Adam Hyland
Director of Accessibility and Inclusion at Diversity and Ability
Digital and Tech
Adam has been a driving force in challenging perceptions of disablement for over 15 years, starting with his election to Disabled Students’ Officer for the National Union of Students and continuing through his capacity of Co-founding Director of Accessibility and Inclusion at Diversity and Ability.
Through his role at Diversity and Ability, a social enterprise led by and for disabled people, Adam has been instrumental in the creation of AXS Passport: a holistic, digital tool that enables everyone to share their accessibility and inclusion requirements.
AXS Passport was born from years of frustration at the inaccessibility, inconsistency and invalidation of traditional, static adjustments passports. Adam’s vision was for a new approach to accessibility passports, where the user maintained ownership of their own data, and was able to share their access needs whenever they want and with who they want. Since its launch in December 2022, AXS Passport has garnered over 1,000 users, and won the Tech4Good awards for Workplace Inclusion and Winner of Winners in June 2023.
As Director of Accessibility and Inclusion at D&A, Adam is an expert in disability inclusion consultancy and training. He delivers workshops, consultancy and support to organisations and senior leadership. Most notably, he is overseeing a large-scale disability inclusion project with Transport for London to increase the accessibility of London’s transport network. He speaks on stages across the UK and beyond, including DIAL Global, Moody’s Lithuania and Neurodiversity in Business.
He has given evidence to a UK Government Commission on barriers to employment for disabled people. He has previously sat on the advisory board of the Global Disability Innovation Hub which was tasked with promoting innovation for disabled people across the globe. This year he has been part of an advisory roundtable for creating a more accessible aviation industry with the Department of Transport . Adam, along with his D&A colleagues, was recognised for their work in inclusive recruitment by winning the RIDI (Recruitment Industry Disability Initiative) Awards for Disability Specialist and Overall Impact 2020.
“We must move the dial on disability inclusion much faster than ever before. Far too often we hear the words “Inclusion is a journey” but, people are living their lives now. We also need diverse talent that has historically been locked out of education and the workplace, if we are going to create a more equitable and sustainable world to thrive in.”
Disability Power 100 2023 profile information has been self-submitted by the profile subject. Shaw Trust understands and respects that disability and impairment descriptors and language use varies from person to person. Shaw Trust assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or discrepancies in the content of this, or any other, profile page.
Image credit: Emma Bailey
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