What If Event Accessibility Were The Default?

93% of disabled delegates facing barriers at events should be a wake-up call, not a footnote. We sit down with Catherine Grinyer, (Attendable), Shani Dhanda (accessibility consultant and broadcaster), and Orla Pearson (My ClearText and Access Loop) to get honest about why event accessibility is still so inconsistent and what it takes to fix it without hand-waving.

We dig into the thinking behind The Accessible Event Show and why it matters now: post-pandemic events are back, sustainability is finally mainstream, and yet disability inclusion still gets treated as optional. We talk practical delivery, not theory, from live captioning and accessible livestreams to the “small” production details that make or break participation for speakers and attendees. Orla explains how captions support far more than one person who asks, including deaf and hard of hearing audiences, people using English as a second language, and many neurodivergent attendees.

We also cover the reality of stakeholder buy-in across organisers, agencies, and venues, and why budgets and timelines expose whether values are real. The European Accessibility Act comes up as a clear legal push, and we reference research showing how common access barriers are at conferences and live events. Most importantly, we turn the mirror back on the industry: disabled people need to benefit as speakers, staff, and suppliers, not only as audience members.

The Accessible Events Show returns on 29 October 2026 at The Drum in Wembley, London, with a free-to-attend format and an accessible livestream. A US edition is also coming on 4 December in the DC or Virginia area. Learn more at accessibleeventshow.com and follow along on LinkedIn. If this conversation helps, subscribe, share the episode with an event pro, and leave a review so more people build events that welcome everyone.

Transcript

Neil Milliken (00:00)
Hello and welcome to AXSChat. I'm delighted that we're joined by multiple guests today. So, we've got Catherine Grinyer, Shani Dhanda and Orla Pearson. And whilst they're all doing separate things, they also will collaborate on accessible events and have been part of running the Accessible Event Show, which is something that we wanted to talk about today. So, Katherine runs Eventable, Orla, Mike Cear Text and Access Loop and Shani.

is the most influential person with a disability in the UK according to the Disability 100 Index. So great to have you all with us. Who do we start with? Who wants to start? Catherine, I'm going to pick on you. Yeah, Catherine, come on, because it's events and I've been to plenty that you've run that have done a fantastic job and have been really inclusive because your company is eventable.

Shani Dhanda (00:36)
start with Catherine Grinyer.

Catherine Grinyer (00:38)
are you picking on me? Okay.

Yeah.

Neil Milliken (00:49)
I can't, ⁓ I'm failing miserably. Failing, I know, I can't even say miserably now. Yes.

Catherine Grinyer (00:50)
It's attendable, but yeah, almost. That's okay, don't worry. No, no, no, don't worry, it's close. Eventable would have been a better name, actually. Eventable would have been

a better name, but I think there's a platform that's closely linked to that, but let's not talk about them.

Orla Pearson (01:01)
There is a platform.

Neil Milliken (01:06)
No, no, and yes, okay, so I can't get any sentence out straight, but yes, please, so you're running attendable. Tell us a bit about attendable, and then we can run into the rest of the story.

Catherine Grinyer (01:15)
Yeah, so...

Sure, so specialist events agency consultancy looking at how to deliver more accessible and inclusive events and my background has been in the disability inclusion arena for about 20 odd years, who's counting? And I recognise the sort of gap in the market for events in the disability inclusion space.

that were looking to understand how they could put into practice in events what they did in other areas of their organization's employment, recruitment, customer service, and events were sort of left behind. And that's where the idea for Attendable came. And so yeah, we do a lot of events that if you're in the space that you may have come to like Tech Share Pro, the Tech for Good Awards, the Disability Power 100 when it was still running, all good stuff.

Neil Milliken (02:05)
Yeah, absolutely, so thank you. Yeah, and I have been to some, and some where, know, Shani's been up there. So Shani, I'm being slightly tangy and cheap because, I mean, you were voted as the most influential disabled person in the UK by the Disability Pell 100 Awards because of the work you do, not just because you're, you know.

