Donna Smillie, Senior Web Accessibility Consultant, RNIB
RNIB's most experienced web accessibility consultant, Donna has had a varied career, from writing data analysis programs on early desktop computers in the 1970's to providing technical support to customers of a CD-ROM publishing company in the 90's. A contract post at British Airways then led to her creating and managing several department websites on the company intranet.
She has been an enthusiastic user of online systems for 20 years, and has seen at first hand the positive impact they can have on the lives of people with disabilities. This, combined with her work at BA, made her aware of the barriers that can be created by inaccessible web design.
Donna joined RNIB in March 2000, creating RNIB's 'See it Right' accessible website consultancy. In 2001, the 'See it Right' Accessible Website logo was launched - this has proved highly successful in encouraging companies to improve the accessibility of their websites.
The consultancy now employs 4 full-time consultants, and the team carry out website audits and provide advice to a wide range of companies and organisations around the UK, and a few outside the UK.
RNIB's web accessibility consultants have been working with local authorities since the consultancy's inception, and have carried out the accessibility assessments for Socitm's annual 'Better Connected' reports for over five years now.
Donna is an experienced speaker, and has given talks about web accessibility at many seminars and conferences in the UK and Europe.
For a wealth of information and guidance on web accessibility, and to find out more about RNIB's 'See it Right' logo and the services offered by RNIB's Web Access Consultancy, visit: