AXSChat Podcast with Sarah Lewthwaite & Angharad Butler-Rees from University of Southampton

Sarah Lewthwaite (PhD, FRSA) is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Southampton’s Centre for Research in Inclusion where she leads a major new UK Research and Innovation study ‘Teaching Accessibility’ as Future Leaders Fellow and Principal Investigator. Sarah and her team are researching the teaching and learning of digital accessibility in universities and the workplace, to build an evidence-based understanding of how accessibility can be taught more effectively. The 4-year study received over £650,000 from UKRI, and seeks to forge new collaborations and dialogue between universities and industry. Sarah has a background in inclusive education, a PhD in disability and social media, and 15 years of research experience spanning HCI, accessibility, education and disability studies.

Angharad Butler-Rees is a Senior Research Assistant at the University of Southampton and is a co-investigator on the ‘Teaching Accessibility’ study. Angharad has a longstanding interest in disability issues, having worked for Leonard Cheshire Disability and UCAN Productions ( a creative arts co-operative for blind and partially sighted young people). Angharad’s interest in digital accessibility has been driven in part by her personal experiences of encountering barriers to technology as someone with a visual impairment, and further fuelled through her previous research in developing accessible Apps for blind and visually impaired people.

Angharad is also in the final stages of completing her PhD, which explores the lives of individuals involved in disability activism at a time of austerity.

by Antonio Vieira Santos