Shani Dhanda (02:25)
Not because

I just exist. ⁓

Neil Milliken (02:27)
You're charming, yeah, yeah, exactly. And you've

been doing a lot of advocacy work in the disability space for a long time. We've met at various different conferences and talks, and I've twisted your arm over the years to get you on, and this is first time we've succeeded. So welcome to the show. Can you tell our international audience, the ones that don't get to watch daytime TV in the UK, who you are and what you do?

Shani Dhanda (02:44)
Yeah, thank you.

Sure, so I run an accessibility consultancy. So I work with lots of different businesses and brands and amazing people across those different organisations to help them with everything to do with accessibility and disability inclusion. I worked in-house at Virgin Media doing that for six and a half years. And then I set up my own consultancy. And yeah, no two days are the same. Doesn't really cool stuff.

I really, really love it. And I'm also a broadcaster on daytime TV and radio. But I guess a bit of a fun fact about me is that my career started in events and I studied event management at university. I have a visible disability, but in my 10 years in events, I never met another disabled person, at least not with a visible disability. So yeah, I'm excited to talk more about the show.

Neil Milliken (03:43)
Hola.

Orla Pearson (03:43)
Yes, me. I've worked my whole career in kind of deaf access really. I worked with the BBC for about fifteen years developing live captioning for broadcasts, so that didn't exist when I started at the BBC back in the nineties. And ⁓ there was a huge investment by the BBC to try and ⁓ push really high quality live captioning as a marker for other channels.

So that Channel 4 ITV would then all follow suit. And that did happen. a lot of people from the BBC are now working in Channel Four and ITV and all sorts of places. ⁓ and then I just ⁓ things were changing, it was getting bigger and bigger and bigger, and I felt I'd done my job. So I came out and started working freelance, and what I noticed when I was working freelance is just how varied access was at events. There was people who were really good, people who weren't very good.

And there was nobody organizing them or helping the people who are trying to do this accessibility. So I started a company called My Cleartext and we took over that whole responsibility. So the client would come to us and we would have a journey with them and we'd tell them why they were doing it, how to do it, and we'd support them along the way and we'd and the captioners then would be supported too. So we've been doing that very successfully for the last fifteen years.

And and then the last four years during lockdown, I really found it difficult technically to get captions onto anything. So AI captions were being relied on. We had a lot of feedback from deaf people saying we're locked out again. So we created a platform that made it really, really easy to add live captioning, overlaid, closed captioning, any kind of captioning to events that are live streamed or in rooms. So we've been doing that for the last four years, and that is called Access Loop.

It's it's very easy to use and the results are really, really great as well. So that's me. And then the accessible events show because I was invariably asked over the years to sit on panels and talk about accessibility. So it became s well, it was always a passion, but it was nice to be able to talk about my passion too. So and that's how we all ended up here together, doing stuff in our own spaces and getting t so far, but realizing if we came together that we'd be much stronger and much more forceful and ⁓

That's definitely come true. It seems. Yeah.

Debra Ruh (05:56)
want to thank you for your organization, my clear text, being behind ⁓ accessibility and captioning for access chat for twelve years. So not that we're endorsing you, we're endorsing you. We're endorsing you. Because thank you. Thank you. We're endorsing you.

Orla Pearson (06:01)
Thank you.

It's

Endorse me, endorse me. You're very welcome.

Catherine Grinyer (06:10)
Hey.

Orla Pearson (06:14)
We we we love access chat and we've always want to support we do our best to support as many things as we can.

Debra Ruh (06:19)
Well, we're

grateful. We're grateful for the support. And I know that so many times I I go to when I've gone to different conferences, they are not accessible to the people that they're talking about. So bravo for what you're doing. So okay, I just want to make that quick comment and I'll let y'all decide who wants to go next.

Orla Pearson (06:35)
Thanks.

Eu

Neil Milliken (06:38)
requires me to unmute.

