Access Bristol 2025

I would strongly recommend to any founder at any stage in their journey, but especially at the beginning, that they take part in online and in person conferences and networking events if they are able. Taking part in events like this has allowed me to meet other founders to collaborate with and opened doors to present at further national and international conferences.

Here is a recent example of how going to a conference led to an amazing opportunity. In September I attended the DARCI conference at the University of York, which focuses on disability representation in the creative industries. DARCI brings together academic and industry researchers and creatives, with an emphasis on platforming practitioners with disabilities. I met so many interesting people and learned about incredible work on accessibility taking place in Yorkshire and across the world, including as York’s Enhancing Audio Description project.

I will go into my experience at DARCI in more detail in future posts, but I wanted to set the scene. I also met Dr Kyle Keane there, a physicist and accessibility specialist who taught at MIT and now works at the University of Bristol to make technology more accessible to those with disabilities, particularly blind and visually impaired users. He kindly invited me to speak at Access Bristol, a fantastic event at the University of Bristol that brings together researchers, students, disabled communities and access companies to explore inclusive design and spark new access projects between the university, its students and invited companies. The event is organised by Dr Kyle Keane, Brook Morris, Thomas Evans and the rest of the Access Bristol team.

It was wonderful to meet a fellow visually impaired software developer who is passionate about improving technical accessibility for people with a wide range of eye conditions and beyond. To say I admire Kyle’s technical skill and his ability to hold a room while remaining a humble host is an understatement. It is very clear that the Access Bristol team care deeply about everyone presenting and attending, and that they want to encourage collaboration between existing access technology companies and students who are beginning their journey in accessibility research.

I presented alongside my technical partner John from Red Nought on our game engines, Hodr and Baldr, which are designed so that people of any sight condition or technical experience can create videogames. I only wish I could have spoken to everyone in that room. Please have a look at the Access Bristol website to see who was presenting and to learn about their incredible work. Here is a brief run through of some of the amazing moments and presentations that I would encourage anyone to look up.

One of the many highlights for me was meeting Professor Tony Stockman from Queen Mary University of London. He is an academic in human computer interaction and auditory interfaces, and his work explores how sound and non visual feedback can be used so that blind and visually impaired people can access complex information and software. As a blind academic at the top of his field, he is a powerful example that you do not need sight to have vision. In Tony’s own words, “I cannot see and I am able to do the job.”

I also enjoyed a presentation from the team behind the University of Sheffield’s Hackcessible programme. This assistive technology innovation challenge supports disabled people to work with students and researchers to solve access barriers. I particularly appreciate their emphasis on working alongside disabled collaborators. When you work with people who have first hand experience of a challenge, the resulting product is shaped by direct knowledge and care, rather than being created for disabled people at a distance. For me, that is where the real impact lies: working with disabled founders and innovators, not simply designing for them.

Another highlight was hearing from Smartbox, a company that creates communication aids and software such as the Grid platform. The Grid allows people who cannot rely on natural speech to communicate using eye tracking and to control smart devices through accessible interfaces. Smartbox supports the independence of many people who rely on augmentative and alternative communication.

The presentations closed with a speech from Alice Sheppard, an extraordinary disabled dancer and choreographer who uses wheelchair movement in her practice. In her words, “My dance is not about overcoming. Disability is at the heart of the creative force.” She also shared images of herself literally flying across the stage in her wheelchair which is so awesome!

One of the biggest highlights of the trip was meeting the Bristol students, including Tanish Raorane. From our conversations and from testing his work, it was clear that Tanish would be a powerful solo developer or a fantastic member of any team that wants to build software with a life changing impact, like the technology on display at Access Bristol.

This level of representation within accessibility technology, across different disabilities and disciplines, was very moving for me as a registered blind founder. It showed how welcoming the accessibility technology space is, and how committed people are to supporting one another and working together to create and improve tools for everyone.

Thank you to Access Bristol for organising this event, and to Dr Kyle Keane for hosting me throughout the trip. Your work is a vital part of pushing technology towards a future that works for all of us.

Freya Shaw

25th November 2025