Lord Low of Dalston CBE - Vice-President
Lord Low is a former criminologist who Chaired the Royal National Institute of Blind People.
He lost his sight in an accident at the age of three and has "no memory of seeing before that".
In his maiden speech to the House of Lords in 2006, Lord" Colin" Low said "There are few problems of ACCESS which will not be overcome".
He supports and advocates the values, aims, mission and activities of AACT for Children.
Lord Low is President of the UK Association for Accessible formats
Ken Carter - Founder
For 45 years Ken has been challenged by "communication" in a variety of roles: as a top class sportsman, Royal Marine, parent of a deaf daughter,
teacher, teacher-lecturer in deaf education, advisory lecturer in special needs and as a charitable entrepreneur.
He has been responsible for helping to set up-the Breakthrough (Deaf/Hearing) Integration Trust (now named DeafPlus), Deafax, Decibels and Inclusive Environments.
For his contribution to preventative medicine and healthcare, he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine.
In July 2009, he was awarded an Honorary Degree from Loughborough University as part of their Centenary celebrations
Adrian Ellison - Trustee and Director
Adrian Ellison is an IT professional who has spent the last 15 years working in the higher education sector in the UK.
Currently heading up the Technical Infrastructure Group at the London School of Economics and Political Science, he was formerly IT Director at Royal Holloway, University of London.
Before that he held various positions at the University of Leeds and was an IT Manager in for a London publishing company.
Early in 2010, Adrian was elected on to the Executive Committee of the Universities and Colleges Information Systems Association (UCISA)
and is a qualified Project and Programme Manager.
He is a also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a director of a property management company.
Apart from his professional and charitable interests, Adrian is a keen motorcyclist, and enjoys good food and wine.
Adrian maintains a blog of his current thoughts here
Michael Jones - Adviser
Michael Jones is an educational consultant. Holding an MSc in language development from City University, London, he has backgrounds in Speech and Language Therapy, teaching and as an advisory teacher of children with communication difficulties.
Michael is also a professional storyteller.
In association with the School of Early Childhood and Primary Education, Michael acted as research consultant on Storytalk, funded by the Esmee Fairburn Foundation, looking at how teachers and volunteers can work together to improve the communication skills of young children. Michael undertakes action research with both Deafax and AACT. Currently he is studying children with selective mutism, investigating using computer software to develop and support confidence in speaking at school.
Helen Lansdown - CEO of Deafax
Helen read for an English Literature degree at the University of Reading before establishing her own business in educational interpreting and the provision of literacy support for deaf students throughout England.
She is currently the Chief Executive of Deafax, a national charitable company which pioneers the innovative use of education, training and research projects involving Information and Communications Technology (ICT). She is responsible for the strategic planning, day to day management and long term sustainability of Deafax .
She has been responsible for pioneering a wide and innovative range of programmes for deaf children and young people utilising ICT for deaf people of all ages, teachers, employers and health professionals at Deafax and was a key player in the development of Deafchild International which included delivering programmes in New Zealand, Australia,
Michael McAleenan - Company Secretary & Treasurer
Michael's working life started in London as an articled clerk with Whinney Murray & Co, a large city practice of Chartered Accountants which became part of Ernst & Whinney and then Ernst & Young. After qualification and gaining a few years valuable professional experience, Michael sought something different and eventually ended up as a partner of a provincial 30 partner firm majoring in Charities and Trust work. He also had had considerable experience of large landed estates and agriculture.
He had always planned to retire when he could and go and work in the Charity sector. In 2003 he became the Director of Finance & Corporate Affairs for a not-for-profit company that took on hospitals and care home from the charity sector, usually religious orders, and made them viable whilst retaining their ethical standards. This challenging and very rewarding environment ended after 3 years as the company was required to restructure, divest itself of hospitals and concentrate on care homes. He now is the Director of Finance at one of the Inns of Court. He holds other trusteeships for an almshouse in his home town and a large grant making charity.
Dr James Ohene-Djane - Trustee and Director
James has over 10 years of successful teaching and research experience within the Department of Computing at Goldsmiths College, University of London.
His current research, which has been presented at major international conferences and published by internationally recognised journals,
is in the areas of adaptive, intelligent hypermedia, assistive learning technologies for the deaf community and the personalisation of advanced learning technologies.
Ann Darnbrough OBE- Vice-President
Ann Darnbrough's childhood was marred by recurrent attacks of spinal TB. In all she spent around four years in hospital, strapped down to a rigid wooden frame,
an experience which left her with a natural empathy for the difficulties faced by disabled people.
It led naturally to her appointment in 1972 as Assistant General Secretary to the Multiple Sclerosis Society,
before moving on to head the Disability Unit of AHRTAG, an organisation concerned with health in developing countries.
In 1980 she founded the National Information Forum and remains as its Director.
With her husband, Derek Kinrade, she has written prolifically on social issues, was well known as Disability Nows agony aunt,
and is today regarded as a pioneer in the provision of information to disabled people. In 2002, her achievements were recognised by the award of an OBE,
for services to disabled people.
