The Summit, t ookplace in Brussels and online on October 14th. It was an excellent opportunity to stay up to date on advances in accessibility and to network with policymakers, industry leaders and disability advocates.
The Summit also was the perfect occasion to celebrate the entry into force of the European Accessibility Act, and important milestone for accessibility across Europe.
- Find the summary of the first sessions: Keynote and session on the European Accessibility Act.
- Find the summary of the sessions on Artificial Intelligence.
- Find the summary of the sessions on Public Procurement.
- Find the summary of the sessions on higher education and on video game accessibility.
Agenda
09:00 – 09:10: Introductory remarks
- Catherine Naughton, Executive Director, EDF
- Jenny Lay-Flurrie, Chief Accessibility Officer, Microsoft
- Nanna-Louise Linde, Vice President, European Government Affairs, Microsoft
09:10 – 09:25: Keynote
- Minister Rob Beenders, Belgian Minister of Consumer Protection, the fight against Social Fraud, Persons with Disabilities and Equal Opportunities.
09:25 – 10:30: The European Accessibility Act: National Enforcement in Focus
How are regulators from different EU countries enforcing the EAA? What does industry need to know? What are regulators expecting from businesses? What will be the role of consumers?
Moderator: Alli Hirt, Director of Accessibility Compliance, Microsoft
- Dr. Donal Fitzpatrick, Senior Advisor for the EAA, National Disability Authority (Ireland)
- Hanneke van Rooijen, Senior Enforcement Officer, Department for Consumer Protection, Authority for Consumers and Markets (Netherlands)
- Mia Ahlgren, Policy Officer, The Swedish Disability Rights Federation (Sweden)
- Dir & Prof. Dr. Thomas Alexander, Head of Division 2 “Products and Work Systems”, BAuA (Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) – Germany
10:30 – 11:00: Coffee Break
11:00 – 12:00: AI for Accessibility
Examining how AI can be both a tool for inclusion and a risk if not designed inclusively. What does responsible innovation look like for people with disabilities?
Moderator: Alejandro Moledo, European Disability Forum, Deputy Director and Head of Policy
- Ana Carla Pereira, Director ‘Equality and Non-Discrimination’, DG Justice & Consumers, European Commission
- Jenny Lay-Flurrie, Chief Accessibility Officer, Microsoft
12:00 – 12:05 Update on the Equitable AI Alliance
David will introduce the Equitable AI Alliance, an initiative of the Zero Project and the Seneca Trust. The Alliance brings together technology companies, persons with disabilities, their representative organisations and researchers to highlight the opportunities that AI offers and the challenges and risks to be addressed in developing and implementing AI Applications designed for, or inclusive of, persons with a disability. The introduction will share our work to date, our strategy, and invite attendees to engage and contribute to the alliance as we advance.
- David Banes, Chair, the Equitable AI Alliance
12:00 – 13:30 Lunch
13:30 – 14:00: Imagining the Future of Technology Through Lived Experience
A conversation with Cecily Morrison on disability and designing AI that reflects every individual
- Dr Cecily Morrison, Senior Principal Researcher Manager, Microsoft Research Cambridge
14:00 – 15:00: Accessibility and Public Procurement
Discussing how public procurement can drive the adoption of accessible products and services. The conversation will focus on the the obligations under the European Accessibility Act and the priorities in the upcoming revision of the public procurement directive.
Moderator: Thomas Bignal, Secretary General of European Association of Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD)
- Inmaculada Placencia, Disability Expert, European Commission
- Peter Kemeny, Lead Technical Report for Public Procurement, ACCICT Project
- Stephanie Cadieux, Chief Accessibility Officer Government of Canada
- Lucia Cojocaru, Head of the Sustainability and Accessibility Policy Unit, European Parliament
15:00 – 15:30: Coffee Break
15:30 – 16:15: Inclusive Learning: Accessibility in Higher Education
Discussing how universities and higher education institutions are embedding accessibility in learning environments, digital platforms, and curricula.
- Dr Klaus Miesenberger, Head of Institute, Johannes Kepler University Linz
- Lydia Vlagsma, Chair of EDF Youth Committee
16:15 – 17:00: Accessibility in Video Games
Exploring how the gaming industry is embracing accessibility – from design choices to assistive features – and what more can be done to make gaming inclusive for all.
- Xander Ashwell, Director for Accessibility & User Experience, Rare Ltd (Xbox Game Studios)
- Topher Winward, Software Engineer, Rare Ltd
Followed by cocktail reception for in-person participants.
