From design to digital inclusion
After 20+ years in digital design, including six years in product design, I’ve shifted my focus fully to digital accessibility. Accessibility isn’t just a specialist skill for me; it’s the part of design that matters most. I believe digital products should work for everyone, and I care deeply about helping teams make that a reality.
Over the past five years, I’ve increasingly centred accessibility and inclusive design in my work across web and native mobile apps. I’ve recently built on this by studying accessibility in depth and developing a strong, practical understanding of WCAG and how to create more equitable digital experiences.
I’m now looking to specialise fully in accessibility, working closely with product teams to improve inclusion in a practical, collaborative way. I can support designers to create accessible UI and design systems, help developers test and resolve accessibility issues, and work with PMs and QA to plan accessibility into sprints and definitions of done.
Why accessibility matters to me
My interest in accessibility began early. My brother James had Muscular Dystrophy, and while much of the world wasn’t designed with him in mind, computers offered something different. Once we had one at home, he was on equal footing, studying coding through the Open University in the early ’90s. That experience left a lasting impression on me about the power of digital tools to create equity when they’re designed with inclusion at the core.
Over time, accessibility has become not just a professional focus, but a personal one. I'm neurodivergent, which gives me a distinctive perspective: I approach problems with deep empathy and attention to detail, notice patterns others might miss, and care deeply about fairness and clarity. As is common, my neurodivergence has given me a history of mental health issues to deal with. I also live with occasional Migraines and bouts of Nystagmus (a visual condition that causes my right eye to jitter), along with general deterioration of my vision over the last 10 years, which has given me a much greater understanding of users with low vision.
I’m part of the queer community, and many of my close friends and family live with disabilities or long-term health conditions—from chronic illness, ADHD and autism to stroke recovery, tremors and Alzheimer’s. These relationships ground my work in real-life perspectives and give me a strong, ongoing motivation to make digital experiences more inclusive, accessible, and human-centred.
Outside of work
Creativity doesn’t stop at my desk. I love designing and making outfits and costumes, bringing imagined characters to life with needle and thread. My favourite holidays are spent snorkelling in clear waters, chasing shoals of fish with my underwater camera. I’m kept well exercised by my garden, which once featured on the BBC, and by my borrowed dog, Winter, a sweet-natured, scruffy lurcher with an impressive beard, who takes me for walks five days a week and gets me out into nature to recharge.
Want to know more?
Take a look at what I do or find out more about my experience.