What kind of, so you started the show, what kind of people do you get coming to the show and what's the intent behind the show? it to match people up with other suppliers, to teach people about the skills that they need or is it a range of things that sort of go into the mix? Because as has been clear, it's not a well-served.

area, are not enough people with the skills providing services to make events universally accessible. So tell us a bit more about the actual show and I'm assuming there's going to be a 2026 version and a 27.

Orla Pearson (07:17)
There is, yeah.

Catherine Grinyer (07:17)
There is,

is. Maybe I'll just leap in. So we wanted to draw a line in the sand and or set a marker or whatever expression we want to use to the events industry in the UK and beyond to get better at making their events more accessible and inclusive. I think post pandemic there was a big push on sustainability of events. You the events industry really suffered during the pandemic.

and things are picking up, but there's no excuse not to be making your event accessible and inclusive for disabled people. so that was the kind of idea behind the show that between us, had a, think Sharni tottered up the amount of years that we have experienced an event, hundred more, I don't know, a lot, and we've had lots of events, sometimes together and sometimes not.

And ⁓ so we knew that we had a sort of body of best practice at our fingertips. We know some of the organizations that are there in the UK that are delivering consistently accessible events or are on that journey towards learning to do more. So there's some good practice out there. There's a lot of inconsistencies. And the idea behind the show was really to bring event professionals together.

to first of all understand that they need to do something and then help to share the knowledge and best practice of how and also provide the solutions for them to connect with specialist providers in the event accessibility space that can help them work through that journey. Sharla and Orla, feel free to ⁓ jump in.

Orla Pearson (08:48)
I

mean I think I think what we want to achieve in the end is that every event would be accessible in some way or we'll have thought about it and we'll have ⁓ considered it and discussed it. That's the aim. We really do want to see a proper change in the industry and this stopping of excluding people from events. And and I I think, you know, there's a number of of ways of us doing that. First of all it was

having a show to say, do you know what, this is worth having a show about. And then it you know, now it's about education and and not demand, but a a real ask of people to start thinking about making events accessible. So we were really well supported by an act that came into effect last year in Europe, which is the European Accessibility Act, which if you want to write a script for how to do your event, then comply with that.

And it's fantastic and people are only waking up to it now. I I've been asked how do I get around it? I've also been asked, Is there like a grace period of grace time? The answer is you can't get around it and there is no grace period. It's in effect now. So if you're working in Europe or with clients in Europe, it applies to you and you're breaking the law if you don't do it. So I'm delighted to welcome any

legal things that help us say what we're saying. But I'm I'm hoping that's going to really push people towards the show as well.

Shani Dhanda (10:08)
And just to add a bit of context around the amount of barriers that disabled delegates face, there was some research that was released recently ⁓ called Access All Areas, closing the accessibility gap in events. And it was based here in the UK, but it found that one in three delegates identifying with a visible or non-visible health condition or an impairment are attending events.

and that 93 % are facing barriers to participation at events as well. And there's also been some other research by Access Able, who have done some great research around what disabled people, those living with health conditions and impairments, what information they look at in order to make a decision on whether they want to go to an event or not. And I think it was a mixture of us, all three of us just...

constantly saying the same things to each other, feeling quite frustrated. You know, I have... Yeah, yeah. I attend hundreds of events myself as a speaker and it's shocking that I've been, you know, it's not a surprise that I'm disabled. That's the reason I'm usually there. People know why they're booking me and I barely ever get asked what my access requirements are, but everyone will always ask me what my dietary requirements are.

Orla Pearson (11:02)
Yeah.

Catherine Grinyer (11:04)
There may have been wine involved.

Orla Pearson (11:06)
There was on it.

Shani Dhanda (11:27)
So in a nutshell, we are trying to redefine what good looks like in this space for events. I don't really think it's been attempted before. Even though, as we all know, accessibility does have legal obligations. So we're just trying to help the industry get to where it really needs to be.

Catherine Grinyer (11:45)
And can I just say, remiss of us, the event's called the Accessible Event Show. Neil, to answer your question, yes, we are back for 2026 on the 29th of October in the Drum in Wembley in London. And also very excited to share that there will be a US edition of the Accessible Event Show on the 4th of December in DC, or I think it may be Virginia, it's Accessible Event Show USA.

