Meet the Judges
Our judging panel brings together disabled creative leaders, inclusion specialists, and industry changemakers who understand both the craft of advertising and the nuances of authentic disability representation.
Our judging panel brings together disabled creative leaders, inclusion specialists, and industry changemakers who understand both the craft of advertising and the nuances of authentic disability representation.
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Shani Dhanda
Global Disability Inclusion Expert | Author & Broadcaster
Dr Shani Dhanda is a global authority in inclusion and accessibility, shaping the future of brands, media, and customer experiences with real, measurable impact. Recognised as the UK's most influential disabled person and a BBC 100 Women Laureate, she is trusted by over 400 businesses and brands to seamlessly integrate accessibility into their strategies.
Shani's impact extends beyond consulting. She drives the creative vision behind marketing, events, tech and product innovation, ensuring that accessibility is at the core of industry evolution. She sits on eight advisory and executive boards, including The Advertising Steering Group for Transport for London, and contributes to national disability policy with the UK Government's Disability Unit.
A sought-after global speaker, broadcaster, and author, Shani has taken the stage at 400+ international events, including the United Nations, World Expos, and TEDx, alongside icons like Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton. She made history as BBC Asian Network's first visibly disabled resident host and is a familiar face on daytime TV. As the founder of the Asian Woman Festival and the Asian Disability Network, Shani has earned over 30 awards, solidifying her as a transformative force in leadership, creativity, and brand impact.
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Dustin Giannelli
CEO & Founder, HearsDustin | Disability Advocate & Speaker
Dustin Giannelli is a keynote speaker, disability advocate and the founder of HearsDustin. Dustin helps organizations improve communication, accessibility and culture so employees feel seen, heard and valued at work. After losing his hearing as a child and navigating life with hearing aids, he turned his lived experience as a profoundly deaf individual into a powerful message about resilience, leadership, and the role of proactive communication to promote inclusive workplaces.
Dustin has shared his "Be On Offense" framework at leading companies like SONY, NBCUniversal, Converse, HubSpot, Ralph Lauren Corporation and many more. Dustin resides in Fort Lauderdale, FL and is originally from Boston, MA.
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Keely Cat-Wells
CEO, Making Space | Disability Rights Advocate & Producer
Keely is a disability rights advocate and entrepreneur dedicated to making social, systemic and economic change. She founded her first company from a hospital bed and today, she is the CEO of Making Space, a talent and learning platform that equips Disabled professionals with resources and opportunities to build meaningful careers. Under her leadership, Making Space partnered with NBCUniversal to place the first-ever Disabled hosts on NBC Sports’ Paralympics broadcast for Paris 2024. Other partners include Indeed, Netflix, and Visa, among others.
Keely also co-founded Making Space Media, a division producing film and TV content centering Disabled voices, securing a first-look deal with Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine. Notably, their recent documentary “Fight To Fly” exposed the inequalities that Disabled travellers face, triggering policy reform. Previously, Keely founded C Talent, a talent agency that increased disability representation in media and built a roster with a reach of over 50 million. Acquired in 2022, C Talent became the largest acquisition of a company specializing in Disabled talent.
Keely is a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, a Diana Award recipient, and has served on the advisory board of Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation. She currently sits on the Los Angeles Cities Major Events Advisory Council and holds the distinction of being the youngest-ever Presidential Leadership Scholar. Additionally, she is a Storyteller in Residence at the Clinton Global Initiative, a White House Mental Health Youth Action Forum Leader, and one of only two inaugral Gloria Steinem fellows.
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Kurt Yaeger
Actor, Writer, Producer in Film and Television
Kurt Yaeger is an actor, writer, and advocate championing greater inclusion of disabled talent in mainstream entertainment. A highly respected member of SAG/AFTRA’s Performers with Disabilities Committee, Kurt pushes for authentic and integrated casting, ensuring actors with disabilities are seen in a wide range of roles — not just those written as disabled.
A former professional X Games athlete, Kurt became an amputee following a motorcycle accident, making a remarkable return as the first amputee to land a backflip in competition. He remains fiercely active, completing triathlons, scaling 86 floors of the Empire State Building, and leading global motorcycle expeditions across Africa, Asia, and North America.
Best known for roles in Sons of Anarchy, NCIS, The Good Doctor, Another Life, and Law & Order: Organized Crime, Kurt brings visibility to disabled talent on-screen and behind the scenes. He also collaborates with brands like BMW to create content that challenges perceptions of disability and celebrates possibility.
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Giles Barker
Workplace Disability Lead, Channel 4 | Government Ambassador for Disability Inclusion in Creative Industries
Giles has been Channel 4’s Workplace Disability Lead since April 2022. In addition, Giles is a government Disability and Access Ambassador for the Creative Industries supporting the Disability Unit. Giles is also an Ambassador for PurpleSpace and Chairs their Networkology Impact Steering Group.
