Dr. Julie McElroy is a Scottish woman who has Cerebral Palsy which has resulted in walking difficulties along with a speech and hearing impairment and manual dexterity problems. She epitomizes drive, motivation and passion. Throughout her life she has succeeded in so many challenges. Julie is a woman who has so much to offer in terms of possessing ideas and concepts in every aspect of any project she undertakes. She possesses the self-leadership, determination and fortitude required for success. Julie makes the connections between the adversities and obstacles we face in everyday life to reaching your goals, and despite her own hurdles which she has to overcome, never lets anything get the better of her.
Over the last 10 years, Julie has become a leading consultant, academic and disability rights activist through epitomising the values of diversity, inclusivity and accessibility in many areas of her work. As an emerging rising star in the field of Assistive Technology with an ambition to contribute to a global presence of assistive technologies is about ensuring society understand that assistive technologies can enable everyone to play a vital role to a prosperous society. The ethos of self-leadership and stakeholder engagements has enable her to demonstrate and share with others that people are our greatest asset. It is fair to say that best performances come from individuals who are user-led in the developments of assistive technologies. Through her own lived experience and her PhD in Assistive Technologies of understanding learning experiences of disabled students in technology-rich learning environments, she has developed a specialism in accessibility and usability design, which is particularly relevant in the development of software solutions. This requires an understanding and awareness of a range of technologies in order to derive innovative and practical solutions.
Her contribution are highly sought having built an extensive academic credentials of Masters in Knowledge Exchange and Laws and about to pursue an MBA to enable me to contribute to the governance of technologies in public and private sectors. She uphold the values of creating and embedding diversity, inclusivity and accessibility in educating organisations to create pragmatic solutions such developing an accessibility impact assessment strategies which encompasses the physical, societal and digital infrastructures.
Julie is committed to help change the social injustice that are faced by the disadvantage people in society. As well as having a personal understanding of disability and equality-related issues, Julie has deep understanding in relation to the preconceptions of disability through a range of experiences and ventures over my life to date. Through these experiences, Julie came to believe that she has a lot to offer in the area of disability rights and its relationship to Law. Hence Julie undertook a Master of Law with the Open University.
Aside from Julie’s academic and career accomplishments to date, Julie had led an incredible active life with the allure of recreational pursuits. Julie has had a varied career in media and digital media having worked with various media contacts including BBC Scotland, STV, Daily Record, the Glasgow Evening Times & Glasgow 2014. Ongoing media work continues with recent involvement with BBC The Social.
Additionally, her academic achievements have been recognised within the University and beyond, naming a few, being awarded the Court Medal of her Honours year in 2010. Also awarded the Glasgow City Council Lord Provost Award in 2012 for contribution to disability in Glasgow. She is also Olympic Torchbearer and Glasgow 2014 Batonbear. Julie was a Finalist in the Scottish Women in Technology’s Rising Star category and also inducted to the College Development Network’s Hall of Fame in 2020. Furthermore, Julie was named Institute of Directors Scotland Award winner for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in 2021.
Julie is delighted to join this year’s Judging Panel of The Herald & GenAnalytics Diversity Awards. Julie is most looking forward to the fresh, pioneering and innovative approaches that are being done to improve equality, inclusion, diversity and accessibility across Scotland. Good luck to all the nominees in their submission of their tremendous work to fulfilling and committed to making Scotland a more equal society for everyone regardless of their backgrounds.