ABOUT

I've been involved in Web Accessibility since working for the Cabinet Office on the transformation and road-map of the Government service delivery portal UK Online into Direct Gov (which is now Gov UK).

My interest in meeting disability needs using new technology stretches back to my MA major research and design project where I created a phonics teaching and learning tool aimed at kids with emotional/behavioural/learning difficulties and their teachers.

At Sapient my work with the Cabinet Office (and the Office of the e-Envoy) led to the creation of a W3C AAA rated site which was awarded the RNIB 'See It Right' accreditation two years running, a first for any Government site on both counts.

The project disclosed that making and maintaining a AAA sites, when compared to AA standards, delivered only tiny niched benefits, so the Government mandated AA as a standard for new UK Public Sector site. When the UK Government was in the EU presidency position, the same standard was mandated to all new European web sites.

The user acceptance testing programme we implemented was included as a best-in-class case study for the Government’s Handbook For Senior Managers when commissioning and managing web delivery


I set up London Accessibility Group Executive Representatives (LAGER) to store, share knowledge and promote good practice within Sapient, particularly the US– where Americans With Disabilities act was being linked with web services–and also EU offices.

At Ogilvy, Accessibility was unknown so I set up the Ogilvy London Accessibility Forum (Olaf). The decision was timely given that the Disability Discrimination Act was being given real legal 'teeth' and clients were expecting an expert level of knowledge from the company.

I designed the Olaf logo. The typographic ‘face’–inspired by screen reader technologies that convert text to voice, such as JAWS–represents audiences who were largely ignored or overlooked in the past.