Fireside Chats at #ZeroCon25
A selection of talks I'm looking forward to, all live broadcasted on YouTube with live captioning in English and International Sign interpretation.
The Zero Conference is taking place this week at the United Nations Office in Vienna. If you are attending in person, drop me a line and let’s meet up there!
You can also join the Fireside Chats remotely or watch the recordings afterwards. Fireside Chats will be live-streamed on YouTube; simply save the links for each day and drop in whenever you find time.
These are the chats I’m looking forward to:
Fireside Chats on Wednesday
Beyond Policy: Driving Meaningful Cultural Change at Work
Wednesday 5 March 2025 | 11:20 - 11:40
Workplace accessibility is more than just policies—it’s about creating lasting cultural change. In this fireside chat, Ravit Turjeman of ReelAbilities and Christopher Patnoe of Google will explore how organizations can foster greater awareness, engagement, and action to build more accessible workplaces.
Through the ReelAbilities at the Workplace program, ReelAbilities has helped organizations—including Google—take innovative steps to improve disability awareness and accessibility. We’ll discuss the impact of these initiatives, how they’ve resonated with employees, and practical strategies for making accessibility an ongoing priority rather than a one-time effort.
This conversation will highlight the power of storytelling, the role of leadership in shaping workplace culture, and creative ways to ensure that all employees feel valued, heard, and empowered.
Nothing Without Us – Inclusive Representation
Wednesday 5 March 2025 | 12:40 - 13:00
Inclusive Representation Fireside Chat: This discussion will be focused on the importance of inclusive representation in internal and external marketing. The conversation will explore how brands can ensure that diverse voices and perspectives are authentically represented in their marketing strategies. The speaker will share insights on how inclusive marketing reflects societal values and drives consumer loyalty and business growth.
Key topics will include overcoming barriers to representation in advertising, avoiding tokenism, and creating campaigns that resonate with diverse audiences. The discussion will also highlight how inclusive marketing contributes to a more equitable and inclusive industry. Attendees can expect to gain actionable strategies for embedding diversity into their marketing practices and fostering more inclusive brand storytelling.
Accessibility and Inclusion in Museums – Best Practice Examples
Wednesday 5 March 2025 | 13:00 - 13:20
In this fireside chat, we’ll explore how achieving inclusion in a museum requires collaboration across all departments—hospitality, building, ICT, education, curation, and HR. We’ll discuss how to embed this responsibility within the organization, with every department playing a key role, and highlight HR as a crucial driver of success.
Before highlighting the developments in the Rijksmuseum, Doris will introduce the second edition of the Inclusive Museums Guide and showcase its new website features, now available in English as well.
Fireside Chats on Thursday
Adopting an Intersectional Lens: Research on Co-Vulnerabilities
Thursday 6 March 2025 | 10:40 - 11:00
There is an urgent need for a common strategy to build the field of People with Disability Economic Empowerment (PwDEE), with a particular focus on designing innovative solutions for the co-vulnerable, and taking that to scale. Zero Project conference and Youth4Jobs partnership offers an opportunity to create a credible knowledge base, bringing actors together, aligning on a common agenda/s, building connections, directing resources to underserved areas and finally influencing public systems and policy towards this goal. Some intersectional issues which get neglected in discussions, work-on-the-ground and policy are, for example, climate-induced impact on PwDs, including migration, women with disabilities, and children with disabilities.
AI+Disability - Coded Futures: Better Opportunities or Biased Outcomes?
Thursday 6 March 2025 | 13:40 - 14:00
In this fireside chat Open Inclusion—a global inclusive research agency based in the UK—shares insights from a recent report on disability and AI. Informed by +500 people (UK-wide) and engagement with global experts, it exposes important perspectives and provides guidance where AI efforts could be most impactful.
Fireside Chats on Friday
How to train medical staff on making accessible healthcare for persons with disabilities
Friday 7 March 2025 | 10:40 - 11:00
Background: Approximately 1.3 billion people worldwide face barriers in accessing inclusive healthcare due to disabilities, leading to worse health outcomes, particularly in low and middle-income countries (LMIC).
Objectives: We used mixed methods to develop a comprehensive training program for healthcare workers with standardised elements for healthcare workers in Uganda, focusing on improving their knowledge, attitudes, and skills in providing care for people with disabilities.
Methods: We conducted an umbrella review to gather relevant literature on disability training for healthcare workers. Interviews were conducted with international experts to gain insights and perspectives on the topic. Additionally, interviews were conducted with people with disabilities and healthcare workers in Uganda to understand their experiences and needs. Based on the findings from these data sources, a participatory workshop was organised, involving key stakeholders, to collaboratively design the training material.
Results: Eight review articles examined training programs for healthcare workers on disability. Training settings ranged from specialised clinical settings to non-clinical settings, and the duration and evaluation methods of the training varied across the articles. Lectures and didactic methods were commonly used, often combined with other approaches such as case studies and simulations. Interviews with experts and participants emphasised the importance of involving people with disabilities in the training and improving communication and understanding between healthcare providers and people with disabilities.
"Early Warnings for All", an important opportunity!
Friday 7 March 2025 | 13:00 - 13:20
Early Warnings for All (EW4All) is a groundbreaking initiative, launched by UN Secretary General António Guterres in 2022 to ensure that everyone on Earth is protected from hazardous weather, water, or climate events through life-saving early warning systems by the end of 2027. The global leaders working together to achieve this key mission chose to include a representative from the global disability rights community as their civil society representative!
These are by no means all the discussions happening, but rather only a small excerpt of my personal selection.