Practical Web Inclusion and Accessibility: A Comprehensive Guide to Access Needs

Ashley Firth is Head of Front-end Development and Accessibility at award-winning energy supplier Octopus Energy. Accessibility has been an obsession of his since he started this role and he has worked together with customers to understand their needs and use new technology to try to make an online experience as inclusive as possible. Ashley and Octopus Energy have won numerous customer and digital experience awards for their products, and their approach to web accessibility has been described as “best in class” by the Royal Institute for the Blind. Ashley was shortlisted for the 2018 Young Energy Professional of the Year for customer service, spoke at the Festival of Marketing on the importance of web accessibility, and was part of eConsultancy’s first ever Neurodiversity report. He is a published writer for Web Designer Magazine on accessibility and acts as a consultant to other companies to help them improve their approach to accessibility. Before Octopus Energy, Ashley ran the Front-end team at Digital and CRM agency, Tangent, helping to build sites for clients such as Walkers, Carlsberg, SAP, and the Labour Party, and before that, at experiential start-up, Fishrod Interactive, helping to make installations for WWE, Sky, and Budweiser. You can find him on Twitter and Instagram @MrFirthy.