Practical Web Accessibility: A Comprehensive Guide to Digital Inclusion

Ashley Firth is the Global Director of Engineering at award-winning energy technology company Octopus Energy, responsible for building and overseeing the online experience of its many millions of users worldwide. Starting at the company as one of its very first employees (now standing at over 5,000), Ashley has championed the need for inclusive and accessible websites from the very beginning, and has spoken internationally on the subject, taking into account both customer and colleague needs when doing so.

Octopus Energy, along with being one of the best energy companies in the world for customer service, has won numerous customer and digital experience awards thanks to Ashley’s approach to accessibility. In 2020 - just four years after starting up - the supplier also became the 15th tech unicorn born out of the UK. The year after, it became a quintuple unicorn.

Along with his demanding day job, Ashley is determined to make web accessibility a cornerstone of any company’s handbook. He spends his spare time as a consultant to government bodies and private companies to help them improve their approach to accessibility. He is also a technical reviewer for books on the subject. He was shortlisted for the Young Energy Professional of the Year award.

All of Ashley’s experience culminated in the production of Practical Web Accessibility. The first edition of this book reached number one on the Amazon technology charts, and is used by readers and companies around the world to understand accessibility and improve their approach to it, always with fantastic results. Outside of accessibility, Ashley blogs and consults about management, which you can find at mrfirthy.me.