Accessible Me

31/10/2026

We’re pleased to see Michael Osborne representing Accessible Me at the Birmingham B2B Growth Expo.

Michael will be joining the Technology, AI and Business Efficiency panel to explore an important question:

Before we automate a process, could we be automating a barrier?

AI can help organisations move faster. But if the workflow underneath is confusing, inaccessible or difficult to use, automation can simply scale the friction.

Michael will be bringing an accessibility and human-centred perspective to the discussion.

If you’re attending the Expo on Thursday 26 November, come and say hello.

Michael Osborne, Founder and Principal Accessibility Consultant at Accessible Me , will be joining the Technology, AI and Business Efficiency panel at the Birmingham B2B Growth Expo.

Topic: Before You Add AI, Fix the Workflow: The Efficiency Gap Holding SMEs Back

Many businesses are adding AI tools to slow, manual or disconnected processes. But adding technology does not automatically create efficiency.

The real opportunity is to rethink how work moves through the business.

This panel will explore how organisations can:

identify the right processes to improve first

reduce unnecessary friction and software spend

use AI and technology more effectively

consider the people who need to understand and use those systems

build workflows that work better for more people

Michael will bring an accessibility and human-centred perspective to the discussion, including a simple question for business leaders:

Before we automate a process, could we be automating a barrier?

Thursday 26 November 2026
1:15 pm–1:45 pm
National Conference Centre, Birmingham B92 0EJ

Connect with Michael and check the comments for ticket information.



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30/10/2026

Accessible Me founder Michael Osborne will be speaking at the Birmingham B2B Growth Expo on Thursday 26 November.

Michael is joining the Technology, AI and Business Efficiency panel to explore:

“Before You Add AI, Fix the Workflow: The Efficiency Gap Holding SMEs Back”

AI can help organisations move faster. But if the process underneath is confusing, inaccessible or difficult to use, faster does not necessarily mean better.

That is where accessibility and inclusive design become part of the efficiency conversation.

Before automating a workflow, organisations should be asking:

Who will need to use it?

Where are people already getting stuck?

Could this make things easier for some people while making them harder for others?

Are we removing friction, or simply moving it somewhere else?

Because automating a barrier does not remove the barrier.

Michael will be bringing that human and accessibility perspective to the panel alongside the other panellists.

Thursday 26 November 2026
1:15 pm–1:45 pm
Keynote Stage 1
National Conference Centre, Birmingham

If you are attending the Expo, come and say hello.

Tickets and event details:
https://BirminghamBusinessGrowthExpo2026.eventbrite.co.uk/?aff=MichaelOsborne

27/10/2026

What if there was a word you could never afford to hear?

Not because it would upset you.
Not because it would change your mind.

Because the moment you heard it, you would disappear.

No warning. No explanation. Just gone.

Now imagine someone accidentally broadcasts it to millions of people.

Planes lose their pilots. Families lose loved ones. Governments lose control.

And the people who cannot hear it may be among the few who can help the world understand what's happening.

That's the premise behind THE WORD, an adult speculative thriller our CEO, Michael Osborne, has been writing.

The manuscript is still going through revisions. We are not announcing a release or making any promises about publication.

He's simply curious whether the idea has genuine appeal beyond his own imagination.

So, an honest question:

If you came across this description on the back of a book, would you want to read it?

A yes, no or maybe is equally useful. And if it's a maybe, he'd love to know what's missing.

28/08/2026

A11yShip is not a lecture.

It is an accessibility experience.

Teams work together.

They solve challenges.

They notice barriers.

They talk about what happened.

Then they connect that experience back to real workplace decisions.

That last part matters.

Because the aim is not just:

“That was interesting.”

The aim is:

“What do we need to change?”

A11yShip helps people explore barriers around:

- visual clarity

- hearing and communication

- cognitive load

- keyboard navigation

- collaboration under pressure

But it is not about blame.

And it is not about pretending anyone can fully understand another person’s lived experience from one activity.

It is about creating a safe, practical space to ask better questions.

What created the barrier?

Who might this exclude?

What could we do differently next time?

That is where accessibility starts to move from awareness into action.

Ask us about A11yShip if your team needs accessibility learning that people can experience, discuss and apply.

27/08/2026

This work is already happening with real teams.

Accessible Me has supported organisations across learning, content, accessibility, inclusion and practical workplace change.

The common thread is simple.

Teams often care about accessibility.

But they need it to become clearer, more practical and easier to act on.

That might mean:

- reviewing learning content

- supporting internal teams

- running practical accessibility sessions

- helping people understand barriers earlier

- turning concern into a clearer route forward

Pedro Monteiro, Global Learning Lead at ING, described our support as practical, actionable and immediately valuable to their teams.

That is the kind of support we want more organisations to experience.

Not overwhelm.

Not judgement.

Not a checklist with no next step.

A clearer path.

A practical conversation.

A way to start.

