The UK’s only dedicated event for accessibility and inclusion in the events industry has confirmed that it is returning to The Drum, Wembley on 29 October 2026.
The Accessible Events Show brings together event professionals from across the industry to connect, collaborate and build the skills and knowledge needed to make events accessible to disabled people as a matter of course rather than afterthought.
With over 16 million disabled people in the UK and 1.3 billion worldwide, accessible events are a professional responsibility, a commercial opportunity and for many attendees a matter of whether they can participate at all. The show exists to make sure the events industry takes that seriously and to give the professionals who do take it seriously, the support, connections and practical tools they need.
The show’s 2025 launch left an immediate mark on the industry, winning the EN Awards Diversity and Inclusion Award and a Silver at the Cool Event Awards for Disruptor Attitude.
In a further milestone, the show is also expanding internationally, with a US event planned for later in the year.
600 delegates joined the event in person and online from over 15 countries. Expert panels and Q&A sessions offered insights into best practice, showcased accessibility in action, and enabled industry professionals to connect.
The show is organised by Catherine Grinyer of Attendable, Orla Pearson co-founder and director of both MyClearText and AccessLOOP and Dr.Shani Dhanda, accessibility consultant and broadcaster.
Dr Shandi Dhanda said: “Winning two awards in our first year told us something important: the events industry is ready for this. People want to do better, and they want the knowledge and the community to help them get there.”
She added; “The 2026 show is bigger, more practical and more ambitious than anything we have done before. Morning panels with the people who are leading the way, afternoon workshops where you actually get to work. This is a show built around what event professionals told us they needed. We cannot wait to bring everyone together at Wembley in October.”
The 2026 show will offer a full day of programming, with panels in the morning, followed by workshops in the afternoon.
The morning session brings together leading voices from across the events industry for a series of expert panels. Speakers will explore the practical, strategic and cultural challenges of building accessibility into events of every scale, from corporate conferences and live music to exhibitions and public festivals.
These are not theoretical conversations. They are sessions built around the real decisions that event professionals face every day, led by the people best placed to help them make those decisions well.
The afternoon will take a different format, with the Accessible Events Show running a dedicated workshop programme, giving attendees the opportunity to go deeper, ask harder questions and leave with tools and techniques that they can apply immediately.
The workshops are designed to be practical and participatory, with the two halves of the day aiming to create an experience that is in equal parts inspiring and actionable.
HSBC, one of the world’s largets banking and financial service organisations joins the Accessible Events Show as headline sponsor for the second year. The partnership is a natural one. HSBC has made accessibility central to how it thinks about its customers, its products and its people, and it has the track record to prove it.
In 2026, HSBC was included on the Forbes Accessibility 200 list for the first time, recognised as one of the top 200 global organisations making a meaningful difference to accessibility.
It is the only global bank on the list. HSBC’s Digital Accessibility programme has received 15 awards, including recognition from the Hong Kong Digital Accessibility Recognition Scheme and the Pay 360 Awards in the UK. The organisation has also been named a Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion in the 2025 Disability Index in the US. HSBC’s ambition is to become the world’s most digitally accessible bank, and it is actively working to share that expertise beyond its own walls, offering its digital accessibility training programme to external organisations.
Mali Fernando MBE, group head of digital experience and accessibility at HSBC, is a leading figure in the global accessibility movement and a driving force behind HSBC’s award-winning programme. His involvement as headline sponsor representative brings both personal conviction and organisational weight to the 2026 show.
He said: “Accessibility is not a compliance exercise. It is a commitment to making sure that everyone, regardless of disability or need, can fully participate in the world around them. At HSBC we have seen what happens when you take that commitment seriously: better products, better customer experiences, and a stronger organisation. The events industry has a real opportunity to lead here, and the Accessible Events Show is exactly the kind of platform that makes that possible. We are proud to support it as headline sponsor and to be part of a community that is genuinely driving change.”
The show is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee, with all proceeds going back into advancing accessibility across the events industry.
Event partners for 2026 are Attendable, Swagable, MyClearText and AccessLOOP, with The Drum Wembley as venue partner, Crowd Comms as platform partner, Performedia and Silent Seminars as event partners, and Mash Media as media partner
