of the EN301549, to act as presumed conformance of the Web Accessibility Directive and the European Accessibility Act.
As an internationally acknowledged expert in EU accessibility policy and legislation, Susanna has led strategic assignments on behalf of the European Commission as well as EU member states governments during negotiations, transposition, implementation and enforcement of the EU laws. Her area of expertise covers digital accessibility, the built environment, transportation, procurement and user involvement. She has written or co-authored several white papers and published scientific reports. Recent assignments for the European Commission include studies on cognitive accessibility, multimodality and AI.
Susanna is a co-founder, Representative to the EU and also Past Honorary Chair of IAAP, the International Association of Accessibility Professionals, as well as the Representative to the EU for the UN-initiative G3ict.
Wojciech Drzewiński
Head of the Polish Market Surveillance Authority
Wojciech Drzewiński is Head of the Market Surveillance Division at the State Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons (PFRON), where he is responsible for implementing an effective market surveillance system in the field of accessibility. At PFRON, acting as the coordinating authority for accessibility market surveillance, he works to ensure that products and services comply with the requirements of the Polish Act on ensuring compliance with accessibility requirements for certain products and services.
He has more than 18 years of professional experience in information technology, telecommunications and digital accessibility. Previously, he served as Deputy Director of the Inspection Department at the Office of Electronic Communications (UKE), where he supervised the Central Technical Testing Laboratory, the Radiocommunications Inspection Division and the Interference Elimination Division. He was actively involved in the legislative process and in the implementation of the Polish legislation transposing the European Accessibility Act, combining strong technical expertise with a regulatory perspective.
He also served as Director of A11yLab, Poland’s only dedicated accessibility laboratory, operated by the Widzialni Foundation, where he led unique national-level research and testing of the accessibility of digital products. As Chief Technology Officer at Feyenally and as an IT project manager, he combined practical expertise in technological innovation with the principles of universal design.
He has also been affiliated with Wrocław University of Science and Technology, where for many years he has worked as a lecturer and research and teaching assistant at the Faculty of Information and Communication Technology. He managed several key university projects, including AZON and AZON 2.0, working with the Typhloinformatics Laboratory on the development of a knowledge repository accessible to persons with disabilities. He also managed the “Cybersecurity for the Economy of the Future” project and served as an expert responsible for the implementation of universal standards in the “University of New Opportunities” project. He is a co-author of a standard for tactile maps produced using 3D printing technology, designed to support blind and partially sighted people.
His experience gained across the public sector, business, academia and civil society enables him to bridge these different perspectives while pursuing a common goal: creating a fully inclusive digital and physical environment.
Ana Carla Pereira
Director for Equality and non-discrimination, European Commission
Ana Carla Pereira is Director for ‘Equality and non-discrimination’ in DG Justice and Consumers where she is responsible for policies combating discrimination on the grounds of sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age, or sexual orientation. Previously she served as Cabinet Expert and employment and social policy adviser to Nicolas Schmit, European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights. As Cabinet Expert, she steered flagship initiatives such as the minimum wage directive, the platform work directive or work on social dialogue. Prior to that, she was Head of Unit in Directorate General Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion at the European Commission, firstly being responsible for skills and qualifications policies and later on for social protection policies. She graduated in Economics at University of Coimbra (PT) and holds a MA in European Human Resources Studies from the College of Europe (BE). She speaks Portuguese as a mother tongue and is fluent in English, French and Italian.
Rylin Rodgers
Disability Policy Director, Microsoft
Rylin Rodgers is Director of Global Disability Policy at Microsoft, where she leads the company’s engagement on disability policy across technology, employment, health, and economic security. She works with policymakers, disability advocates, and international organizations to advance inclusive policies that expand opportunity and close gaps in employment and participation for disabled people. Prior to Microsoft, Rylin served as Director of Public Policy at the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD), leading federal advocacy on disability and health policy. A recognized speaker and author, her work is informed by both professional expertise and lived experience as a disabled woman and parent of disabled children.
Jonathan Elebjörk Wahlström
Executive Committee member, European Disability Forum
Jonathan Elebjörk Wahlström is a Swedish lawyer and disability advocate specializing in the intersection of legal frameworks and international disability policy. With extensive experience across Swedish, European, and global settings, and a passion for human rights, taxation law, and EU law, he has developed a sophisticated understanding of non-profit governance and governmental structures. He is currently working as Secretary General of the Swedish organisation for young hard of hearing people.
Veronika Rot
Accessibility Specialist at RTV Slovenija, Member of the Access Services Steering Group at the European Broadcasting Union.
