Speakers

Dr. Michele A. Williams is the author of "Accessible UX Research" and owner of M.A.W. Consulting, LLC – Making Accessibility Work. With 20 years of experience, she has influenced top tech companies as a Senior User Experience (UX) Researcher and Accessibility Specialist.

She holds a PhD in Human-Centered Computing with a focus on accessibility and is a W3C-WAI Invited Expert, international speaker, published academic author, and patented inventor. Michele is passionate about designing technology that does not exclude disabled users and about building a research culture that centers disability equity.

Doug Schepers has experience with project management for SVG, web apps, web audio at W3C for a decade, where they recognized the need for accessible data visualizations.

Doug founded Fizz Studio to advocate for accessible dataviz while consulting with major companies to improve their charts. Fizz Studio also developed inclusive chart software.

Homer Gaines is a designer, UI engineer, and certified accessibility professional with over 30 years of experience. With a background in behavioural psychology and neurology, his focus is on leading, promoting, and advancing accessibility at every stage in the product development lifecycle.

Quintin Balsdon has a background in Android development. He fell in love with Accessibility in 2020 and loves playing with tech to make things more accessible.

Quintin likes all things native mobile, the Internet of Things, test driven development and automation.

Pooja Joshi is a writer, producer, and stand-up comic who thrives on telling bold, people-focused stories. She has performed for 500-strong crowds, trained an ensemble cast of 20 actors on a feature film, and jumped from 20,000 feet—because why not?

With a film degree from York University and drama training in Toronto and Mumbai, She brings a fearless, resourceful, and can-do mindset to every project—always seeking the story in the unexpected.

Navya is a Senior Software Engineer at Adobe, specializing in JavaScript, frontend frameworks, and accessible web experiences.

As a tech speaker, She has shared insights on accessibility, web technologies, and GraphQL at global conferences. When Navya isn't coding or speaking, you’ll probably find her geeking out over UI patterns—with a strong coffee in hand.

Morgan is a Senior Accessibility Engineer at Indeed. She began her engineering journey nine years ago when she noticed the sites her sister was navigating were difficult to navigate with assistive technology.

With a design background and strong will, she switched her career to help build better, accessible sites. Since then, she has contributed to building out accessible design systems, too many emails, and understanding what really gets people to change and write better code.

Mike Mai is an expert in design systems, web accessibility, HTML/CSS, and typography. His design philosophy is rooted in a fundamental understanding of the web. Mike's passion for typography, cultivated during my BFA in Graphic Design at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, directly informed my decision to pursue web design professionally. He considers typography to be the most critical foundation of any website, given its text-centric nature, making typeface selection and typesetting my first order of business on any new projects.

Mike firmly believes that design is about solving problems, a principle instilled by a formative mentor. This conviction drove his path to specializing in accessible web design. While strong typographic forms are important, they must be balanced with robust function and an intuitive user experience. He is committed to ensuring all his designs are usable, useful, and truly inclusive.

Josh Hetrick is an accessibility-first designer based in Portland, Oregon. He has led accessible design programs at multiple companies, including Cvent and Discogs.

Josh also co-organizes the Portland User Experience & Accessibility Meetup. Beyond the screen, He is a community activist for safer (and funner!) transportation, volunteering with community groups such as Shift and Bike Loud PDX.

Ina Tsvetkova is a Senior Advisor in Digital Accessibility and Inclusive Design at the Norwegian Labor and Welfare Administration (NAV). She is a Certified Professional in Web Accessibility (CPWA), an Advisory Board member in the IAAP Nordic Chapter, a certified Trusted Tester and an ISTQB Advanced Level Test Manager and Test Analyst.

Ina advises on all areas of digital accessibility in the product development lifecycle process, including planning, design, development, testing, and procurement. She has also participated in two Norwegian standards about accessibility in the procurement process and accessibility in the workplace, as well as the European standard "Accessible systems for living independently.

Albert Gareev is an accessibility advocate, poet, and systems thinker whose work bridges the technical, the human, and the creative. With over 20 years of experience in digital systems design, testing, and quality assurance, Albert is known for crafting inclusive digital experiences that don't just meet compliance—but connect with real people.

A self-described “writer-engineer”, Albert blends his technical expertise with deep empathy and poetic storytelling. His approach—equal parts rigour and reflection—has earned him recognition in both professional and creative communities. As a non-native English speaker and immigrant, he brings a unique perspective to the accessibility space, championing cognitive diversity and inclusive communication.

Eric is an accessibility advocate, writer, developer, and speaker.

Everett Zufelt is VP of Strategic Partnerships & Emerging Technology at Orium and author of "Humans + Agents." As an Agentic Systems Strategist, he demystifies agentic AI and helps organizations build partnerships where human judgment and agent autonomy amplify one another.

As a blind technologist with over 20 years of lived experience, Everett brings a uniquely inclusive lens to technology development. His perspective helps uncover unseen barriers early and guides solutions that raise the bar for all users, not just the majority.

Daniel Dafoe is a seasoned design engineer who currently leads accessibility engineering for Apple’s online store. With a background in design systems, front-end development, and inclusive design, he brings a unique blend of technical rigour and uncompromising user experience thinking to his work. Daniel has taught the next generation of web professionals as a professor at George Brown College, helped shape an accessible design system at RBC Digital as a design technologist, and spent many years crafting elegant, user-friendly web experiences as a front-end engineer. Known for his playful and engaging presentation style, Daniel leaves audiences both intrigued and empowered with lasting knowledge.

After more than a decade leading service design and innovation projects across the private, public, and civic sectors, Hitomi Yokota became a licensed Psychotherapist. She now bridges design and mental health by bringing trauma-informed care principles into design and research practices. Through her teaching and consulting, Hitomi helps practitioners embed accessibility, inclusion, ethics, and emotional safety into their work, reshaping how we engage with people in sensitive, equity-driven contexts.

Stewart Hay is the Managing Director and one of the co-founders of Intopia, a specialist inclusive design and accessibility consultancy working towards creating a more inclusive digital world. He is also one of the original founders for A11y Bytes and A11y Camp Australia.

He has made a career helping organisations to successfully embrace technology for improved business and social outcomes. Stewart has a passion in the convergence of topics around strategy, innovation, technology, culture, diversity and inclusion.