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Heather Dowdy
Keynote Speaker · Accessibility Catalyst

Accessibility Is Not the Future.It Is the Competitive Advantage Companies Need Now.

Heather Dowdy is the nationally recognized technology executive and keynote speaker companies call when they want to transform product accessibility from a compliance headache into product excellence and brand growth.

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Netflix · Microsoft · Motorola · U.S. Presidential Appointee · 20 Years
Heather Dowdy delivering a keynote on stage in a signature orange suit

Organizations That Shape the Future

  • Microsoft
  • NETFLIX
  • MOTOROLA
  • commercetools
  • Digital Promise
  • WebCon
  • PRATT
  • AbbVie
  • NC TECH
  • RTI International
  • Women at the Mart
  • Disability:IN
$18.3T
GLOBAL DISABILITY SPENDING POWER
22%
GLOBAL POPULATION WITH DISABILITIES
20+
Years in Tech Leadership
3
Big Tech Platforms Led
About Heather

Heather Dowdy spent 20 years building accessible technology at Motorola, Microsoft, and Netflix — where she became the company's inaugural Head of Global Product Accessibility. In 2022, President Biden appointed her to the U.S. Access Board. Today she leads The Accessibility Catalyst Group, helping organizations turn the disability market from a compliance burden into their competitive advantage.

  • Presidential Appointee · U.S. Access Board
  • Inaugural Head of Global Product Accessibility, Netflix
  • COO · Microsoft AI for Accessibility
  • Accessibility Engineering Lead, Motorola
  • ECE Young Alumni Award · University of Illinois 2024
Full bio + speaker kit →
Signature Keynotes

Five Talks. One Outcome: Growth Through Access.

Every keynote is deeply customized to your industry, audience, and growth goals — backed by 20 years of Big Tech proof.

01Keynote

Accessibility Is Your Biggest Untapped Revenue Lever

The business case framework — built from 20 years at Netflix, Microsoft, and Motorola — that gets accessibility funded in any boardroom.

What if your most transformative product innovation has been hiding inside your accessibility roadmap all along?

  • Why designing for the margins creates breakthroughs that redefine mainstream markets
  • The curb-cut effect as a repeatable product strategy — not a lucky accident
  • How Netflix, Microsoft, and Motorola used accessibility-first design to drive measurable growth
  • The business case framework that gets accessibility funded in any boardroom
Ideal For
Product, Technology & Innovation Conferences · Fortune 500 Leadership
02Keynote

The Future of Accessibility: Powered by Artificial Intelligence

A clear-eyed map of how AI is expanding access for 1.3 billion people — the real opportunities, the hidden risks, and what responsible AI-powered inclusion looks like in practice.

How AI is reshaping access for 1.3 billion people — and what it means for the next generation of products.

  • How AI is reshaping access for 1.3 billion people — real use cases
  • Avoiding algorithmic bias in next-generation intelligent experiences
  • The opportunity for AI to expand reach, personalization, and independence
  • Drawn from Microsoft's AI for Accessibility and Netflix product work
Ideal For
Tech Conferences, AI Summits & Future-of-Work Symposiums
03Keynote

The Disability Consumer: Your Brand's Most Loyal Untapped Audience

1.3 billion people with disabilities represent $13 trillion in global spending power — and the brands designing for them are building the most loyal consumer relationships in their category.

1.3 billion people with disabilities represent $13 trillion in global spending power — and they are the most brand-loyal consumer segment on the planet. Most brands have been designing them out. The ones that design them in are capturing outsized market share, press coverage, and community trust that money cannot buy.

  • Why the disability consumer isn't a niche — it's the entry point to a market that includes their families, caregivers, and communities
  • The curb-cut effect applied to brand: how designing for access creates products that outperform for everyone
  • What adaptive beauty, sports fan experience, and accessible retail get right — and what most brands are still missing
  • How to position accessibility as a brand differentiator before your competitors do
Ideal For
CMO & Brand Leadership Summits · Beauty, Retail & Consumer Goods · Sports & Entertainment Executives
04Keynote

The European Accessibility Act: Your Compliance Deadline Is a Market Opportunity in Disguise

EAA enforcement began June 2025. The brands treating it as a legal risk are missing the bigger story: first movers capture a market their competitors are still locked out of.

The European Accessibility Act enforcement began June 2025. Brands with EU operations are now legally required to meet accessibility standards — and most are scrambling. The penalty for non-compliance is real. But the brands treating this as pure legal risk are missing the bigger story: the brands that move first don't just avoid fines. They capture a market their competitors are still locked out of.

  • What EAA requires, who it applies to, and the enforcement timeline global brands cannot afford to ignore
  • Why compliance is the floor — and how leading brands are using EAA as a product and brand strategy
  • The first-mover advantage: how accessible design in the EU creates a global halo effect
  • Drawn from Heather's work on the U.S. Access Board and leading global product accessibility at Netflix
Ideal For
Global Brand & Legal Leadership · EU Market Expansion Teams · CMO & Product Strategy Conferences
05Keynote

Market Multiplier for Startups

Why the most successful startups build accessibility in from day one — and how founders use the disability market as a growth lever, not an afterthought.

Accessibility doesn't narrow your product — it multiplies your market.

  • Why accessibility-first startups attract more diverse teams and more loyal users
  • How to build accessible products from zero without slowing velocity
  • The VC lens: disability market capture as a due-diligence category
  • Lessons from building accessibility at scale across mobile, web, TV, and AI
Ideal For
Founders · VC Summits · Startup Conferences · Innovation Events
Custom Keynote

Don't see exactly what you need?

Every program is tailored. Tell us your audience and outcome — we'll design the keynote around it.

