10:30–11:15
Tech as Cognitive Accessibility: Designing Systems for ADHD Brains
Many digital systems assume stable attention, reliable working memory, and consistent executive function. These assumptions create barriers for many neurodivergent people.
This talk explores how everyday technology can function as cognitive accessibility infrastructure when intentionally configured. Instead of focusing on productivity tools or behavioural strategies, the session reframes executive function challenges as accessibility design problems.
Drawing on real-world system examples, the talk introduces three concepts for designing cognitive accessibility systems and considers how accessibility principles such as those found in WCAG can translate into practical accommodations in everyday environments.
- Accommodations: Configuring technology to reduce cognitive load and support executive function through automation triggers, environmental cues, and memory externalisation.
- Observability: Using behavioural signals already generated by devices, such as screen time data, smart home activity logs, and routine patterns, to make invisible cognitive effort visible and identify where systems are breaking down.
- Feedback Loops: Designing systems that learn from failure rather than hiding it, so accommodations can be monitored, adjusted, and improved over time without requiring constant manual effort.
This session offers a shift in perspective from “using tools better” to designing systems that actively support the way people think, remember, and act.
- Eleanor Beilby
11:30–12:15
Charm and R-E-S-P-E-C-T your users with accessible delights
Erik and Daniel will bust the myth that accessible design is old, boring and ugly. Showing examples of charming interfaces using modern techniques. You will learn that CSS is fun and powerful to enhance the user experience and still respect the users needs.
Hands on code examples on how to respect your users settings such as:
- Dark mode
- Reduced motion
- Increased contrast
- Text resize
You will learn
- Know which CSS techniques you can use in production today.
- Replace a lot of JavaScript with modern techniques.
- Progressive enhancement that has accessibility in mind.
- Basic accessibility and user understanding.
Target audience
Developers, QA and UI/UX will benefit most from this session but it is valuable to any role to know what is possible with great accessibility in mind.
- Erik Gustafsson Spagnoli, Daniel Göransson
13:30–14:15
Heading level million - multiple modalities of expressing the semantic web
When designing a <h1> element, we often expect to hear “heading level 1”. Is that the only possible outcome? What if we could express semantic properties through sounds, a change in voice or even Braille shapes? Should developers seize control of such representations or leave it all to the users?
In this presentation we will take a look at features offered by screen readers that enhance the output of semantic properties traditionally expressed by brief spoken announcements.
Topics covered in the talk include:
- sound cues as a passive form of digesting information.
- change in voice properties such as speed, pitch and volume.
- equivalent representation on a Braille display.
- existing implementations in the most popular screen readers.
- Customization by developers vs. letting the user be in charge.
- Attempts at standardizing different modalities through initiatives such as the CSS Speech proposal.
Participants will leave the presentation equipped with a new perspective of perceiving web content and ideas for considerations when designing accessible interfaces.
- Paweł Masarczyk
14:30–15:15
Ready for the Standard Update: A Deep Dive into EN 301 549 V4.1.0
With ETSI’s planned publication in October 2026, EN 301 549 V4.1.0 will become the new harmonized EU standard. This session provides a deep dive into the critical changes from V3.2.1 and offers practical testing procedures for the WCAG 2.2 AA criteria to prepare for the 2026 transition.
The ETSI has set October 23, 2026, as the planned publication date for the revised EN 301 549 standard. For accessibility professionals, the time to prepare is now. This presentation dives into EN 301 549 V4.1.0 to analyze the significant updates from V3.2.1, including:
- Real-Time Text (RTT): Revised and extended requirements in Clause 6.2 to include “Total Conversation” capabilities
- WCAG 2.2 Integration: Updated requirements in Clauses 9, 10, and 11 to align fully with the WCAG 2.2 recommendations
- Annex ZA: A new annex outlining the relationship between the standard and the essential requirements of Directive 2016/2102 (WAD)
- Annex ZB: A new annex mapping the standard to the essential requirements of Directive 2019/882 (EAA)
- Clause A.2: A new addition enabling the evaluation of specific ICT products and services for conformance with the EAA
Participants will walk away with practical technical tools and insights into the V4.1.0 changes, ensuring they are ready for the update.
- Susie Ching Ying Chan
16:00–16:45
Implementing Accessibility in a Large Sales and Marketing Platform: From Individual Responsibility to Shared Ownership
Imagine working on a long-established web product and deciding to introduce accessibility. Where do you start?
This presentation gives a hands-on case study on growing accessibility expertise in cross-functional teams and shifting accessibility from an individual responsibility to a shared practice in complex, agile product environments.
The session shares how accessibility expertise was built organically within teams, how practices were embedded into a design system and agile processes, and how accessibility became part of everyday decision-making — from backlog and design to development and testing.
It also reflects on what worked, what could be done differently, and what it takes to build sustainable accessibility practices in complex product environments.
- Christiane Deneser
17:00–17:45
Accessibility, Grown Up: from compliance to capability
Exploring how we can move from reactive compliance like audit to embedded ownership, governance and measurable progress.
Most organisations don’t fail at accessibility because they lack good intentions. They fail because accessibility remains reactive, fragmented, and structurally unsupported.
This session explores how the Accessibility Maturity Model can help shift your organisation from ad-hoc compliance to embedded capability. Rather than focusing solely on technical fixes, we examine governance, procurement, culture, training, and accountability — the structural elements that determine whether accessibility becomes sustainable.
We’ll see common failure patterns, explore how to start assessing your current maturity, and how to design measurable, achievable progress. Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of how to move from firefighting to ownership — and how to make accessibility a more integral part of business as usual.
- Ronny Hendricks