Online participants will receive a link to a course on Digital Skilling for People with Disabilities, which they can explore during the lunch break or at their leisure.
Meet the speakers
Keynote – Minister Rob Beenders
Rob Beenders is Belgium’s federal Minister of Consumer Affairs, Social Fraud, Equal Opportunities, and Persons with Disabilities. Throughout his career, he advocated for accessibility and inclusion, working to ensure that people with disabilities can participate fully in society. Before his current role, he served as Director of Global Public Advocacy at Cochlear, where he championed hearing health and equitable access to assistive technologies. With experience in both politics and the private sector, he has helped shape policies that make public spaces, services, and communication more inclusive. He has also authored books such as “Mijn Hoorreis”, “Gezien en Gehoord”, and “Lukas hoort Erbij”, which highlight his ongoing commitment to breaking down barriers for people with hearing impairments.
Alli Hirt
Alli is the Director of Accessibility Compliance at Microsoft, where she leads the company’s internal program to ensure that products and services meet or exceed global accessibility standards. She holds a degree in Computer Science Engineering from the University of Michigan and began her career at Microsoft as a software engineer in 2010, contributing to widely used applications such as Word and Excel. With nearly a decade of experience in digital accessibility, Alli is dedicated to driving cross-company collaboration and innovation to make Microsoft solutions accessible to all.
Alejandro Moledo
Alejandro Moledo leads and coordinates EDF’s advocacy and policy work at EU level and supports the work of the European Parliament Disability Intergroup. Among other areas, Mr. Moledo’s work has included political participation of persons with disabilities, accessible Information and Communication Technologies, Assistive Technologies and different standardisation activities
Ana Carla Pereira
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.
Catherine Naughton
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.
Dr Cecily Morrison
Dr Cecily Morrison, MBE is a senior principal research manager at Microsoft Research in Cambridge. She co-leads the Teachable AI experiences team which aims to innovate new human-AI interactions that bring us to a more inclusive society. She has worked on Code Jumper, PeopleLens and Find My Things experiences for people who are blind or low vision. She is currently working on how we improve disability representation in AI Imagine Generation models. Cecily was named on the Queens Birthday list in 2020, receiving an MBE for Inclusive Design.
David Banes, Chair, Equitable AI Alliance
David Banes is Chair of the Equitable AI Alliance, Director of David Banes Access and Inclusion Services and co-founder of Global Symbols, having previously led accessibility and assistive technology services in Europe and the Middle East. He now works across the globe, including projects in Africa and South Asia, to support access infrastructure from policy to practice.
He has a special interest in emerging technologies and their impact on people with disabilities, including the use of AI to augment communication, as well as the application of innovation to build resilient public services, such as those for people with disabilities.
David writes regularly on the tools and techniques, and recent publications include a working paper on the identity of digital assistive technologies, emerging technologies and the impact on universal design for learning, economic return on investment in AT, and the opportunities AI represents to persons with disabilities
Dr Donal Fitzpatrick
Dr. Donal Fitzpatrick is the Senior Advisor for the European Accessibility Act (EAA) with the Centre for Excellence in Universal Design (CEUD) at the National Disability Authority (NDA). He leads the NDA’s activities in respect of the European Accessibility Act, including work on the revision of standard EN 301549. Dr. Fitzpatrick also engages in activities across the broader field of Universal Design for ICT products and services.
Hanneke van Rooijen, Msc
Hanneke van Rooijen (MSc) works as a senior enforcement officer at the department for consumer protection at the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM). The ACM is the Dutch enforcement agency on the accessibility of e-commerce services and electronic communication services. Hanneke is coordinator of the supervisory field on digital accessibility and works with a multidisciplinary team on the oversight of companies that fall under the EAA.
Inmaculada Placencia Porrero
Inmaculada Placencia Porrero is a Senior Expert in Disability and Inclusion at Directorate-General on Justice at the European Commission. Her unit is responsible for the coordination of European policies for persons with disabilities. She works on European disability policies including the Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030 and the EU implementation of the UNCRPD. Inmaculada holds a degree in Physics and Computer Science and worked in research and development before joining The European Commission in 1991. She was responsible for the Task Force for the preparation of the European Accessibility Act and remains responsible since its adoption in 2015. In June 2024 she was elected as a member of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Jenny Lay-Flurrie
Jenny Lay-Flurrie is Chief Accessibility Officer at Microsoft, leading the company’s efforts to drive great products, services and websites that empower people and organizations to achieve more. Her team is at the forefront of creating positive change, from how we hire and support people with disabilities in employment to innovative technology that aims to revolutionize what’s possible for people with disabilities.
