Introducing Shamima Akhtar as Chair of the Disabled Women’s Network

A photo of Shamima, with the backdrop of a white wall. She is wearing black glasses, with her hair tied back at the top, and flowing onto her shoulders at the front. Shamima is wearing a striped black, soft jacket, and a pink floral sheer top.

The Disability Policy Centre is delighted to welcome Shamima Akhtar to our team, as Chair of the ‘Disabled Women in Politics’ Network.

Shamima’s background is in disability inclusion, having worked on policy and campaigns as the Disabled Student’s Officer at her Student Union, the NUS Disabled Student’s Committee, representing disabled women, and in the Disabled People's Organisation sector.

Shamima is an accessibility policy expert working as a Policy Manager for Assistive and Accessible Technology at the cross-party think tank – Policy Connect. She works on policy in employment, education, accessible transport, AI and disability more broadly. Shamima is also passionate about closing the digital divide. She chaired and organised a roundtable about digital inclusion and disability at London Tech Week 2022 and is a trustee for Community TechAid. 

Shamima is visually impaired, an assistive technology user and has written blogs about accessibility for the University of Birmingham.

 We are delighted to welcome Shamima to our team!