Julie Howell

Concise (100 words)

Julie Howell is Director of Accessibility at digital design agency Fortune Cookie. Before this she was Digital Policy Manager at RNIB. Julie works with businesses and government agencies to ensure the usability by disabled people of digital information services. She is Technical Author of BSi's specification for accessible web design, 'PAS 78' and Chair of BSi's Web Accessibility Technical Committee, that will produce a British Standard for Web Accessibility. Julie held the New Media Age Effectiveness Award for 'The Greatest Individual Contribution to New Media 2005/6'. In 2007, Julie received 'The Special Lifetime Achievement Award' at the Imperatives Digital Awards.


Professional

Julie Howell BA(Hons), MCLIP, MBCS, FRSA

Julie Howell is Director of Accessibility & Public Relations at digital design agency Fortune Cookie.
Prior to this she was the Digital Policy Development Manager at the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) where she worked for 12 years.

Julie joined RNIB, the largest voluntary organisation to serve the interests of the UK's two million blind and partially sighted people, in 1994. Initially a member of the Research Library team, she was appointed to the position of Website Editor in 1997. In 1999, she was promoted to the Public Policy Department where she established RNIB's Campaign for Good Web Design, a national initiative to raise public awareness of the business and social benefits of making web sites accessible to disabled people.

In 2003, Julie was promoted to the new position of Digital Policy Development Manager.

She works with policy makers, information architects, manufacturers and software designers, businesses across all sectors and government agencies to ensure the accessibility to disabled people of digital information products and services.

Julie has been an active member of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) since 1999. She was on the project team that produced the 1999 WAI film 'Web Sites That Work'. She is author of the 2000 RNIB campaign report 'Get the message online: making internet shopping accessible to blind and partially sighted people', and edited 'Get the Net', a column about internet technology in RNIB's monthly 'New Beacon' magazine from 2001-2005.

Julie advises the UK Government on web design policy, including drafts of the Cabinet Office 'Guidelines for for Government Websites'. She was a member of the Cabinet Office committee that published 'The Quality Framework for UK Government Website Design'.

She has advised numerous national and international businesses and organisations - notably Tesco.com, BBC, British Bankers' Association and Adobe Systems - on strategies for making consumer-facing e-products and services accessible to disabled customers.

Julie has banged the drum for accessibility on numerous digital industry award panels, including the Government Forum Internet Awards, Local Government Internet Awards, Charity Times UK Charity Awards, BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards, British Interactive Media Association Awards, Revolution Awards and New Statesman New Media Awards.

During 2003, Julie assisted the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) in its Formal Investigation into web accessibility.

In 2004, Julie was invited to represent the needs of disabled people on the NHS IT Task Force. Subsequent to this she was invited to join the NHS Care Record Development Board (CRDB) as a founder member and patient representative, working to ensure that the forthcoming NHS National Care Records Service is accessible to disabled people. She was also a founder member of the NHS Direct New Media Committee, the NHS Connecting for Health Voluntary Sector Advisor Group and the NHS Connecting for Health HealthSpace Reference Panel.

Julie is of Technical Author of the award-winning BSi specification for accessible web site design, 'Publicly Available Specification 78: Guide to Good Practice in Commissioning Accessible Websites', published by BSi in 2006.

In 2008, Julie was appointed Chair of IST/45, BSi's Web Accessibility Technical Committee that will produce the first British Standard on the subject of web accessibility in 2009.

Julie undertakes a rigorous programme of outreach and education to raise awareness of the value and importance of inclusive design to the digital design community and those who influence and regulate it. She has presented papers at more than 50 national conferences in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and the Far East, and regularly provides commentary on digital access on international TV, radio, online and in the press.

Professional affiliations and awards

Julie is

In 2005/6 Julie held the New Media Age Effectiveness Award for 'The Greatest Individual Contribution to New Media'.

She appears in the 'Revolution Power 50', Revolution magazine's ranked listing of the 50 most powerful people in the digital media industry.

In March 2007, Julie received the Imperatives Digital Awards 2007 'Special Lifetime Achievement Award'for her services to the digital industry.


Personal

Julie Howell was born in Hampshire, UK in 1971.

Juie was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) at the age of 19.

In 2000, Julie was profiled in Louise Proddow's book 'Heroes.com: the names and faces behind the dot com era', for creating and developing an award-winning online social network of people with multiple sclerosis (Jooly's Joint).

Founded in 1995, membership of Jooly's Joint exceeds 20,000 world wide. Jooly's Joint was named 'Best Online Community' at the New Statesman New Media Awards (2000) and 'The Mirror Readers' Choice' at the Yell UK Web Awards (2000).

Julie is an MS Society volunteer and an active campaigner for fair access to MS-modifying drugs on the NHS. She has undertaken media appearances and coordinated and participated in a number of campaigning and awareness-raising events with others with MS.

In 2001, Julie chaired 'MS Live', a national MS Society conference for younger people with MS at the Birmingham NEC. In 2003, she attended an MS Society reception with Cherie Booth QC at 10 Downing Street in recognition of her personal commitment to supporting people with MS through the internet. In 2004 and 2005 Julie chaired 'The MS Space', and MS Society Scotland conference for people with MS.

In 2005, the 10th anniversary of Jooly's Joint was celebrated at a party attended by 200 people with MS. This joyful event was co-hosted by Julie and the comedian Iain Lee, and was covered by the BBC and The Guardian.

In 2006, Julie hosted another party for people with MS as part of the MS Society 'MS Life' National Convention. The following day she (along with 26 other people with MS) made her debut as a catwalk model at the MS Society's Material Girls fashion show at Manchester's Harvey Nichols store.

In 2007, Julie was one of three women with MS to be the subject of British artist Melissa Mailer-Yates' exploration of the sensuality of women with MS, 'See me... now see me'. Julie's blog 'Beauty Through Strength' describes her experience of posing naked for the exhibition, which was organised in support of the MS Society. Two nude portraits of Julie featured in the exhibition which was reported in BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour. In July-September 2007, Beauty Through Strength will feature in an online exhibition curated by the International Museum of Women, entitled 'Imagining ourselves: Image & Identity'.

Julie is 37 and lives in the village of Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire with Betty and Lola (two 18-year-old cats adopted from Wood Green Animal Shelter). In her spare time she enjoys music, theatre, film, shopping, renovating her house and sleeping.

Julie's Blogs


At April 2008