Before joining Channel 4, Giles spearheaded BT’s Disability Rapid Action Plan as part of the BT Group’s Diversity and Inclusion team and was responsible for maintaining BT’s Disability Confident Leadership status.
Giles has also previously worked for Transport for London (TfL), delivering improvements to London’s transport network. In addition to his day job, Giles took on the role of Vice-Chair and Chair of the TfL Staff Network Group for Disability and was recognised in the 2017 New Year’s Honours for his pioneering work in this area. Following this, as part of TfL’s Diversity & Inclusion team, Giles managed Equality Impact Assessments across the organisation and coordinated TfL’s Independent Disability Advisory Group (IDAG).
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Oscar Anderson
Founder, Project Oscar | Global Disability Activist
Oscar Anderson is a disability activist, writer, and advocate passionate about improving outcomes for disabled people worldwide. Born with cerebral palsy caused by kernicterus, a preventable condition resulting from untreated neonatal jaundice, Oscar uses his lived experience to drive change.
At just 23, Oscar founded Project Oscar, a global initiative launched in Vietnam in 2019 and expanded to Nigeria in 2024 with support from Reckitt. The project focuses on preventing kernicterus through education, awareness, and funding for vital phototherapy equipment in underserved hospitals.
Having lived across Asia—attending school in Vietnam, Thailand, and China—Oscar returned to the UK at age 13, where he now resides. Alongside his advocacy work, he is a poet, wheelchair user champion, and passionate about using storytelling to expand opportunities for disabled people. His mission is to show the world what disability can look like—and what’s possible.
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Sumaira Latif
Company Accessibility Leader, Procter & Gamble
Sam Latif is P&G’s first Company Accessibility Leader, a role in which she is dedicated to driving innovation and making the company’s 65+ brands inclusive and accessible for the 15% of people worldwide who experience some form of disability.
Sam’s passion for her work is deeply rooted in her personal experiences. Born with a rare genetic condition known as retinitis pigmentosa, she lost 97% of her sight by the age of 16. Undeterred by these challenges, Sam pursued her dreams and built a successful IT career at P&G, joining the company in 2000.
In parallel to her IT career, Sam began advocating for greater understanding and awareness of the challenges faced by individuals with disabilities.
She established an employee network to foster connections and shared experiences, and she launched the Disability Challenge to highlight how difficult everyday tasks can be for people with disabilities. This initiative illustrated challenges such as opening a pack of Pampers while wearing gloves to simulate dexterity issues, or differentiating between shampoo and conditioner while wearing glasses to mimic sight loss.
In 2015, Sam transitioned from managing IT operations to focusing on embedding accessibility within P&G. By 2019, her efforts were recognized with a promotion to Senior Director, officially adopting the title of Company Accessibility Leader.
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Tiffany Yu
CEO, Diversability | Disability Rights Activist & Author
Tiffany Yu is a leading disability rights advocate, entrepreneur, and founder of Diversability, a social enterprise and global community dedicated to dismantling stigma and building equity for disabled people. Tiffany became disabled at age nine after a car accident, an experience that fuels her lifelong mission to create more inclusive spaces.
Since founding Diversability in 2009, Tiffany has grown it into an award-winning movement, fostering community and driving systemic change through advocacy, storytelling, and culture. She is also the author of The Anti-Ableist Manifesto(2024), a bold call to action for building a disability-inclusive world.
An in-demand speaker, Tiffany has delivered three TEDx talks, spoken at the World Economic Forum in Davos, and contributed to disability policy and cultural initiatives through roles with the Paul K. Longmore Institute and the Awesome Foundation. A former executive at Goldman Sachs and Bloomberg, she now uses her platform across social media to challenge stereotypes and amplify disabled voices globally.
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Isaac Harvey
President, Wheels and Wheelchairs | Disability Advocate & Content Creator
Isaac Harvey MBE is a content creator, speaker and disability advocate redefining what authentic representation looks like. Born with no arms and short legs, he uses his lived experience to challenge how disability is seen in media. From modelling at London Fashion Week to co-creating inclusive outdoor experiences through Wheels and Wheelchairs, Isaac brings visibility to underrepresented voices.
With over 40,000 LinkedIn followers and appearances in powerful documentaries like Fight to Fly and soon to be released Fighters, his work sparks action, not just awareness. Isaac truly shows what's possible if you put your mind to it.
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Dom Hyams
Global Client Director, Purple Goat Agency | Disability Inclusion Marketing Expert
Dom Hyams is Global Client Director at Purple Goat Agency, and consults and educates internationally on a range of topics including diversity, inclusion and accessibility.
