Attending the ATIA conference as British ATScholar.

Words by Fil McIntyre.

As I sat down on a plane flying from Manchester to Orlando in January, I heard several voices say “Hello Fil”. A slight surprise, but not a major one given I was flying to Florida to attend the world’s biggest Assistive Technology (AT) conference and the voices belonged to people working for some of the UK’s leading AT companies.

I work for a non-profit, membership organisation, so a conversation with my boss starting, “I’d like to go to a conference in Florida…” would normally end very quickly! So it was an honour to have been selected as one of the British Assistive Technology Scholars for 2025.

Every year the AT Scholar scheme funds practitioners from the UK to attend the Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA) conference. The intention is for attendees to bring back best practice and innovations from the USA, but also to share practice from the UK and foster more international connections.

When planning for ATIA, the hardest part was making choices. The scale far exceeds UK conferences and the sheer number of opportunities can be a little overwhelming. Spread across two and a half days are hundreds of breakout sessions. Each breakout slot has between 30 and 40 parallel sessions and these are interspersed with poster sessions, product demonstrations, keynotes and a fairly large exhibition.

While it is hard to sum up the whole experience of being at ATIA, I’ll pick out three themes:

Content, conversations and kit.

Content

I was attracted to sessions about leadership in AT and entirely by coincidence the first and last breakouts I attended were on this topic. At the last session the AT legend Mike Marotta started with “You are all leaders in this room…” which was a great way to encourage and embolden delegates, many of whom were tired at the end of an intensive few days. Mike was accompanied by Karen Janowski, and Christopher Bugaj (also AT legends) and the session integrated inclusive practices into delivery such as auto-captioning, microphone use and collaborative documents. A second leadership session (led by more AT legends Carole Zangari and Caroline Musselwhite) encouraged people to lead in AT by looking at what needs to change. Think ahead two years and decide which issues you could not bear to see unchanged. Mentorship was also highlighted as a key aspect of leadership, with discussion of how mentoring can transform both the mentor and mentee.

For more in-depth discussion of these leadership sessions, see Bookend sessions at ATIA 2025.

Conversations

The development of ideas happens through conversation, not just presentation. A good conference encourages delegates to discuss and engage and the ATIA conference was a great opportunity to do so. Sometimes in the corridors, sometimes over coffee, sometimes over food and beer, I had innumerable conversations which developed my thinking. Many of these conversations contrasted US and UK approaches to AT assessment and challenged some assumptions about systems for provision. However, despite flying over 4000 miles, evenings gave time to open up discussions with UK-based colleagues who were also at the conference! The headline here links this theme with the content theme: I (we) need to create more space and opportunities for AT practitioners in the UK to discuss, theorise and create.

Kit

The conference was also a great platform for discovering new assistive technology equipment. Some examples included:

Cato Motion Sensitive Mouse Replacement: Developed by Auli.tech, this device can be used with any part of the body or attached to glasses, a cap, or a headband. It offers an alternative, or an addition, to eye-gaze access.

Mouthpad from Augmental Technology: "Smart mouthwear" which is worn in the roof of the mouth and connects via Bluetooth. It picks up head movements and tongue gestures, providing a new way for users to interact with technology.

AAVAA Headband: This device detects blinks, facial gestures, and head motion using EEG sensors. It claims improved accuracy through AI and comes in various forms, including glasses-mounted and headphone versions.

Lotus Ring: a product for home control that does not require Wi-Fi connectivity. It consists of a cover placed over a switch, such as a light switch. This cover includes batteries and an actuator which physically flicks the switch. You point it towards the light switch and press the small button on the ring to activate and turn on the light.

A recommendation

Obviously, I’d love to go to ATIA again next year but understandably a scholarship scheme like this needs to be shared out! If you work in assistive technology and want an unrivalled learning experience, along with a little Florida sunshine in January, I’d encourage you to put your name forward to be an AT Scholar for 2026.

Note that some of the technologies mentioned are not yet approved for UK use, but manufacturers are looking at gaining necessary licences and UK resellers.