Wednesday, May 13, 2026 at 6:00 PM
Sight Sound Soul
An inclusive, multi-sensory musical experience honoring Knowbility's founding Executive Director, Sharron Rush
Join us for a special closing celebration in partnership with Art Spark Texas that brings back a multi-sensory art experience we haven’t seen at AccessU for 15 years. During Sight Sound Soul, musicians with disabilities perform on stage alongside artists painting in real time. Energetic ASL interpretation, human captioning, and live audio description are provided. This year, our closing event will also honor Sharron Rush — Knowbility’s founder and one of the original pioneers of digital accessibility — as she retires after decades of global impact.
Event Details
- 6:00 PM: Networking / cocktail hour
- Appetizer buffet
- Complimentary water and tea
- Cash bar
- 7:00 PM: Program begins
- 7:30 PM: Performance begins
- 9:00 PM: Program ends
Ticket pricing
- Conference attendees: $50
- General admission: $75
Ticket Links Coming Soon!
Location
Sight Sound Soul will be held at St. Edward’s University (3001 S Congress Ave, Austin, TX 78704).
The event will take place in the Mabee Ballroom located on the 2nd Floor of Ragsdale Hall.
Free parking is permitted in designated areas, but all vehicles must be registered in order to avoid towing. Unregistered vehicles or vehicles parked in restricted areas will be towed at the owner's expense.
If prompted, enter claim code ACCESSU.
About Sight Sound Soul
Sight Sound Soul is designed to bring people together as only art and music can. Knowbility and Art Spark designed the experience almost two decades ago to remove accessibility barriers and allow an audience with diverse abilities to share a unique and enriching experience. People who are deaf and those who hear, the blind and the sighted all participate in the creative energy as a painting takes shape on stage while musicians soulfully play their music. American Sign Language, human captioning, audio description, and real time painting engage all of the senses. Sight Sound Soul is joyful expression and shared experience - and what says community better than that?
Featured guests
Dr. Ashley Shew
We are honored to have Dr. Ashley Shew as the evening's emcee. Ashley is an Associate Professor of Science, Technology, and Society at Virginia Tech, and a prominent philosopher of technology focusing on disability studies, biotech ethics, and disabled expertise. A disabled scholar herself (amputee, hard-of-hearing), she advocates for better tech design and authored Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement (2023), challenging the idea that technology should "fix" disabled people.
Elizabeth Decker
Elizabeth Decker is a contemporary artist based in Austin, Texas. Her signature bold and brightly colored abstract faces and figures are emotional depictions of a story that invites further conversation. Decker is a self-trained, intuitive psychological portrait artist, influenced and affected by the internal and external conversations between herself and the world. Painting is a way to mediate an accumulation of emotions, thoughts, and ideas often reworking the piece until she can come to an acceptable resolution.
Sponsor this once-in-a-generation moment
Your organization will be recognized as the partner that helped make this historic tribute possible and will receive:
- Branding in the conference planner as a sponsor of the celebration
- Logo placement on celebration signage and tribute materials
- Verbal recognition during the event
- Opportunity to provide a short congratulatory message
- Recognition in Knowbility website, email newsletters, social media, and post-event recap
Align your brand with legacy, leadership, and the future of digital equity, connecting you emotionally and visibly to the heart of the accessibility movement, and placing your organization at the center of one of the most meaningful moments in AccessU history.
Thank you to our AccessU Sponsors