Schedule Your Consultation →
The Audience Journey

What your audience experiences.

Three deliberate movements — shifting how your audience sees the disability market and what they do about it.

01
Before the Talk

What they walk in with

  • Accessibility as a legal obligation — a cost center, not a strategy
  • The disability market as a niche, not a mainstream growth lever
  • Fear of getting it wrong — or confusion about where to start
  • DEI and revenue siloed into separate conversations
02
During the Talk

What happens in the room

  • The $18.3T spending-power number lands — in their industry, their numbers
  • They recognize customers they've been turning away without knowing
  • Heather's personal story makes the stakes immediate, not abstract
  • The shift: from "we should care" to "we cannot afford not to act"
03
After the Talk

What they do differently

  • They launch a disability consumer advisory group
  • Accessibility enters brand and marketing planning
  • They use Heather's framing in strategy decks and budget pitches
  • The disability market becomes a measured business segment
Book Heather Now →
Heather Dowdy, founder of The Accessibility Catalyst Group, in a green jacket
About Heather

Made for this work. From birth.

Raised on the South Side of Chicago by young, Black, Deaf parents — at the intersection of race, disability, and limited economic access — Heather grew up as a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults), fluent in American Sign Language, acutely aware from childhood of who gets left out, and what it costs everyone when they are.

That awareness became a 20-year career building accessible technology at scale. From pioneering accessibility engineering on the first Android devices at Motorola, to COO of Microsoft's AI for Accessibility grant program, to becoming Netflix's inaugural Head of Global Product Accessibility.

In 2022, President Biden appointed her to the U.S. Access Board. Today, she leads The Accessibility Catalyst Group — helping organizations turn the disability market from a compliance burden into their competitive advantage.

Heather doesn't raise awareness; she raises standards.

  • Presidential Appointee — U.S. Access Board (2022)
  • Inaugural Head of Global Product Accessibility, Netflix
  • COO, Microsoft AI for Accessibility
  • Accessibility Engineering Lead, Motorola / Google
  • Board: World Institute on Disability, Deaf Kids Code, Billion Strong
  • ECE Young Alumni Award, U. of Illinois (2024)
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Why Event Planners Book Heather

Your audience came for inspiration. They'll leave with a strategy.

Not another DEI speaker. A 20-year tech executive who connects every insight directly to your audience's revenue, talent, and competitive positioning.

01

She Leads with Revenue, Not Guilt

Heather opens with the $18.3 trillion global disability spending-power number, not a moral lecture. CMOs, CFOs and product leaders leave motivated by growth — the most durable kind of organizational change.

02

Big Tech Authority in Every Room

Netflix. Microsoft. Motorola. Presidential Appointee. No other speaker brings this depth of real-world execution to an accessibility keynote — and your audience knows it the moment she walks onstage.

03

Lived Experience, Not Theory

Raised by Deaf parents on Chicago's South Side, Heather has spent a lifetime at the intersection of disability, race, and economic access. The work is personal — and that's why it lands.

04

Deep Customization, Every Time

Every engagement includes a discovery call, industry research and talk customization calibrated to your audience's exact challenges and growth stage. No two Heather Dowdy keynotes are the same.

05

Action Starts Before She Leaves the Stage

Attendees describe the post-event Slack messages, the strategy sessions that start that afternoon, the committees that form that week. Heather doesn't just inspire — she activates.

AS SEEN IN
ForbesBusiness InsiderMedia Play NewsPeople of Color in TechMicrosoft LifeU.S. Access Board
Featured Conversations

On the record about the business case for accessibility.

Women at the Mart, Chicago
Business Strategy · Brand Leaders

Accessibility as a Market Multiplier for Brands

Women at the Mart, Chicago
Culture Soup Podcast
Podcast · Leadership & Inclusion

The Business Case for Accessibility as a Growth Strategy

Culture Soup Podcast
Women in AI Ethics
Roundtable · AI & Inclusion

AI, Disability, and Who Gets Left Behind

Women in AI Ethics
From the Press
Forbes

Netflix's New Director of Product Accessibility Heather Dowdy Opens Up About Being a CODA, Making Netflix Accessible to All

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Business Insider

Netflix's head of accessibility grew up with deaf parents, and it made her more aware that TV subtitles can be terrible

Read article →
Forbes

Netflix Accessibility Boss Heather Dowdy Marks Global Accessibility Awareness Day By Touting 'Continued' Work

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People of Color in Tech

Netflix's First-Ever Director of Product Accessibility, Heather Dowdy, Is Pioneering Tech Inclusion

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Media Play News

Netflix Exec Heather Dowdy Talks About the Value of Accessibility at EnTech Confab

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U.S. Access Board

Presidential Appointee — Heather Dowdy named to the U.S. Access Board by President Biden

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Reserve Your Date

Let's unlock your biggest untapped market.

Heather's calendar fills 6–12 months in advance. If your event is coming up and you're ready to give your audience the growth strategy hiding in plain sight — start the conversation now.

  1. 01
    Submit Your Inquiry
    Complete the form. You'll hear back within 24 business hours — guaranteed.
  2. 02
    Discovery Call
    A focused 30-minute conversation about your audience, your goals, and the outcomes that matter to you.
  3. 03
    Custom Proposal
    A tailored proposal with talk brief, fee structure, and agreement — transparent and straightforward.
  4. 04
    Pre-Event Collaboration
    Content customization, audience research, and full AV/logistics coordination — handled proactively.
  5. 05
    Post-Event Resources
    Action guides, market data, and integration tools to ensure the ideas take root in your organization.

Submit your inquiry

We respond within 24 business hours.