Personal Story: Adi Latif, AbilityNet

Adi Latif sat with a coffeeIn October 2019 Adi Latif, a consultant from UK Accessibility Charity AbilityNet, spoke to us about his lived experience of using technology to navigate around both the physical and digital world (Video, 1 hour, 17 mins). AbilityNet provided Quick Tip Clips for creating resources accessible to people with visual impairment.

About Adi

Hi I am Adi Latif, an accessibility consultant at AbilityNet and my work involves empowering organisations on how to best design an inclusive product/ service which can be used by all, increasing market share and providing disabled people equal access. I believe that good design enables and empowers people and bad design disables. I am experienced in accessibility strategy, accessibility user testing and training. I also have over 15 years of experience in using screen-reader technology for the blind. Previous experience includes running 2 start-ups, being the world’s first blind professional snowboarder and working for Accenture Global management consultancy.

I lost my sight in my teens as a result of a degenerative eye condition. At that time assistive tech was pretty limited but advances in technology have been transformational for giving back independence to blind people. That being said, if accessibility is not taken into account when designing systems in use at universities, that independence is taken away again. I will share some of my personal stories and professional insights to provide some top tips to ensure your digital platforms are not creating barriers for your students.