Global Conference session recap: Maintaining high accessibility standards globally
By Daniel Cadey, Senior Disability Business Partner at Business Disability Forum.
The third session of our recent Global Conference (sponsored by HSBC) went straight to the heart of the day’s theme of ‘Disability inclusion in a complex world.’ Chaired by John McCalla-Leacy, Head of Global ESG, KPMG International, and featuring esteemed panellists from the USA, UK and Hong Kong, it explored how businesses are navigating the complex global landscape, yet still developing and maintaining people-centred, high accessibility standards.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion has been thrust into the limelight in 2025, and the subject of some considerable debate and a variety of challenges – be they political, overfunding, practical application or semantical interpretation to name a few. It was great to hear Donna Bungard, Director of Accessibility at Indeed ground the session in their ‘skills-led’ approach to recruitment, reminding us that putting people first and their skills forefront is key in being disability inclusive and also in encouraging accessibility at scale.
Scalability is a crucial challenge raised by so many of our Members and Partners at BDF, and one that Marc Powell, Global Accessibility Centre of Excellence Lead at Unilever was keen to speak to. Working with the RNIB and Zappar, Unilever secured the BDF Disability Smart Award for Technology earlier in 2025 for their innovative QR scanning packaging. Managing numerous brands who are household names around the globe, Marc told us that scale and scalability are critical for what Unilever does. Insights and data play a key role in this. Referring to an earlier discussion that in part lamented the need to make a business case for accessibility, Marc explained that, well, in a tight economy he would be expected to make the case as in any other area of business, to illustrate economic viability. But in this and in highlighting purchase intent, there’s a clear case that the focus on business or inclusivity is not an either/or scenario: accessibility drives both!
Surali Siriwardene, Private Bank Head of Change Execution & WPS COO at HSBC outlined the bank’s approach to global consistency and how they take a global approach across everything. For example, their Global Accessibility Standards start with the customer first then expand through collaboration – through internal teams, through regions and also with local NGOs, recognising the importance of translating standards in a culturally nuanced way.
All of our panellists spoke about challenges to driving global standards and each mentioned leaders and culture: in creating psychological safety in recruitment to appreciate strength in experience that has been previously overlooked; in being able to communicate sometimes complex messaging into simple steps, moving into scale and bringing people on board along the way; and in recognising key journeys and elements that are non-negotiable (not everything will be solved in a day, but knowing what is key and how it relates to your business, your identity, and to keep relating it back – keeping part of the conversation – makes it core to what you do).
Surali left us with a message from an unnamed colleague, “true accessibility is about people, not guidelines”. This sentiment ties up with Donna’s point at the start of the session, and brings up to the heart of the conversation: if you are in the business of customers, think of the customer; the individual. Their journey. It becomes part of your DNA.
Read the Global Conference 2025’s highlights.
More links:
HSBC’s Accessibility Hub: Empowering Digital Accessibility | HSBC Accessibility Hub