Dom joined the Purple Goat agency team in February 2021 - the world's first and only social-first inclusive marketing agency, looking to create the most progressive, representative and authentic marketing campaigns in the world by integrating disability know-how and lived-experience in all aspects of campaign development and execution.
The agency has seen tremendous growth over the last few years, with international clients including Meta, Google, Virgin Media, the EU and Heineken to name a few.
Dom previously worked in TV, working his way up to producer at the sports production company Sunset+Vine after being accepted onto the C4 production trainee scheme, working across output including the groundbreaking Paralympic coverage in 2012 and 2016.
He is the founding editor of the Disability Power100 - Power List of Disability, which looks to showcase the most influential disabled change-makers in society.
As someone who is extremely comfortable talking about all aspects of inclusion in an open and candid way, he passionately looks to demonstrate that thinking inclusively can offer incredible opportunities for creative expression within the industry, breaking down misconceptions around disability and progressive representation, whilst creating meaningful dialogue to build 'disability confidence' in those he meets.
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Marc Powell
Global Accessibility Centre of Excellence Lead, Unilever
Marc is a multi-award-winning leader in accessibility and inclusive innovation, with over a decade of experience delivering transformational change across global organisations. Registered blind since birth, Marc brings both professional expertise and lived experience to his work, making him a powerful advocate for inclusive design and systemic change.
He is currently the Global Accessibility Centre of Excellence Lead at Unilever, where he is embedding accessibility into global brand strategies, product development, and both employee and consumer experiences at scale.
Prior to Unilever, Marc spent more than eight years at the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), where he led some of the organisation’s most impactful and internationally recognised accessibility initiatives. As Head of Accessibility Innovation, he collaborated with leading global brands to champion inclusive, design-for-everyone approaches—demonstrating not only the societal value of accessible design, but also its commercial impact and strategic importance.
Outside of his professional work, Marc is a proud Paralympian, having represented Team GB in Judo at the London 2012 Paralympic Games. That elite sporting experience continues to shape his values and leadership approach today, driving a focus on resilience, inclusion, and purpose-led innovation.
Marc is passionate about creating a more inclusive world through the power of technology, design, and collaboration. His work is grounded in the belief that accessibility should be a core business imperative—benefiting everyone, not just people living with disabilities, and that inclusive innovation is key to unlocking future-ready, equitable experiences for all.
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Josh Loebner
Global Head of Inclusive Design, VML
Dr. Josh Loebner was the first person in the ad industry to focus on advertising and disability and continues that leadership as Global Head of Inclusive Design for VML, a WPP company.
Josh is a shining example of the power of inclusion creating real change by innovating with some of the biggest global brands to embed disability inclusion and accessibility in new ways. His work follows other incredible achievements. He was recognized as the American Advertising Federation Mosaic Champion of the Year, 2024, and that same year became the first blind Cannes Lions juror, and won, alongside colleagues and the client, the Innovation Lions Grand Prix winner in 2023. Josh was among the Adweek Creative 100 for 2023, as an agency leader paving the way forward, and has been named one of the honorees of the Diversability D-30 list, which recognizes the unique accomplishments of the most impactful members of the disabled community worldwide.
He received his doctorate from Clemson University, where his research was among the first to focus on greater disability inclusion in marketing. He is fully blind in one eye, legally blind in the other, and clearly sees the best in everyone.
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Patrick McMullen
Founder of Inclusify Studio | Award-Winning Deaf Influencer Marketing Agency
Patrick McMullen is the founder of Inclusify Studio, the first Deaf-owned influencer marketing agency helping brands connect with the Deaf and hard of hearing community through powerful partnerships with influencers. Inclusify Studio has been honored with the Ethical Impact Award for proving that ethical and inclusive marketing is the future.
A former influencer who grew over 1.3 million followers on TikTok alongside his friend Big Ben, Patrick’s mission is to empower Deaf and hard of hearing creators and build a bridge between the hearing and Deaf communities through storytelling and collaboration.
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Leopoldine Huyghues Despointes
ACTRESS AND ARTIST | FOUNDER OF (Dis)ABLED VISIONARIES
Leopoldine Huyghues Despointes is an actress and an artist. From her role as an actress and producer in the short film Atlantic Avenue to showing work in both Sundance and the Tribeca Film Festival, Huyghues Despointes has made her mark in the film world. Also the founder and director of the non-profit (Dis)ABLED Visionaries, she simultaneously shows how being in a wheelchair—or having any disability—isn’t a hindrance to happiness and success.
The actress, writer, and producer was born with Osteogenesis Imperfecta (brittle bones), but rather than disabling her, the disease has served as a catalyst and inspiration for her promising career.
What makes authentic representation? See the standards behind the awards.