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The Father-Son Journey Through Accessibility and Acting
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Gareth Ford-Williams shares how his son Zak inability to access age-appropriate BBC games sparked a career revolutionizing digital accessibility, culminating in the development of BBC iPlayer with comprehensive accessibility features.
• Gareth's journey began when six-year-old Zak couldn't access BBC games designed for older children
• Personal connections and family experiences often drive innovation in accessibility
• While working as BBC brand manager, Gareth questioned why they would build relationships with audiences only to abandon them
• The BBC iPlayer project launched in 2007 with screen reader accessibility, closed captions, and audio description
• Twenty years later, Zak appears on the very platform his father helped make accessible
• Zak shares his experience as an actor with a disability despite repeatedly being told it would never happen
• Period dramas historically feature conventionally perfect bodies despite historical reality being "far wonkier"
• Zak's drama teacher revealed period dances had simple movements precisely because disability was common
• The powerful concept of "incidental portrayal" – casting disabled actors in roles where disability isn't central to the plot
• Putting a disabled person on stage changes the audience relationship in ways that add artistic value and subtext
Keep following AXSChat for more conversations about accessibility, representation, and breaking barriers in media and technology.
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Chapters
1. The Father-Son Journey Through Accessibility and Acting (00:00:00)
2. Introduction to Gareth and Zach (00:00:01)
3. BBC Accessibility Origins (00:01:05)
4. Zach's Acting Journey (00:04:05)
5. Breaking Through Barriers in Entertainment (00:07:26)
6. Authentic Representation in Period Drama (00:12:15)
7. Disability in Acting and Casting (00:18:05)
8. Balancing Authenticity and Performance (00:23:10)
9. Incidental vs. Character-Defining Disability (00:27:33)
275 episodes
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