2026

0 comments on "Oxford Annual Disability Lecture 2026: video, podcast and transcript"

In early June, Sarah Lewthwaite delivered the Oxford Annual Disability Lecture (“Digital Accessibility at the Crossroads: Infrastructure, AI, and the Future We Build“) at an online and in person event at Oxford’s Life and Mind Building.

The lecture is now available as a video (including BSL, captions), podcast, and transcript with alternative formats are available via https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/2026-disability-lecture

Screenshot of Sarah's presentation, with the title slide, and Sarah gesturing and a BSL interpreter, Mark Bennett, signing.

Sarah’s talk considered that state of digital accessibility in view of new laws committing to accessibility as a foundation for digital life, and recognising that accessibility must be built into systems and infrastructure from the start. Artificial intelligence, by contrast, does not have the same settled direction. AI has the potential to build and scale accessibility, but it also risks reinforcing patterns of exclusion and creating new ones if left unchecked. 

Hosted by the Disability and Neurodivergence Advisory Group and the Equality and Diversity Unit, Sarah explored contemporary answers to long-standing questions about who technology serves. How do we ensure our universities, workplaces and wider digital society are accessible to all? How do we make sure that lived experience of disability is recognised and valued in the design and development process? These questions are not new, but the scale, speed, and nature of AI demands new answers. Sarah’s talk will draw on current research into digital accessibility, accessibility education and AI. She will consider key issues, conceptual tools, and research-led routes for positive action.

0 comments on "Second AI and Accessibility Skills report published, June 2026"

Our new report examines critical perspectives on the impact of artificial intelligence on digital accessibility professional practice and skills development. Critical Approaches to AI and Accessibility Capacity Building was published on 1 June 2026.

The report documents insights from the second in a series of collaborative workshops on AI and Accessibility Skills, run in partnership with Jisc, and held online on 27 February 2026. It follows and builds on our first report which summarised the first workshop at Jisc London in June 2025.

The second workshop brought together 48 participants from higher education, industry, policy, governance and research organisations. The report explores insights and strategic priorities from discussions prompted by our expert speakers, who examined how AI and digital accessibility practices are shaping disability futures, fundamental shifts in accessibility skills, and the role of d/Deaf-led community engagement in development and governance. Preliminary policy/practice recommendations address human-centred AI, structural bias, and professional competencies, education and accountability.

The workshop series forms part of the UKRI-funded Teaching Accessibility in the Digital Skill Set project, with plans to run further workshops through to 2027.

Please cite the report as:
Lewthwaite, S. and Coverdale, A. (2026) Critical Approaches to AI and Accessibility Capacity Building: Insights from the Second AI and Accessibility Skills Workshop [white paper]. University of Southampton. UK. https://doi.org/10.5258/SOTON/PP0180

0 comments on "New AI and Accessibility Skills report launched, February 2026"

Our new report examines the impact of artificial intelligence on digital accessibility professional practice and skills development.

AI and Accessibility Skills: Building the Accessibility Professional of the Future was published on 5 February 2026, documenting insights from a collaborative workshop held in partnership with Jisc in 2025. The workshop brought together 40 accessibility leaders, educators, researchers and practitioners from higher education, industry, policy and governance organisations across the UK.

The report explores how AI-enabled tools are reshaping accessibility workflows in areas including design, coding, captioning and testing, whilst raising critical questions about reliability, potential deskilling, and the displacement of human engagement with disabled user communities. Expert speakers examined the distinctively human skills that AI cannot replicate, AI’s limitations in generating accessible code, and ethical concerns regarding BSL avatar technologies and community co-design.

The workshop forms part of the UKRI-funded Teaching Accessibility in the Digital Skill Set project, with subsequent workshops planned across 2025-2027 to sustain sector-wide dialogue as AI’s role in accessibility practice evolves.

0 comments on "New Teaching Accessibility group list launches for educators"

We’ve launched a new mailing list for accessibility educators and practitioners, providing a group space for community-driven knowledge exchange on teaching digital accessibility.

As AI tools increasingly mediate professional practice, we wanted to create a space that emphasises the importance of collective expertise, community knowledge sharing and mutual support. The Teaching Accessibility mailing list, hosted on JiscMail, is free and open to all, and direct to your inbox, with no advertisements or corporate ownership.

Whether you’re teaching accessibility in higher education or colleges, delivering professional training, developing curricula, or supporting workplace learning, this group is what we make it. Share pedagogical approaches, ask questions, discuss teaching challenges, exchange resources, and build connections across institutions and sectors. The community will be what you make it and what you need it to be.

Join us: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-jisc.exe?A0=TEACHING-ACCESSIBILITY