Looks like an interesting conference…

Signal Centers Accessibility Awareness Summit on Global Accessibility Awareness Day — next Thursday, May 20th.

Thanks to our sponsors, the event is completely free to attendees: Register here. (Do it!)

Running from 10am to 2.30pm ET, we’re incredibly excited about this year’s packed schedule of speakers and panels, including:

• Chris Downey, AIA – Keynote at 10am ET: Christopher Downey is an architect, planner and consultant who lost all sight in 2008. Today, he is dedicated to creating more helpful and enriching environments for the blind and visually impaired. His work ranges from a new Department of Veterans Affairs blind rehabilitation center, renovations of housing for the blind in New York City, and to the new Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco. He also teaches accessibility and universal design at UC Berkeley and serves on the Board of Directors for the Lighthouse for the Blind in San Francisco. (TEDx and 60 Minutes)
• Mia Ives-Rublee – 1pm ET: Mia Ives-Rublee has dedicated her life’s work to civil rights activism. She obtained her Master’s in Social Work at UNC Chapel Hill and began working with individuals with disabilities to help them find work and independence in their communities. Mia is best known for founding the Women’s March Disability Caucus and organizing the original Women’s March on Washington in 2017. As a public speaker, Mia advocates on the national stage for the rights of disabled people, immigrants, and other marginalized communities.
• Valerie Fletcher – Closing remarks at 1.40pm ET: Valerie Fletcher has been Executive Director since 1998 of the Institute for Human Centered Design (IHCD), founded as Adaptive Environments. Fletcher writes, lectures and works internationally. Fletcher has been a Special Advisor to the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, and she is the North American representative on the Board of the International Association for Universal Design (IAUD) in Japan. Fletcher has a master’s degree in ethics and public policy from Harvard University.