Book a fit call if your team needs support making accessibility easier to understand, plan and act on.

https://calendly.com/mike-accessible-me/30min

26/08/2026

Congratulations to our founder, Michael Osborne, on reaching 17,000 followers on LinkedIn.

Thank you to everyone who supports the work, shares the message and helps more people understand why accessibility needs to be built in earlier.

At Accessible Me, we help organisations spot hidden barriers before they become risk, rework or exclusion.

Here’s to more practical accessibility thinking, more inclusive learning and more barriers removed.

26/08/2026

A well-run session can still leave people out.

Not because anyone meant to.

But because the environment, delivery and format were not designed with enough flexibility.

Noise can drain attention.

Glare can make it harder to focus.

A busy room can increase overwhelm.

No captions can make spoken content harder to follow.

A fixed format can make participation depend on one way of joining in.

No quiet support can mean people have to push through instead of taking part well.

This matters in:

- meetings

- training

- events

- workshops

- webinars

- customer sessions

- internal briefings

Accessibility is not only about the content.

It is also about the conditions people are asked to participate in.

A useful question is:

What would make this easier to access before someone has to ask?

At Accessible Me, we help teams spot these hidden barriers earlier.

Ask us about a practical first step.

25/08/2026

Over the past few days, we’ve been sharing examples of hidden accessibility barriers.
- A form that creates cognitive overload.
- A session that quietly leaves people out.
- Online learning that looks fine but is harder to use than people realise.
- Documents that appear polished but still block access.
- Hiring processes that filter people out before they get a fair chance.

Different examples.
Same pattern.

Most accessibility problems start before anyone checks compliance.

They begin in ordinary decisions:
- the template someone starts from
- the platform a team chooses
- the way instructions are written
- the format used in a session
- the assumption that one route will work for everyone
- the pressure of time, noise, memory, attention or processing load

That is why accessibility work cannot just begin at the end.

If we only check once something is built, published or launched, many of the barriers are already in place.

The goal is not blame.

It is to notice the upstream choices earlier, ask better questions, and make access easier from the start.

That might mean a practical review.
It might mean an audit.
It might mean a strategy conversation.
It might mean an experiential route like A11yShip.

It depends on the problem you are trying to solve.

If accessibility feels like something your organisation only checks late, that may be the first issue to fix.

Ask us about a practical first step.

24/08/2026

Last week Michael Osborne asked who was missing from Channel 4's 'The Great ADHD Myth?'

Adults.

Women and girls.

People whose ADHD doesn't fit the familiar hyperactive stereotype.

But afterwards we realised there was another group we hadn't explored properly either.

Black, Asian and other ethnic minority people with ADHD.

So, over the weekend, the Accessible Me went looking at the evidence.

And it made one of the programme's biggest questions much more complicated.

If we're going to talk about ADHD being “overdiagnosed”, perhaps we first need to ask:

Overdiagnosed in whom?

Because being neurodivergent and being recognised as neurodivergent aren't necessarily the same thing.

This is a direct follow-up to last week's article.

And, once again, we are not trying to close the debate.

We are trying to ask better questions.

Our team would particularly welcome perspectives from people whose experiences aren't mine.

What are we still missing from the public conversation about ADHD?

24/08/2026

The design decisions we make early shape who gets included later.

That is true in learning.

It is true in digital systems.

It is true in AI.

It is true in workplace communication.

Most barriers do not appear suddenly at the end.

They are built up through small decisions.

A template that assumes everyone reads quickly.

A process that assumes everyone can use the same channel.

A video that assumes captions are optional.

A meeting that assumes everyone can respond in real time.

A form that assumes every answer fits a narrow box.

None of these choices may look dramatic on their own.

But together, they decide who has to work harder.

That is why I care so much about helping teams spot barriers earlier.

Not because every person needs to become an accessibility expert.

They do not.

But people do need enough confidence to pause and ask:

Who might this exclude?

What are we assuming?

Is there a clearer way?

Could we test this before it becomes expensive to fix?

That is the kind of practical accessibility thinking I will be sharing more of here.

Follow for clear, human accessibility thinking that helps teams design with fewer hidden barriers from the start.

The design decisions we make early shape who gets included later.

That is true in learning.

It is true in digital systems.

It is true in AI.

It is true in workplace communication.

Most barriers do not appear suddenly at the end.

They are built up through small decisions.

A template that assumes everyone reads quickly.

A process that assumes everyone can use the same channel.

A video that assumes captions are optional.

A meeting that assumes everyone can respond in real time.

A form that assumes every answer fits a narrow box.

None of these choices may look dramatic on their own.

But together, they decide who has to work harder.

That is why I care so much about helping teams spot barriers earlier.

Not because every person needs to become an accessibility expert.

They do not.

But people do need enough confidence to pause and ask:

Who might this exclude?

What are we assuming?

Is there a clearer way?

Could we test this before it becomes expensive to fix?

That is the kind of practical accessibility thinking I will be sharing more of here.

Follow for clear, human accessibility thinking that helps teams design with fewer hidden barriers from the start.