Orla Pearson (12:08)
It's quite

Catherine Grinyer (12:10)
And so we'll hopefully be taking some of the same messages to the American audience as well.

Orla Pearson (12:16)
We have our wonderful sponsor, HSBC, which has come back again to support us again because they really believe in what we're doing around accessibility at a level.

Antonio Vieira Santos (12:24)
So we have different types of events. We have small events, people run if events almost for free. we have ⁓ events who are very expensive, we're high-paid speakers. we also have different actors in the event scene. We have you have organizations that want to organize the event, and then they hire an agency, and then we have venues. So ⁓ so sometimes where is the point of sale here?

how you make sure that you reach the right stakeholder that buys in on the accessibility of the event and that when you talk about with them about accessibility, they do understand what accessibility is about. It's not just a a ramp that needs to be put at the door. There's something a lot more behind all that.

Orla Pearson (13:07)
Once you explain to people why they're doing it and who is their audience that they're trying to include, I never it's like when we're tr we're talking to clients who want to try captioning. Once I explain to them that captioning is not about one person requesting, it's about the 18 million people who are have some form of hearing loss or deafness in the UK. That's one in five people. When it's one in four people who

are disabled when you tell them about people with English as a second language finding captioning really really really useful. It's when you tell them that people with neurodiversity access the captions in them in that way. And that's just captioning. One part of the accessibility is when we're talking about all of the accessibility, there's an easy buy-in there once you explain to people that you're including people, which is what you should be doing anyway. People people find it very quick.

But then we get to the next bit, which is budget, communication, rollout, values, you know, then it that's where I think it gets tricky. You can always get buy in, but then people have to back it up by actually doing it. I don't know if that's your experience, Catherine. Budget always comes up.

Debra Ruh (14:16)
Orla, ⁓ you sorry, or you ⁓ sorry, Catherine. ⁓ you mentioned you were talking about ⁓ people that are hard of hearing and deaf. I just want to tell you something that I found ⁓ very disturbing, and it's time is so weird for me now, but I think it was about 10 years ago. And ⁓ I started noticing that we were not inviting deaf speakers. And so ⁓ out of curiosity, it might have been 15 years ago, but

Catherine Grinyer (14:16)
Yeah.

Orla Pearson (14:23)
That's true.

Debra Ruh (14:41)
Out of curiosity, I went and I reached out to a bunch of dis a bunch of the disability events that were happening. And I was asking some of them confidentially, and I will keep it confidential. I I don't see Deaf Speakers on your ⁓ you know, bios. And and they were like, Deborah, we we don't know how to do that. And and we're finding that if we have to do that, we have to also provide captioning and support, you know, there ⁓ for both the speakers and the audience. And so I was like, my gosh, so we are leaving out.

Orla Pearson (14:54)
Please.

Debra Ruh (15:10)
big parts of our community as speakers because we don't want to include them ourselves. So I ⁓ I'm very focused on the disability mirror, which is turning the mirror back on our disability community so we can be including ourselves. But I just think what you are doing is so powerful. So it isn't just for people attending, also people with disabilities should be able to speak and be part of the conferences. So Catherine, I'm so sorry that I accidentally stepped on you. So let me turn that over to you.

Orla Pearson (15:37)
Catra

key two and Catherine up because I always associate the mantra, what about the speakers with Catherine because

Catherine Grinyer (15:39)
You

Debra Ruh (15:40)
Yeah.

Catherine Grinyer (15:43)
I always say

when we're planning an event, you've got to consider, and we're briefing a production company or you're doing the stage transitions, have you considered, you're talking about microphones, I had this just the other week, have you considered that not everybody might be able to use the handheld mic that you're providing? So what alternatives do you have? Should this be the case? this always panic and confusion.

but we need to consider everybody's needs in the event, not just the participants, but also the speakers and also staff that working on the event as well, because they may also have access requirements.

