One important note: I am only interested in speaking at conferences showcasing a diverse line-up of speakers. I am also happy to be part of a panel, but it can’t be all-male or all-white. If you’re looking for recommendations of awesome, diverse speakers, reach out and I will happily provide you with a list of names.
In the Future
AI 2030 Global Fellow Meeting
11 Nov 2025Online
In the Past
AI 2030 Responsible AI Leadership Council Breakfast
29 Oct 2025Bellevue, WA USA
National Disability Rights Network’s Annual Conference
This session, hosted by Aaron Gustafson and Ioana Tanase explores the transformative role of AI in enhancing accessibility. Together, you will uncover the pivotal role AI plays in crafting cutting-edge accessible technologies, learn about innovative AI tools that empower individuals with disabilities, and dive into best practices for creating inclusive AI solutions. Together, we will also explore the exciting future of AI in pushing the boundaries of accessibility.
In this session, I discuss the many reasons companies should prioritize accessibility, how to build a culture of accessibility, and what it can mean for their bottom line.
First presented at Private talk at a Fortune 25 company on
In this keynote, I discuss the future of accessibility and your place in it. I also share a number of ways accessibility devs and related practitioners are putting their skills to work, beyond code compliance.
In this session, I explain why progressive enhancement is the gold standard for developing web projects before diving into a host of practical examples of how you can apply this practice to a range of interfaces.
First presented at MITRE Accessibility Technical Exchange Meeting on
In this session, Aaron discusses the many challenges to delivering critical information and services as well as the steps you can take to overcome those challenges.
Users are gradually becoming more accustomed to and reliant on voice-based interactions, so enabling users to complete critical tasks without a visual user interface is crucial for the long-term success of websites.
In this session, you’ll learn how to grow a project from a core, universally-accessible experience to a sophisticated Progressive Web App that ensures users will be able to access your product, no matter what.
In this session I discuss some of the potential pitfalls in implementing Service Workers, especially when it comes to managing heavy files like images and video.
Over time, your users will become more accustomed to and reliant on voice-based interactions with their computers and, thereby, the web. Enabling them to complete critical tasks without a visual user interface will be crucial for the long-term success of your website.
In this intensely practical session, Aaron will explore the ins and outs of page load performance by showing how he made the web site of the 10K Apart meet its own contest rules, by having a site that was functional and attractive even without JavaScript, and was less than ten kilobytes at initial load.
In this session, I help you think about user experience from its foundation, so you understand what it means to build adaptive web experiences – whether in an app, in a browser, or beyond.
In this intensely practical session, I explore the ins and outs of page load performance by showing how he made the web site of the 10K Apart meet its own contest rules, by having a site that was functional and attractive even without JavaScript, and was less than ten kilobytes at initial load.
One of the Web’s major strengths is its ability to adapt, to travel anywhere and everywhere in service of its users. When we embrace that, our designs, products, and experiences will be all the better for it.
In this session, I discuss what PWAs are, how they can be integrated into the development process of modern websites, the advantages and disadvantages of PWAs vs. native development, and what opportunities they present when installed alongside native apps in Windows.
This talk is largely about accessibility with a push for thinking about the future of the interface and how considering accessibility now will help us prepare for a world of “headless UIs”.
I’ll explore forms from top to bottom, examining how they work and how their components can be incorporated with other elements to maximize accessibility, improve semantics, and allow for more flexible styling.
Progressive Enhancement, the heart of Adaptive Design, makes the life of a design less complicated. Aaron and Jenn will show you how to create a solid core and build out to craft amazing user experiences that work regardless of devices capabilities or deficiencies.
Today, browsers are just one of the issues among a sea of considerations like accessibility, device compatibility, and responsive or adaptive design. And with new techniques and devices coming out daily, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed.
In the course of his talk, I’ll walk you through progressive enhancement’s layered approach and show you how the latest techniques—mobile first, responsive design, and adaptive UI—fit in to the process.
In this session, I explore why empathy is a good thing, how empathy empowers creativity, and how we, as a community, can inject more empathy into our work.