Charlie started finding ways that technology could benefit children and young people back in 1999. Working across Suffolk he embarked on a mission to find solutions so that students with disabilities could participate in learning and meaningful activities. Since these early days Charlie has gone on to work for many organisations here in the UK and overseas. This includes a five year stint in Qatar where he led a project to create the first assistive technology clinical service in the middle east.
Charlie currently works as a consultant occupational therapist or assistive technology practitioner at some well-known organisations including The Children’s Trust, Ace Centre and CENMAC. In these organisations he works directly with children and young people, in addition to creating training staff, and creating training materials, including those used at Ace Centre and the University of Dundee. He also is the lead author for the World Health Organization’s Training in Assistive Products communication strand. His passion is using technology to enable communication and so most of his conference presentations and publications relate to AAC. He presents regularly at ATIA and Communication Matters. In 2022 he provided the opening keynote at the European ATAAC conference and this year is speaking at ISAAC in Cancun.
Charlie is an occupational therapist, and a RESNA-certified Assistive Technology Practitioner (ATP). He also has a Master’s degree in Language and Communication Impairments in Children. He lives in Brixton, London with his partner and his cat, Fluffy Fingers.