Veronika Rot is an accessibility specialist at RTV Slovenija, where she works in Access Services as a journalist and editor of the disability-focused portal Dostopno.si and the Easy-to-Understand news portal Enostavno.info. She is a member of the EBU Access Services Steering Group and coordinated the ENACT project on Easy-to-Understand News, focusing on media accessibility, inclusive journalism and the development of accessible content for diverse audiences. Her professional interests include media accessibility, inclusive journalism and Easy-to-Understand language in the media.
Marta Sanagustin
Head of Sector for Audiovisual Media Services at the European Commission
Marta Sanagustin is Head of Sector for Audiovisual Media Services in DG CONNECT at the European Commission, dealing with the implementation of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) and the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA). She is closely involved in the work related to the evaluation and review of AVMSD. The audiovisual and media regulation includes notably rules to preserve cultural diversity, promote accessibility, protect children and consumers, and safeguard media pluralism. The EMFA is a crucial piece of EU legislation that puts in place a new set of rules to protect media pluralism and independence in the EU and provides safeguards against political interference in editorial decisions and against surveillance of journalists.
Before her current post, Marta already dealt with audiovisual matters, working in the copyright field and in particular in the copyright reform. Her previous experience in the Commissions includes positions in digital policies, notably telecommunication, legal affairs, interinstitutional issues, and research.
Peter Korn
Director of Accessibility, Amazon Devices & Services
A veteran in the accessibility field with over 34 years of experience, Peter leads accessibility across Amazon’s Devices & Services business, including Alexa, Kindle, Fire TV, and Fire tablet. He led development of the VoiceView screen reader for Fire TV, Fire tablets, and Kindle devices; magnification, the innovative Text Banner assistive technology, hearing aid connectivity, Dialogue Boost, and Adaptive Display for Fire TV; and extra-large fonts and adjustable Display Size on Fire tablets, as well as Switch Access for people with motor impairments. He initiated the first access features for voice interfaces: Alexa Captioning and Tap to Alexa, as well as Show and Tell for Alexa. He facilitated key improvements to React Native accessibility, technology used by hundreds of applications that can all now be far more accessible. He collaborated with Prime Video, helping bring over 8,300 audio described titles and hundreds of thousands of closed captioned titles to the Prime Video catalog. And he helped develop the accessibility features of Amazon Hub Locker – the first delivery and return kiosk that is self-voicing, and accessible to people who are blind or low vision, as well as for people who need an accessible locker height (within ADA reach ranges). Taken all together, tens of millions of people today use the accessibility features built into hundreds of millions of Amazon devices.
Jenny Lay-Flurrie
Corporate Vice President and Head of Microsoft’s Trusted Technology Group
Jenny Lay-Flurrie is Corporate Vice President and Head of Microsoft’s Trusted Technology Group, where she leads efforts to embed trust, responsibility, and accountability across the company. Her team includes industry leading experts in accessibility, privacy, digital safety, human rights, risk, resilience, product compliance, and governance. She brings three decades of experience aligning innovation with societal expectations, working closely with customers, governments, and industry partners to support responsible technology adoption at global scale.
Jenny joined Microsoft in 2005 in London to work on Hotmail. Since then, she has worked across a range of products and services, most recently serving as Microsoft’s Chief Accessibility Officer for ten years, where she drove company-wide programming to design and build accessible products, services, and workplaces. She founded the Disability Employee Resource Group early in her Microsoft career and was its executive sponsor for many years, while also serving as a member of Microsoft’s Inclusion Council.
Jenny’s leadership has influenced the creation of widely used accessibility technologies and landmark initiatives. These include the Disability Answer Desk, which provides dedicated customer support for people with disabilities, and the Microsoft Ability Summit, now in its fifteenth year with more than 20,000 attendees from around the world focused on accessibility innovation, technology, and inclusion. Passionate about building technology the right way to build trusted, trustworthy products ‘by design’, Jenny grounds her work in insights from workers, community members, and professionals around the world to inform engineering, design, and policy decisions.
Prior to Microsoft, Jenny worked at T-Mobile and several startup companies in Europe. This operational foundation continues to shape her approach to trusted technology, emphasizing durable systems, accountability, and execution at scale. Jenny holds a degree in Classical Music (B.Mus), MBA, and Honorary Doctorate in Engineering, and lives in Seattle, USA.
Jenny serves on the boards of National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), Disability:IN, and Team Gleason, and the Steering Committee for Partnership on AI.
Jenny has been recognized by the White House as a Disability Employment Champion of Change (2014), Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business (2017), Womenomics Leadership award (2025), and Forbes’ Future of Work 50 (2023).
Ioana Tanase
AI and Accessibility Program Manager, Microsoft
Ioana was 32 when she found out she is dyslexic. At that time, she didn’t understand dyslexia, but a lot of things were suddenly making sense – including why her typos are a bit of Schrodinger’s cat (she can’t spot them, but everyone else can). Ioana works at the intersection of AI and accessibility, making sure AI models are representative of people with disabilities.