A Common Ground for Accessibility Interpretation - Certification as Award Criteria or Obligation?

Susanna Laurin moderates a panel of distinguished European experts will discuss the need for consistency, and whether the harmonised regulations are leading to increased cross border-offerings of accessibility goods and services.

Panelists:

June Lowery Kingston is Head of Unit and Deputy to the Director at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content & Technology (DG CNECT). She has worked for the EU institutions in Luxembourg for the past 25 years in a wide variety of fields. Her current responsibilities include web accessibility, language technology and online safety for children, and she is the CNECT equality coordinator. She is passionate about her job, and making the digital world more accessible, inclusive, and safer for minors.

Mr. 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 has developed policy positions and recommendations regarding political participation of persons with disabilities, accessible Information and Communication Technologies, Assistive Technologies and different standardisation activities.

Mr. Moledo holds a Bachelor's degree with honours in Journalism from University of Valencia (Spain, 2005-2010), including one year at York University (Canada), as well as a Master's degree in political and corporate communication from University of Navarra and George Washington University (Spain and US, 2011-2012). During his bachelor’s studies he worked as communication officer for a political group within the parliament of the Valencia Region (2009 and 2010). After working as a journalist in digital media and a communication agency in Andorra, he started working in a European public affairs company (Madrid) in 2012, before joining the European Disability Forum in 2013.

Mr Moledo is also member of the Spanish Blind Organisation (ONCE), for which he worked as a journalist and regional representative of young visually impaired people inside the organisation (2008-2011).

Shadi Abou-Zahra works with the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) as the Accessibility Strategy and Technology Specialist. He coordinates accessibility priorities in the W3C Strategy team, as well as international promotion, coordination, and harmonization of web accessibility standards. Shadi also maintains WAI liaisons with key stakeholders including disability, research, and standards organizations, as well as coordinates WAI outreach in Europe, accessibility evaluation techniques, and European-funded projects on accessibility.

Gary Moore is CEO at AbilityNet, a UK-based charity focussing on technology and disability. AbilityNet is a leading provider of digital accessibility services; it also produces TechShare Pro, the largest conference devoted to the topic in the EU. Throughout a commercial career in the networks and datacentre industry (BT, O2, Colt), Gary also developed experience in the charity sector through a City of London organisation (Information Technologists’ Company Charity), where he is a trustee.

Dr. Gottfried Zimmermann is professor of mobile user interaction at the Stuttgart Media University, Germany. He is passionate for digital accessibility in research, teaching and standardization. Leading the Competence Center on Digital Accessibility at Stuttgart Media University, he is involved in various research projects on personalized user interfaces and "inclusive responsiveness". He is an ACM Senior Member, and author of numerous publications and international standards.

Alejandro Rodríguez-Ascaso is a lecturer at the Department of Artificial Intelligence at the Spanish National Distance Learning University (UNED). His main teaching and research interests are in the area of adaptive and open learning resources, as well as ICT mediated support for personal autonomy. He is leading the Fundación ONCE Channel at UNED, which offers MOOC-based training on Universal Design.

As Chief Research and Innovation Officer at Funka, Susanna Laurin manages a team of accessibility experts in Stockholm, Sweden.

Susanna has brought a strong international presence to IAAP and her efforts lead to the creation of the first IAAP international chapter that was chartered in 2017. Her guidance and leadership has made the IAAP Nordic Chapter a great success.

Susanna’s 20 years’ experience in working with disability-related issues has made her a great asset to IAAP and she currently an Honorary Chair of the IAAP Global Leadership Council, and serves as the IAAP EU Representative.