Shani Dhanda (16:21)
And a big consideration of our show is how the disability community actually benefits from it. So we made sure that we had a whole panel of disabled people at the first show. They had different types of health conditions and disabilities and impairments. They all came with their own lived experience. Our bar supplier, they hire disabled staff and train them.

⁓ For our next show, looking into caterers that train disabled people to work in that industry. I've been reflecting on the fact lately, I think similar to you Deborah's point you mentioned there, is there's so much happening because of the disability community, but are we actually benefiting from it? Do we get opportunities off the back of that?

So even though the Accessible Event Show is marketed to the event industry, you know, it is open to everybody, whether or not you're disabled. So yeah, that is always at the forefront of our mind as well.

Neil Milliken (17:31)
And thank you, because I think that that's really key. We are not engaged enough, especially as Deborah said, the deaf and hard of hearing community, and people are afraid of getting things wrong, but they're also afraid of spending money, as all is said. But there are lots and lots of elements of what you're doing that ...

cost much money and that also can generate more money and people I think often with accessibility only see the costs and not the benefits and I think that if you're, I'm assuming that you're doing a grand job on actually painting the profitability of holding inclusive events and everything else. I know Catherine's got to get off soon because she's got another appointment so I'm going to

Let Katherine have the last word on this because she can also tell you how you can come to the various different event shows where we can find you. I know you've said the drum already and there's a URL that's about to go live. Well, hopefully should be live by the time that this goes out. And also, you know, for people that are interested and I know there are some interested in the Washington DC Virginia environs.

particularly, where they can find out about that particular version of the show as well. Thank you.

Catherine Grinyer (18:55)
Yeah, so ⁓ our website is accessible event show.com. It's currently having a little bit of a facelift where we get ready to for the registrations to go live for for this year's event. So the best place at the moment to follow us is ⁓ on on LinkedIn and social media with Shani what other channels will be on. I think some of the others. Shani is our social media guru.

Shani Dhanda (19:16)
Yeah,

yeah, we're mainly on LinkedIn. We'll be on Instagram soon as well.

Catherine Grinyer (19:19)
Mainly.

⁓ Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, it's free to attend and obviously we hope lots of people come in and the live stream will also be accessible to anybody and that's ⁓ also free. Last year we had people from all over the world attending, which was amazing. know, with Access Loop, we were able to provide translations also for localised content, which is another different type of accessibility, but also ⁓ not unimportant. So yeah, that's...

that's great. I think it's a growing area and I think there's lots that people can learn. We're currently sort of scouring around for some interesting case studies to share with everybody and hope to have a bit of a deeper dive into some of the more technical aspects of event production this year and because I think that's an area where there is definitely some quick wins for event planners and producers.

in understanding the technology that can help make events more accessible to their audiences and their speakers. So yeah, I think we'd love everybody to check out the show.

Neil Milliken (20:24)
Great, fantastic. Look forward to it. And sorry that it's a shorter episode than normal. As with lots of events and online things, we had some technical difficulties. ⁓ So, I'm going to close it here so that we all look immaculate and say thank you to all of my clear texts, as I said, for all of the support you've given us over the years. Thank you to Amazon for continuing to support us and keep it on there as well. And if...

Shani Dhanda (20:34)
Thank

Neil Milliken (20:51)
You're listening to this and it resonates with you. Please do follow us, do subscribe to the podcast or share it with people that you think might be interested because we want people to learn about fantastic initiatives like this one. Thank you very much.

Catherine Grinyer (21:04)
Well, thanks to AccessChat for hosting us and yeah, great to be here.

Orla Pearson (21:09)
And the show is open to anybody who's involved in the production, in the organizing, in the technicalities of events. They're the people we want to see at the show because they're the people we want to educate and and really pr allow them to learn about how to do this properly so that they can do do a different job and do a better job next time.

Neil Milliken (21:29)
Absolutely, let's raise the floor.

Orla Pearson (21:31)
Yes.

Debra Ruh (21:31)
We

need it. We need it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Shani Dhanda (21:34)
Thank you.

Orla Pearson (21:34)
Thank

you guys. Thank you so much. As always, for the support in everything.