Accessibility at SXSW 2018 Conference: Preview

SXSW is a monolith of technology and culture; a conference that’s helping mainstream accessibility issues by putting inclusion at the centre of many conversations and showcases.

The annual conference runs from March 9 to 17, 2018 in Austin, Texas and unites 24 tracks of programming, including technology, gaming, film and music. It can be overwhelming for attendees, as well as those following online, to choose from the multitude of keynote speakers, panels and showcases available, so we’ve created daily suggestions for people wanting to learn from, and network with, disability, accessibility and inclusion leaders and experts at SXSW 2018.

Follow me @PeterBArmstrong and @AccessibleMediaInc on Twitter for live updates from various accessibility related sessions. You can also subscribe to AMI’s YouTube channel to watch interviews with accessibility leaders at last year’s conference, including this segment with Mike Paciello, founder and CEO of The Paciello Group, Yahoo Director of Accessible Media Larry Goldberg, and Capital One content strategist Sarah Goelitz: “We’re seeing something that we had not seen in years past, and that is accessibility is inclusive even at events and conferences, and it is becoming part of that ‘Think Accessibility’ mindset,” Goldberg says in the video.

SXSW 2018 Daily Highlights

March 9

Welcome to SXSW
Austin Convention Center Ballroom D
10:30 – 11 a.m.
SXSW Community from Chief Programming Officer Hugh Forrest gives keeners an overview of what’s new at this year’s conference and how SXSW has evolved from a music-only event when launched in 1987.

Choice Architects: Design for Humanity’s Best Self
JW Marriott Salon E
12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
The panel includes Google UX Lead Lauren Bugeja and will explore the responsibility product creators have to give users choices to enable them to be the best version of themselves. Ultimately, as the panel description says, “We will empower you to positively impact humanity through products designed for a world that doesn’t suck.”

Robot Meets Freud: Bots in Mental Health
Fairmont Manchester EFG
3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
At the end of a bad day, sometimes it’s best to call your favourite humans. But can bots be better? The panel discusses strengths and weaknesses of trusting a machine with our mental health. 

March 10

There is No Other Hand: Inclusive Design & Kids
Westin Austin Downtown Continental 1-2
11 a.m. – 12 p.m.
An 11-year-old girl and her mom discuss how a 3D-printed unicorn horn-shaped prosthetic arm is helping change how we think about disability and inclusive design.

Sex, Beauty and Women with Disabilities
Westin Austin Downtown Continental 3
5 – 6 p.m.
Former AMI This Week co-host Molly Burke, who you might also recognize from last year’s Dove soap campaign, joins a discussion about how society talks about women and disabilities. The panel features four women with disabilities from across North America, including Maryangel Garcia-Ramos, who AMI spoke with last year about accessibility at conferences like SXSW.

Style for All: Universal Designed Clothing
Four Season Ballroom AB
5 – 6 p.m.
Grace Jun from Open Style Lab discusses how the lab, initiated at MIT in 2014, utilizes AR to create accessible clothing and shares stories of collaborations with people with disabilities

March 11

What About Us: Ableism and Disability in the Media
JW Marriott Salon H
11 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Kristen Parisi is a writer and public relations professional in New York City. Two days after Christmas in 1990, she was paralyzed in a head-on motor vehicle accident, and has been in a wheelchair ever since. Her talk will explore why people with disabilities are typically only represented as heroes or objects of pity in media and entertainment, as well as how media can help curb ableism in society.

Diversity in Tech: It’s Not Just a Gender Problem
Westin Austin Downtown Paramount 1-2-3
11 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Former IBM Chief Accessibility Officer Frances West, Lara Avisov from Uber and others discuss how tech companies aren’t thinking about people with disabilities and members of the LGBTQ community the same way they are women and minorities.

Interactive Innovation Awards Finalists Showcase
Hilton Austin Downtwon Salon CDE
12 – 5 pm.
The awards recognize the most exciting technology developments in the connected world. Accessibility highlights from last year’s showcase included the Notes on Blindness VR app and an audio sensory vest from Not Impossible Labs.

March 12

Extreme Bionics:The Future of Human Ability
Austin Convention Center Room 18 ABCD
9:30 – 10:30 a.m.
New advancements in genetics, regenerative medicine, and biomechatronics promise to transcend human limitations and end disability as we know it. An all-star IEEE panel, including speakers from MIT and Ottobock, discuss how we’ll soon connect our biology with technology more seamlessly than ever before.

The 1st Rule of ARIA: A11y Without Doing A11y
JW Marriott Salon 7
11 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Amazon senior design technologist Paul Duncan discusses ARIA web accessibility standards and how to “do accessibility without doing accessibility.”

Social Media + Social Good: Creators to the Rescue
Fairmont Congressional B
5 – 6 p.m.
Global Director of YouTube Marketing Lucinda Barlow and YouTube celebrities Hannah Hart and Tyler Oakley discuss the rules that will help non-profit brands connect, create and impact the world at scale.

March 13

Neurodiversity in the Workplace Meet Up
JW Marriott Room 210
3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
This meet up aims to blow the lid on how the pervading exclusion of neurodiversity in the workplace is killing creativity. Attendees will discuss the success factors for unleashing start performing employees.

March 14

Exploring Music Through the Lens of Neurodiversity
Austin Convention Centre Room 11AB
12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
Join artists and musicians with lived experience of autism and neurodiversity, as well as their collaborators, and learn how using different ways of seeing the world and music can be a very rich space to explore.

March 15

Y35 W3 C4N: Innovations in Accessibility
Hilton Austin Downtown Room 400-402
11 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Apple’s accessibility lead Sarah Herrlinger, Disability Rights Lawyer and Harvard’s first grad who is deafblind Haben Girma and Cerebral Palsy Foundation discuss why accessibility in tech is important and must be done.

Virtual Cinema
JW Marriott Salon 5-6
11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
It’s the last day to stop by The Virtual Cinema to experience unique virtual reality projects exploring technology that will surely change the future of filmmaking. We’re particularly excited to watch the world premiere of the Australian film Awake: Episode One, which stars a character who uses a wheelchair and re-lives parts of his past through vivid dreams.

March 15 to 17

SXSW Gaming Expo
Austin Convention Centre Exhibit Halls 1&2
12 – 7/8 p.m.
Let the gaming begin! Meet video game developers, manufacturers and fans from all facets of the gaming community.

Did we miss any SXSW Conference sessions or events that might be of interest to accessibility and inclusion professionals? Please let us know by tweeting me @PeterBArmstrong or @AccessibleMediaInc and we'll be happy to spread the word. In the meantime, enjoy one of our favourite interviews from last year's conference featuring Richard Turner, the star of the documentary Dealt, which one the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature at the SXSW Film Festival.