AXSChat Podcast

Diane Lightfoot is CEO of Business Disability Forum, a not-for-profit membership organisation that supports businesses to recruit and retain disabled employees and to serve disabled customers. Business Disability Forum’s 450+ members employ c.20% of the UK workforce and 8 million people worldwide. They range from FTSE 100 companies and central Government departments to technology and construction companies, retailers and public services bodies.

Diane is co-Chair of the Disability Charities Consortium and a member of the Disability Confident Business Leaders Group. She is a member of the Steering Group for the Global Business Disability Network, hosted by the ILO and is passionate about the role of good work in transforming people’s lives.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Follow axschat on social media.
Bluesky:
Antonio https://bsky.app/profile/akwyz.com

Debra https://bsky.app/profile/debraruh.bsky.social

Neil https://bsky.app/profile/neilmilliken.bsky.social

axschat https://bsky.app/profile/axschat.bsky.social

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/antoniovieirasantos/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/axschat/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilmilliken/

Vimeo
https://vimeo.com/akwyz

https://twitter.com/axschat
https://twitter.com/AkwyZ
https://twitter.com/neilmilliken
https://twitter.com/debraruh

Yuval Wagner – President & Founder at Access Israel Org Accessibility, Inclusion, Accessible Technology, Assistive Technologies, Smart cities Accessibility.
Michal Rimon – since 2007 CEO of Access Israel.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Follow axschat on social media.
Bluesky:
Antonio https://bsky.app/profile/akwyz.com

Debra https://bsky.app/profile/debraruh.bsky.social

Neil https://bsky.app/profile/neilmilliken.bsky.social

axschat https://bsky.app/profile/axschat.bsky.social

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/antoniovieirasantos/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/axschat/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilmilliken/

Vimeo
https://vimeo.com/akwyz

https://twitter.com/axschat
https://twitter.com/AkwyZ
https://twitter.com/neilmilliken
https://twitter.com/debraruh

Ricardo García Bahamonde is the Head of Accessibility & Digital Inclusion for the Iberia Region at Atos. He has worked in the field of Digital Accessibility and Disability Inclusion since 2004 and has broad experience in consulting, project management, business development and training assignments in the United States, Latin America, the Middle East, and Europe helping companies, governments, universities, non-profits, and governments advance in their digital accessibility and inclusion policies and strategies. 

Between 2004 and 2015 Ricardo worked for the National Organization of the Spanish Blind on global accessibility, employment, and education-related projects. Between 2015 and 2018 Ricardo worked as Director of Strategic Development and Researcher at the Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation, CIDI (formerly, AMAC Accessibility) at Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, USA). Since 2018 and before joining Atos, Ricardo worked as an independent consultant in Digital Accessibility and Disability Inclusion for the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the G3ict (USA).

An IAAP Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies (CPACC), Ricardo holds a MA in Economics from the Universidad Complutense of Madrid, Spain and obtained his Project Management Professional (PMP) certificate from the Project Management Institute (PMI). He is a regular speaker at international conferences, having presented at over 60 events worldwide.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Follow axschat on social media.
Bluesky:
Antonio https://bsky.app/profile/akwyz.com

Debra https://bsky.app/profile/debraruh.bsky.social

Neil https://bsky.app/profile/neilmilliken.bsky.social

axschat https://bsky.app/profile/axschat.bsky.social

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/antoniovieirasantos/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/axschat/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilmilliken/

Vimeo
https://vimeo.com/akwyz

https://twitter.com/axschat
https://twitter.com/AkwyZ
https://twitter.com/neilmilliken
https://twitter.com/debraruh

Shaun Mosley is a Designer / Researcher at Nava Public Benefit Corporation. With seven years of experience in Product Design, he applies technology in order to create a more equitable society. As an active member of the civic tech community, Shaun fills his time pushing for prison abolition, mentoring new technologists through Code for Atlanta, and making Georgia the best state for Black people to live in. You can find him emoji-reacting to comments in many Slack channels and on Twitter as @ShmosKnows.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Follow axschat on social media.
Bluesky:
Antonio https://bsky.app/profile/akwyz.com

Debra https://bsky.app/profile/debraruh.bsky.social

Neil https://bsky.app/profile/neilmilliken.bsky.social

axschat https://bsky.app/profile/axschat.bsky.social

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/antoniovieirasantos/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/axschat/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilmilliken/

Vimeo
https://vimeo.com/akwyz

https://twitter.com/axschat
https://twitter.com/AkwyZ
https://twitter.com/neilmilliken
https://twitter.com/debraruh