Jenny Lay-Flurrie founded the Disability Employee Resource Group at Microsoft and chaired it for 10 years. She created the Disability Answer Desk and hosts the annual Microsoft Ability Summit. Instrumental in projects such as Autism Hiring Program, Soundscape and the Microsoft Ability Hackathon. Lay-Flurrie was nominated as a technology groundbreaker by CEO Satya Nadella in Wired Magazine, and is a contributor to the book, “The Ability Hacks”.
Outside of Microsoft, Jenny is the current board chair of Disability:IN and is on the board of Gallaudet University and Team Gleason. Was recognized as a ‘Disability Employment Champion of Change’ by the White House in October 2014 and as one of Fast Companies Most Creative people in business in 2017.
Dr Klaus Miesenberger
Head of Institute Integriert Studieren. R&D and teaching in Computer Science: Assistive Technology, Accessibility, Design for All, Usability, Human-Computer Interaction, Socio-technical Inclusion. Founder/CEO of JKU’s Service Centre for Students with Disabilities. 250+ peer-reviewed publications and 150+ R&D grants. Chair ICCHP (Int. Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs). Scientific Chair CSUN Journal on Technology and Disability. Founder/chair ICC Summer school for disabled university beginners. Founder/chair Regional Competence Centre IT for People with disabilities. Founder/chair BookAccess (Accessible teaching/learning materials). Past-President and secretariat of AAATE. A Expert for the European Commission and the Austrian Government for AT, Accessibility and eInclusion. Austrian board of Light for the world.
Lydia Vlagsma
Lydia works for Ieder(in), a national umbrella organisation of around 200 disability advocacy organisations in the Netherlands. She is a policy advisor in the field of higher education and the UNCRPD. Since 2022, she has been a member of the EDF Youth Committee and currently she is one of its two cochairs.
Lucia Cojocaru
Head of the Sustainability and Accessibility Policy Unit at the European Parliament.
I have over 20 years of experience in working within the European Parliament, specializing in strategy and policy setting, administrative leadership, and institutional transformation. I have also held pivotal roles in legislative support activities and EU budgetary policy. In 2019 I have joined the Directorate-General for Infrastructure and Logistics, where I was mainly overseeing various cross-cutting initiatives. Since 2023, I am coordinating the DG’s environmental management system and guiding the harmonised implementation of the Policy on the physical accessibility of the European Parliament.
Mia Ahlgren
Mia Ahlgren is a human rights and disability policy officer at the Swedish Disability Rights Federation, representing the national umbrella for organisations of persons with disabilities. She is coordinating national civil society monitoring of the implementation of the CRPD.
Mia has been an active member in the network for ICT and emerging technologies of the European Disability Forum for over 20 years. She is a member of the Swedish Standards Consumers and Workers Council that promotes and fund NGO participation in national standardisation. She has been an expert in accessibility standardisation activities since 2005. This includes past and present European mandates on accessibility standards related to legislation, the ITU Focus Group on Media Accessibility, ISO20400 Sustainable Procurement, and the Canadian committee on Accessible and equitable AI systems.
Mia Ahlgren has an academic background in Journalism, Political Science, Universal Design, ICT, Media and Learning.
Nanna-Louise Linde
Nanna-Louise Linde is Microsoft’s Vice President of European Government Affairs with responsibility for Microsoft’s government affairs and public policy work across Europe since September 2022. Nanna-Louise leads a team of government affairs professionals tasked with strengthening Microsoft’s external relations with the EU institutions and governments across Europe and ensuring the company is a constructive partner in supporting policy makers in Europe achieve their goals and adapting smart legislation.
A competition lawyer by training, Nanna-Louise brings with her almost two decades of experience at Microsoft. She has led Microsoft’s Corporate External & Legal Affairs team in 32 countries in Central and Eastern Europe, responsible for legal matters and relations with governments and other authorities. Prior to that, she was leading Government Affairs for Microsoft in Western Europe. Nanna-Louise and her teams have helped Microsoft build important partnerships with governments in Europe and position Microsoft as a trusted partner to EU institutions and governments in the region.
