Tonight I wen to the launch of the new RNIB See it right booklet and CD. It was a rather wonderful evening and hosted in the magnificent City Hall on the south bank of London. (we we're on the 9th floor and had a panoramic view out over the whole of London - very nice)
The highlight of the evening for me were the speeches.
The first speaker was Wayne Trevor of London Underground who talk about the the companies plan to make the underground fully inclusive over the next 10 years. Factoid - London Underground spends more than any other company in Europe on accessibility, how cool is that!
Then it was Michael Wolff of Wolff Olins who gave what I though was a wonderful speech on his time in charge of the Inclusive design challenge.
Then was Hugh Hudd of the RNIB who talked of the personal side of being blind. "Imagine everything you knew is blank, that form you must sign has no writing on it, who would you trust to tell you what you're about to agree to" that's what being blind is like, that's why we must do more to help everyone with disabilities access the information they need, in a format that's suitable to them.
It's nice to get to go to events like this because it helps me to reconnect with my passion for user experience. It helps me to remember the reasons I left a cushy job and decided to start on the path of running my own user experience consultancy because at the end of every website, or software application, or leaflet is a person wanting get on with their life, and who am i to stop them.
For some futher thoughts and comments see the new UX Consultancy Blog
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