John Samuel is the Cofounder & CEO of Ablr, where he focuses on helping organizations be more inclusive by removing the barriers that have hindered people with disabilities from accessing education, retail, entertainment, and employment. John’s passion for his work is very personal as he is blind and wants to make sure the obstacles he has faced are removed for others. Over the past 15 years, John has held leadership roles domestically and internationally. While launching and serving as the CEO for Aster Cameroon, a global telecom infrastructure Joint Venture, he built a $45 million business bringing internet access across Africa. Afterward, he became an early member of Homestrings, a USAID backed crowdfunding platform, where he helped raise capital for startups in emerging markets. John holds his MBA from George Washington University, BS in Accounting from North Carolina State University. John is a former Triangle Business Journal’s 40 under 40 award recipient and was selected to the Business Journal’s Influencers: Rising Stars, a national list of 100 young influential business leaders. In 2021, John received the Triangle Business Journal’s Leader in Diversity Award, and earned a certificate in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the workplace from the University of South Florida.

He also serves on the Board of Directors of Aravind Eye Foundation, the world’s largest eye care provider, and the United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Follow axschat on social media.
Bluesky:
Antonio https://bsky.app/profile/akwyz.com

Debra https://bsky.app/profile/debraruh.bsky.social

Neil https://bsky.app/profile/neilmilliken.bsky.social

axschat https://bsky.app/profile/axschat.bsky.social

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/antoniovieirasantos/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/axschat/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilmilliken/

Vimeo
https://vimeo.com/akwyz

https://twitter.com/axschat
https://twitter.com/AkwyZ
https://twitter.com/neilmilliken
https://twitter.com/debraruh

Rama Gheerawo is an international and inspirational figure within design. He won a ‘Hall of Fame’ award for his work at the Design Week Awards in 2019 and was named a 2018 Creative Leaders by Creative Review alongside Paul Smith and Björk, As Director of the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, he uses design to address issues around age, ability, gender and race. He is a serial innovator in the fields of Inclusive Design, Design Thinking and Creative Leadership having personally led over 100 projects working internationally with governments, business, academia and the third sector with clients such as Samsung, Toyota, AgeUK and Panasonic. He champions inclusive and empathic approaches for individuals and organisations through his pathfinding work in Creative Leadership, with training delivered globally to thousands of people including over 700 civil servants. He is in high demand as a keynote speaker, and writes, curates exhibitions and runs workshops for audiences that range from students to business executives. Rama sits on a number of advisory boards and committees for awards, universities and organisations such as the UK Design Council, The International Association for Universal Design, the Design Management Institute, The Bhavan Institute for Indian Culture and the RSA Decolonising Design Initiative. He has been a Visiting Professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and the Katowice Academy of Fine Art.


Melanie Flory is a psychologist and neuroscientist whose research enquiry is at the intersection of design, systems thinking and cognitive neuroscience.

Melanie is the first appointed Associate Director of Research of The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design. Her role involves leading the growth and development of the Centre’s inclusive design and creative leadership research and knowledge exchange portfolios, as well as co-developing and launching the Centre’s first doctoral and Master's by research programmes (2022–3). She is the neuroscience lead on the Centre’s creative leadership project.

She has a strong focus on fostering and incorporating the Centre’s inclusive design methods in cross-disciplinary research, innovation and knowledge exchange programmes and projects, with the RCA’s four Schools and other Research Centres.

Before joining HHCD in 2021, Melanie founded (2009), and is the Director of MindRheo, an organisational development consultancy intersecting neuroscience, design and systems thinking to enhance human, organisational and business performance and experience. Prior to MindRheo, Melanie held clinical, senior academic and research leadership positions (2000–11) at Westminster University, Ministry of Defence (UK) and the UK government’s Trauma Response Unit. She has led global cross-disciplinary research in war-related PTSD and the role of brain plasticity in emotion regulation and processing. Her research exploration seeks new insights into the interplay between emotion and cognition

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Follow axschat on social media.
Bluesky:
Antonio https://bsky.app/profile/akwyz.com

Debra https://bsky.app/profile/debraruh.bsky.social

Neil https://bsky.app/profile/neilmilliken.bsky.social

axschat https://bsky.app/profile/axschat.bsky.social

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/antoniovieirasantos/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/axschat/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilmilliken/

Vimeo
https://vimeo.com/akwyz

https://twitter.com/axschat
https://twitter.com/AkwyZ
https://twitter.com/neilmilliken
https://twitter.com/debraruh

Susi Miller – eLearning accessibility expert and author 

Susi Miller is an industry-leading expert on accessible learning design and the founder and director of eLaHub (www.elahub.net). The author of Designing Accessible Learning Content (Kogan Page, 2021), Susi has more than 30 years of L&D experience in public, private and not-for-profit sectors. She is a skilled instructional designer, eLearning accessibility trainer, and passionate advocate for digital accessibility. Her accessible learning content has been shortlisted for the Learning Technologies Awards.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Follow axschat on social media.
Bluesky:
Antonio https://bsky.app/profile/akwyz.com

