Be The Change: Standing up for equality

Be The Change is an event series run by Tramshed Tech that aims to highlight partners who are advocating change, support collaboration for change-making action, and ensure the equality agenda across all protected characteristic groups remains current and in the spotlight. The idea is to raise awareness for underrepresented groups and create individual connections.

In the first of these events in October focusing on Equality and Inclusion, we heard from Paul Higgins (watch), Janet Onyia (watch) and Chris Hardess (watch). Shedding light on many issues that can lead to discrimination, we learned that 1 in 7 people suffer from a neurological condition, that tech workers face age-related discrimination, and that over three quarters (77%) of disabilities are invisible and should also be taken into consideration when discussing accessibility. Of course, we also heard about how we can act to be the change. Get a full rundown of the first event first event.

November's event was all about Race, highlighting Coders of Colour and the Black Young Professionals Network. Coders of Colour founder Tolúlọpẹ́ Ògúnrẹ̀mí was first to speak, talking about some of the initiatives her company has taken to get more people of colour into the coding landscape. Part two was lead by Lynn Abhulimen from Black Young Professionals Network in Cardiff, who connect black professionals around the world with each other and global corporations. Watch the panel highlights panel highlights. The third event honed in on Disability, opening with a talk from Daniel Biddle, a seriously injured survivor of the 2005 London terrorist attacks (watch), followed by a talk from Microsoft accessibility champion, Chris Hardess (watch). In part 3, our very own Steph Locke joined the panel to shed some light on remote working culture and how it can tie in nicely with certain disabilities and accessibility. Daniel had plenty of insight on accessible workplaces and gearing up the recruitment process to be more inclusive, while Chris shared many thoughts on the matter including how interviewers can do more to help people who don't interview well. Watch the panel below.

The event series continues in the new year touching on many more important topics:

• 12th January 2021 Religion
• 2nd February 2021 Age
• 2nd March 2021 Women in Business / Tech
• 6th April 2021 Mental Health
• 4th May 2021 LGBTQI+

Register for the upcoming events upcoming events.