TechAbility Conference 2026

TechAbility Conference 2026 is coming to the Coventry Building Society Arena on Thursday 19 November, from 9:00am to 4:00pm. It's the ninth year the conference has run, and this time it's moving to the Arena, where more than 200 people from education, adult care and health are expected. It's run by Natspec, the National Assistive Technology Specialist, and part-funded by the Ian Karten Charitable Trust.

The day is built around the intersection of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) and assistive technology, with a strong focus on lived experience and practice. The keynote comes from Beth Moulam, a Paralympian and author of How to live audAACiously: The Ultimate Lived Experience Guide to AAC. Around her is a programme of presentations and workshops covering artificial intelligence, the ethics of smartglasses in education and care, assistive technology and employment, and a smartwatch system that turns hand gestures into a switch for communication software. BeechBand and PAM Group are the headline sponsors.

It's a day that brings together practitioners, researchers and suppliers, so you'll find people working on the ground alongside the people developing the tools. The 2025 edition went down well: 95% of delegates said they were very likely or likely to apply what they learned at work, and one described it as the stand-out event of the year.

Tickets are £160 + VAT per person for Natspec member or Karten member organisations, £185 + VAT for Natspec Affiliate organisations, and £205 + VAT for non-member organisations or individuals. The venue is the Coventry Building Society Arena, Judds Lane, Longford, Coventry, CV6 6GE, and the whole thing runs from 9:00am to 4:00pm on Thursday 19 November.