Ashleigh Lodge is the leader of the Enterprise Apps Team at Neovation Learning Solutions. She manages a team of over 20 developers, UX designers and QA analysts as they create and maintain eLearning products of all kinds. A graduate of Red River College, she has held various development and management roles in the tech industry for over 14 years. Additionally, Ashleigh is on the board of Level It Up, an organization that supports autistic job seekers in finding STEAM roles and careers. Her support for Level It Up has become more personal recently, after being diagnosed with autism and ADHD (AuDHD) herself.
Ashleigh is a vocal advocate for accessibility and inclusive design, working to make digital websites, apps and products more accessible to users of all types and abilities. She has spoken about accessibility to a variety of audiences, including at Prairie Dev Con, Confoo Montreal, CreativeMornings Winnipeg, and at TedxWinnipeg 2019, where she brought the idea and foundations of digital accessibility to an audience of nearly 700 Winnipeggers. Ashleigh has also published articles on digital accessibility in Code Magazine, and an article on including accessibility in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives for the Learning Guild.
Breakout Session:
AI & Digital Accessibility: Removing Barriers, or Reinforcing Them?
Using the POUR principles of digital accessibility (perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust), we will look at real-world use cases for AI and digital accessibility, from generating alt text for images to checking and updating the reading level for a document, to testing if a website or application is accessible to all users.
Through demonstrations and hands-on exercises, attendees will learn when AI can be used (with human validation!) to implement or enhance digital accessibility, when it absolutely cannot be used, and how to tell the difference, even when you’re not an accessibility expert.