Nanna-Louise is known to be a modern leader who empowers her team and facilitates cross country and cross group collaboration with a transparent and authentic approach.
Peter Kemeny
Peter Kemeny is an accessibility consultant working in Luxembourg. He started to work with accessibility 10 years ago, at the European Commission, and was there at the birth of the Web Accessibility Directive. He has a thorough knowledge of EU accessibility legislation, but also participates in accessibility projects and technical accessibility work. Before working with accessibility, he used to work with public procurement.
One of his roles is being the Lead of the “AccICT” project team, developing a guidance for the European Standardisation Organisations about procuring accessible ICT – and how the EAA cand the standards can be used for that.
Stephanie Cadieux
In May 2022, Stephanie Cadieux was appointed to a four-year term as Canada’s first Chief Accessibility Officer (CAO). Before her appointment, she was a member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia for 13 years, from 2009 to 2022.
She is a member of the disability community and has used a wheelchair since the age of 18. Her lived experience gives her a deep understanding of the unnecessary barriers faced by people with disabilities and the cost of these barriers to our collective wellbeing.
Throughout her career, she has been a tireless advocate for increased accessibility.
She is a firm believer that as a society, we can no longer afford to accommodate inaccessibility and must challenge outdated mindsets and unconscious bias at every opportunity.
Dir & Prof. Dr. Thomas Alexander
Dir. & Prof. Dr. Thomas Alexander is head of Division 2 – Product and Work Systems – at the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA). Prior to this, he has worked for 26 years at the Fraunhofer Society in various positions. Dr. Alexander has originally studied safety engineering and obtained his MSc in 1994, and his PhD in engineering (Dr.-Ing.) in 2002. In 2004 and 2005 he has been Visiting Scientist at the NASA Ames Research Center, CA, USA. Since 2021, he is also Vice President of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA), the global umbrella organization for the national human factors and ergonomics societies. Dr. Alexander has been involved in many national, European and international initiatives and activities and is member of multiple committees addressing occupational safety. His current research topics range from product and machine safety, physical factors of the working environment, ergonomics, digitalization and artificial intelligence and safe and healthy work in times of climate change. Barrier-free design of products and services, and differential work design are in the center of his interest.
Thomas Bignal
Thomas Bignal is Secretary General of the European Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD). EASPD is a European umbrella network representing over 20.000 organisations across 41 countries active in the field of care and support, employment and training, education, assistive technology and other forms of services. Thomas has been active at EU level for close to 15 years and has particular expertise in areas related to disability rights, social services, social economy and social dialogue. Thomas has a Master’s degree in International Law and speaks English and French fluently.
Topher Winward
Topher Winward is a software engineer and accessibility advocate at Rare, working on projects like Sea Of Thieves. In addition to building scalable cloud services, Topher has led teams to develop award winning accessibility features such as Nautical Narration and Custom Text Overlay, designed to bring in-game features to those who otherwise would be missing out on the fun.
Beyond technical contributions, Topher advocates for a culture of inclusive design across the studio. He leads monthly accessibility catch-ups open to all levels of experience, coaches designers on inclusive practises, and organizes the annual Accessmas campaign; a week-long studio-wide event focused on learning, sharing, and advancing accessibility in games.
Stephanie Cadieux
In May 2022, Stephanie Cadieux was appointed to a four-year term as Canada’s first Chief Accessibility Officer (CAO). Before her appointment, she was a member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia for 13 years, from 2009 to 2022.
She is a member of the disability community and has used a wheelchair since the age of 18. Her lived experience gives her a deep understanding of the unnecessary barriers faced by people with disabilities and the cost of these barriers to our collective wellbeing.
Throughout her career, she has been a tireless advocate for increased accessibility. She is a firm believer that as a society, we can no longer afford to accommodate inaccessibility and must challenge outdated mindsets and unconscious bias at every opportunity.
Xander Ashwell, Director for Accessibility & User Experience, Rare Ltd. (Xbox Game Studios)
Xander Ashwell (he/him) believes in the magic of storytelling, the joy of shared adventure, and the power of inclusion in online spaces. For the past decade he’s been turning that belief into practice, helping to make Sea of Thieves and other Rare titles easier to play, learn and love for players with a diverse range of needs. As Director of Accessibility & User Experience at Rare (Xbox Game Studios), Xander brings human diversity and player stories into the heart of development, co‑creating with disabled players, championing clear UX, and building a culture of inclusive design.