Professor James Crabbe - Chair
James is Executive Dean of the Faculty of Creative Arts, Technologies
and Science and Professor of Biochemistry at the University of
Bedfordshire, leading and managing a successful large multi-disciplinary
Faculty with c. £22.5 million budget, c. 4,500 students, 210 staff, six
departments, three Research Institutes, and many national and
International partners. He is also a Supernumerary Fellow of Wolfson
College, Oxford University, and Visiting Professor at the University of
Reading, and at Beijing Normal University and at the International
Business Faculty of BNU in Zhuhai in China. In 2008 he won the Great
Contributors to China Creative Industries Award, presented at the
Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, and in 2006 won the 6th
Aviva/Earthwatch International Award for Climate Change Research.
His
research, spanning biomedical and environmental sciences, as well as his
contribution to the Arts & Humanities, has resulted in over 150 research
publications in refereed journals, 51 books, book chapters and articles
in books, 14 items of commercial software, and numerous invitations as
Plenary speaker at International conferences. His links with Industry
have resulted in many successful projects, including prize-winning
commercial software in molecular modelling, used world-wide for teaching
and for research. He is Editor of the journal Computational Biology and
Chemistry, and has served on the editorial boards of eight other
journals. He is a member of the Peer Review College and Panel member of
the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Scientific Advisor to
the Earthwatch Institute, Patron of Coral Cay Conservation, Member of
Arts Interlink, Fellow of the Council, and Trustee of the Guild of
Benevolence, of the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science &
Technology, Chair of Governors of Central Bedfordshire Further
Education College Corporation. He has served on the Peer Review College
of the EPSRC, the College of Experts of the MRC, and the Pool of Experts
of the BBSRC. He has been a member of the Council of the Biochemical
Society, was one of the first University Institutional Academic
Auditors, and a member of the Research Boards of the EU and of the Big
Lottery Fund, and Vice-Chairman of the East of England Engineering,
Science & Technology Association. He has supervised 16 completed PhD
students, and 11 Postdoctoral Fellows, on his own research grants.
He
is a SCUBA dive instructor level 1, and has produced several classical
recordings, one of which won an award, and has worked in BBC TV and
Radio, and on the Science and Art programme of the Wellcome Trust.
Annette Haworth - Trustee and Director
After spells as a programmer, systems analyst and project manager in a Printing House and at the University of Reading,
Annette became at various times, Director of Computer Services, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Director of Information Services.
In this role she oversaw the University IT, Libraries' and Museums' Services.
She has acted as trustee on a number of education-related charities and was a non-executive director of an NHS hospital Trust.
Annette is a Fellow of the British Computer Society, a Chartered IT Professional (CITP) and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
In 2009 she completed a Masters degree at the Centre for Charity Effectiveness, CASS Business School, City University, London.
In 2008 she became a member of CfBT Educational Trust and a trustee/director of its subsidiary charity, Advice and Guidance
Mike MacMillan - IT and Blindness
Mike was educated at The West of Englan School for the Partially Sighted in Exeter. After leaving school, he worked variously in a newspaper advertising office, a DIY shop, the textile industry and then an apprenticeship in precision engineering. In 1973, Mike moved from Somerset to Berkshire to take up a post as an Audio/Visual Technician. Mike now works as the Audio Technician and as an Area Health and Safety Co-ordinator for the University of Reading.
Mike has an interest in computers as tools for his work and for others in ICT, and offers a first line help service to colleagues when they have simple computer problems.
Digital Photography may seem a strange choice for a person with a visual handicap but Mike also offers a digital photographic service to the Institute of Education. Because of his own handicap, he has an interest in using computers to aid those with disabilities, by providing education and communication solutions; he feels that through AACT, we will be able to accomplish these aims.
Mike is married to Chris, and has a daughter Hazel who is following in her fathers footsteps and teaches Radio Production techniques. Mike also runs his own sound recording business. Mike is registered blind but has some useful sight in one eye.
Dr Rachael Shipsey - Adviser
Dr Rachel Shipsey graduated in 1994 from Cardiff University with a degree in mathematics and computing. After a few years at work, she studied for a PhD in mathematics at Goldsmiths College, University of London. She completed her thesis in 2000 and went to work in the Information Security Group at Royal Holloway, University of London.
In 2003, now with three small children, Rachel decided to work part time as a visiting lecturer, examiner and maths tutor. During this time she met many bright children who were struggling with maths, and started to develop methods of teaching maths using pictures to explain mathematical concepts and solutions.
When her youngest son was diagnosed with a severe and complex speech and language disorder and learning difficulties, Rachel become involved in the world of special needs education and started to do research in the field of assistive technology working with Dr James Ohene-
Ohene-Djan. Her main research interests are currently emotional subtitles and maths by pictures.
Professor Harold Silver - educational historian
Harold Silver was formerly a professor at London University and principal of Bulmershe College of Higher Education (which later amalgamated with the University of Reading). He is now a visiting research professor at the Open University. He is the author of many books on higher education, education policy and history, and contributes regularly to educational journals. He has doctorates from the University of Cambridge
and the Council for National Academic Awards and honorary doctorates from the universities of Plymouth and Winchester.
He has been a visiting scholar at universities in the USA and Canada. He has extensive experience as an external evaluator for educational institutions and organisations, including for Deafax and Cued Speech.
Our founding aims 
