Anna-Ruth Cockerham

Anna-Ruth is responsible for delivering the airport’s ambitious accessibility strategy to improve the experiences of disabled passengers. She led initiatives such as airport-wide disability equality training for staff, developing access guides for passenger planning, and enhancing accessible facilities. Anna-Ruth, a disabled person, uses her lived experience to advocate for disabled passengers and has been twice recognized in the Shaw Trust Disability Power 100, a list of the UK’s most influential disabled people.

---

Interview: Accessibility in passenger security

Security is a key part of every passenger's journey through the airport and can pose a particular challenge for disabled passengers who require assistance or adaptive searches. This session will focus on the challenges that passengers and security officers face supporting accessibility and inclusion in security, looking at solutions that can create an inclusive passenger experience and maintain an effective security operation.

The audience will learn:

• How to support passengers with hidden disabilities
• Ensuring dignified and efficient searches for passengers with disabilities
• Promoting understanding of disability in large security officer populations
• Ensuring understanding of the security process for passengers with disabilities
• Understanding the effect of next-generation technology on accessibility

Panel discussion: Designing inclusive airports fit for the future passenger experience

Airports of the future need incremental changes and innovation that anticipate diversity and seek design solutions so that all can travel and work with dignity and inspiration. The panel will expand on the current inclusive design thinking, seek to identify the benefits to the passenger and to the airport, and highlight the interdependencies with sustainable airport development solutions.

The audience will learn:

• How inclusive design is being used in new and existing airport developments
• The benefits of inclusive design to the passenger and the airport
• How to design for a broad spectrum of diversity
• How to make inclusive design standard
• Integrating inclusive design with processes

Panel discussion: Unseen challenges – improving the travel experience for passengers with hidden disabilities

Every passenger’s needs go beyond what we can see – their reason for flying, invisible struggles and personal stories lie behind appearances. With 80% of the global population affected by hidden disabilities – neurological, cognitive, physical or sensory – airports must adapt. Creating a more inclusive journey involves meeting the unseen needs of passengers and staff through collective efforts in assistance programs, compliance and design strategies. This panel brings together perspectives from across the travel experience, drawing on research, real-world examples and personal insights to discuss how the travel journey can be a more compassionate, inclusive and seamless one.

The audience will learn:

• Learn about current research on specific needs of hidden disabilities that affect travelers and impact the airport design
• Explore how terminal design, including wayfinding, rest areas and sensory-friendly spaces, can accommodate hidden disabilities and benefit all travelers
• Identify operational programs like the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower or the Silent Airport Initiative to provide immediate support to passengers and staff
• Understand the importance of staff education and awareness in supporting passengers with hidden disabilities and fostering a compassionate environment
• Discover how airports, airlines, designers and advocates collaborate to develop innovative solutions, integrating technology and human touch for inclusion