axe-con 2025 Agenda

All sessions will have live captions and ASL provided.

Tuesday February 25

Tuesday February 25

Time	Keynotes
9:00am	Opening Keynote: Alice Wong Alice Wong, Glenda Sims,
10:00am	The State of Accessibility Preety Kumar,

Time	Development	Design	Organizational Success with Accessibility	Wildcard	Pre-Conference
11:00am	A solution for the visual and source order disconnect Rachel Andrew,	Inclusive Design Patterns For 2025 Vitaly Friedman,	Accessibility Maturity Models Matthew Luken, Jenn Evans,	The Digital Accessibility Legal Landscape Lainey Feingold,
12:00pm	Unlocking the Cloud for Everyone: Accessibility in Google Cloud Suji Sreerama,	Practical Strategies for Accessible Design Eric Zirlinger,	Journey from Idea to Impact: Cultivating A11yCode Champions Gouri Khanvilkar, Julia Cotton,	No, Seriously, F*ck Engagement: Building a More Human Web David Dylan Thomas,
1:00pm	The Future of axe Tools Dylan Barrell,	User Personas: designing for users with disabilities Madison Russell, Nicola Richardson,	Upgrade Your Training Program: A Data-Driven Approach Giovani Camara, Carrie Farber, Nhi Nguyen,	Level Up Your Career: How to Become an Accessibility Unicorn November Champion,
2:00pm	Debugging for Accessibility with the Accessibility Tree Corina Murg,	The Usability Blind Spot: Why Accessibility does not always mean usable Seneca Wilson,	Building an Accessible Digital Workplace: Lessons from Salesforce’s Internal Digital Accessibility Program Crystal Preston-Watson,	Accessibility in the age of social media influence Koya Tyson, Surbhi Lohia,

Wednesday February 26

Time	Keynotes
9:00am	European Accessibility Act (EAA) Keynote Inmaculada Placencia Porrero, Alejandro Moledo,

Time	Development	Design	Organizational Success with Accessibility	Wildcard	Pre-Conference
10:00am	But…Why? Melanie Sumner,	Design For Everyone Laura Kalbag,	What it really takes: Building an Accessibility-first Corporate Culture Lesley Hanlin,	Accessibility beyond WCAG: EAA & EN 301 549 Wilco Fiers, Shadi Abou-Zahra,
11:00am	Shift Left: Crafting a Rock-Solid Accessibility Workflow for Beginners Ben Allen,	Designing for neurodiversity Craig Abbott,	When your role has you spinning plates and all you can hear is the sounds of smashing crockery. Neil Milliken,	The Fallacy of Balance: Challenging the Notion of Security and Accessibility as Opposing Objectives Faith Obafemi, Aliyu Yisa,
12:00pm	Speed without Sacrifice: Building an Accessibility-First Culture in Agile Teams John Sweet,	From Parts to Whole – Beyond Design System Sayali Bharambe,	From Strategy to Action: a practical guide to moving your organization forward Enid Brown,	From AI Chats to Beyond: Building Our Accessibility Research Program Feriyal Hallajarani, Zenab Khan,
1:00pm	Navigating the European Accessibility Act (EAA) for Mobile Applications Rachael Yomtoob,	Write accessible documentation Alexandra Klepper,	Panel: Digital Accessibility in Higher Education Mark Nichols, Suzanne Harrison,	Unboxing Accessibility: The Dangers of a Restricted View Michele Williams,
2:00pm	Building accessible components with Storybook Michael Shilman,	Centering neurodiversity for better product experiences Laurel Franciose,	Strategies that influence change – How thoughtful design leadership transformed Accessibility from a feature to a fundamental in our product process Jency Francis, Kristin Harvey,	3 Dimensions for Inclusive and Accessible AI Ailsa Leen,
3:00pm	Automation Gains: Increasing what can be automated in accessibility testing Harris Schneiderman,	Incorporating Accessibility into SEQ Usability Testing: Designing for Inclusive Experiences Rebecca Topps, Alison Williams,	Starbucks growth in Digital Accessibility Leveraging self-paced and live Training for Partners (Employees) Carol Gardiner, Amy Salmon, Frank Fuoco,	Burnout, Bullsh*t, and Broken Systems: Surviving Digital Accessibility in the Trenches Kevin Andrews,

Thursday February 27

Time	Keynotes
2:00pm	Closing Keynote: Jim LeBrecht Jim LeBrecht, Patrick Sturdivant,

Time	Development	Design	Organizational Success with Accessibility	Wildcard	Pre-Conference
9:00am	Axe innovations: AI in next-gen accessibility tools Wilco Fiers, Noé Barrell,	Typographer vs. Accessibility Oliver Schöndorfer,	Organizational Success with Accessibility Track Keynote Mystery Speaker – Coming soon!,	It is designed to break your heart: Cultivating a harm reduction mindset as an accessibility practitioner Eric Bailey,
10:00am	The State of Mobile App Accessibility in 2025 Mark Steadman, Ben Ogilvie,	Considering the ‘Human’ in Human-Centered Design Maya Sellon,	Digital Accessibility as a Professional Responsibility: People, Product, Process and Positioning Ronise Nepomuceno,	Current trends at the Intersection of Artificial Intelligence and Blindness and Low Vision Sarahelizabeth Baguhn,
11:00am	Testing Products for Accessibility: Why Manual and Automated Testing Go Hand-in-Hand John Caplinger,	Designing consent: how accessible are cookie notices? Sara Kjellstrand, Malin Hammarberg,	Implementation of EAA in a state-owned enterprise Hanna Fredholm,	Influencing Without Authority: A Pep Talk for Accessibility Advocates Kai Wong,
12:00pm	It’s Alive! Facing The Monsters Of Accessible Live Regions Daniel Yuschick,	10 Neurodiversity Experience Heuristics Natashia Tjandra, Faith McGee,	Building Accessibility into the Software Development Lifecycle: Roles and Responsibilities of the Project Team Simon Ellis,	TV for All: Breaking Barriers to Accessibility on Connected Devices Xueheng Wang, Olivier Fortin,
1:00pm	Trusted Tester v5.1.3: Enhancing Your Web Accessibility Certification Journey Dominique Wheeler,	Creating Inclusive Websites with Plain Language Jay Brite, Jackie Pysarchuk,	Holding Vendors Accountable – Designing your own accessibility vendor monitoring program Jaunita George, Jason Page,	Innovating Neuroinclusion: Building Accessible Digital Experiences for Neurodivergent Users Piper Hutson,