Debra https://bsky.app/profile/debraruh.bsky.social

Neil https://bsky.app/profile/neilmilliken.bsky.social

axschat https://bsky.app/profile/axschat.bsky.social

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/antoniovieirasantos/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/axschat/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilmilliken/

Vimeo
https://vimeo.com/akwyz

https://twitter.com/axschat
https://twitter.com/AkwyZ
https://twitter.com/neilmilliken
https://twitter.com/debraruh

Influencer, business leader, campaigner, Co-Author of “Net Positive: how courageous companies thrive by giving more than they take”, recently published October 2021.

Paul Polman works to accelerate action by business to tackle climate change and inequality. A leading proponent that business should be a force for good, Paul has been described by the Financial Times as “a standout CEO of the past decade”.

As CEO of Unilever (2009-2019), he demonstrated that a long-term, multi-stakeholder model goes hand-in-hand with excellent financial performance. Paul was a member of the UN Secretary General’s High-Level Panel which developed the Sustainable Development Goals and which he continues to champion, working with global organizations and across industry to advance the 2030 development agenda.


Paul’s new book, “Net Positive”, is a call to arms to courageous business leaders, setting out how to build net positive companies which profit by fixing the world’s problems rather than creating them. He Chairs IMAGINE, a social venture dedicated to systems change, and Saïd Business School, and he is Vice-Chair of the UN Global Compact as well as a B Team Leader. Paul is Honorary Chair of the International Chamber of Commerce, which he led for two years.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Follow axschat on social media.
Bluesky:
Antonio https://bsky.app/profile/akwyz.com

Debra https://bsky.app/profile/debraruh.bsky.social

Neil https://bsky.app/profile/neilmilliken.bsky.social

axschat https://bsky.app/profile/axschat.bsky.social

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/antoniovieirasantos/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/axschat/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilmilliken/

Vimeo
https://vimeo.com/akwyz

https://twitter.com/axschat
https://twitter.com/AkwyZ
https://twitter.com/neilmilliken
https://twitter.com/debraruh

Christopher Patnoe is the Head of Accessibility and Disability Inclusion for EMEA at Google. He leads Google’s efforts around the accessibility of product, people, policy and partnerships – with a new focus on Emerging Markets. He has more than 25 years experience in Tech working at companies like Apple, Sony Ericsson and Disney where he’s built hardware, software, and services. His current passion is Accessibility at the intersection of immersive technologies (AR/VR) and consumer hardware. He is the chair for the Immersive Captions Community Group with the W3C, is a co-Chair of the XR Association Accessibility Working Group, and sits on the Board of Trustees for the American Foundation for the Blind and for the GAAD Foundation. Christopher has a degree in Music from UC Berkeley.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Follow axschat on social media.
Bluesky:
Antonio https://bsky.app/profile/akwyz.com

Debra https://bsky.app/profile/debraruh.bsky.social

Neil https://bsky.app/profile/neilmilliken.bsky.social

axschat https://bsky.app/profile/axschat.bsky.social

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/antoniovieirasantos/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/axschat/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilmilliken/

Vimeo
https://vimeo.com/akwyz

https://twitter.com/axschat
https://twitter.com/AkwyZ
https://twitter.com/neilmilliken
https://twitter.com/debraruh

Joan O’Donnell is a longstanding advocate for inclusive employment practices. She is the author of the Future of Work a Remote Opportunity for Open Doors in Ireland and also evaluated the effectiveness of Irish employment policy as part of an EU study for Eurofound. She is the Project Manager of FreedomTech, which aims to ensure that we develop a comprehensive ecosystem of supports around AT, conceived of the concept of the AT Passport which has since gained recognition internationally as a way to put users in control of their own technology and Assistive Technology. Joan has a background working with complex social issues associated with disability from a social policy perspective. She lectures in Systems Thinking in Practice MSc programme with the Open University and is a doctoral researcher with the ALL Institute, Maynooth University.

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Follow axschat on social media.
Bluesky:
Antonio https://bsky.app/profile/akwyz.com

Debra https://bsky.app/profile/debraruh.bsky.social

Neil https://bsky.app/profile/neilmilliken.bsky.social

axschat https://bsky.app/profile/axschat.bsky.social

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/antoniovieirasantos/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/axschat/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilmilliken/

Vimeo
https://vimeo.com/akwyz

https://twitter.com/axschat
https://twitter.com/AkwyZ
https://twitter.com/neilmilliken
https://twitter.com/debraruh