AccessComputing

My name is Jonathan. I am the Chief Accessibility Officer at SSB BART Group a company that specializes in accessibility standards compliance. Although most people imagine that a career in computing is about programming, only about 25% of my time is spent programming. The rest of my time is divided between technical writing, research, management, and consulting. I am responsible for maintaining our accessibility testing methodology, creating best practices, and staying current on new standards. I write blogs, reports, and provide consultations to large and small organizations.

My name is John. I'm a PhD student in the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering (HCDE) at the University of Washington, and I hope to complete my program within the next three years.

I have dyslexia, which, as a child, not only impeded my ability to read, but made me often see and interact with information in a different way.

My name is Jason. I earned an Associate of Science in information and computing studies from the National Technical Institute for the Deaf and a Bachelor of Science in information technology with web-database integration from Rochester Institute of Technology. While I was an undergraduate, I had multiple internships including ones at NASA and IBM. Recently, I was accepted into the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Masters in computer science program.

My name is Emanuel. I am a graduate student in computer science at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). I am also an intern at IBM Research doing mobile development.

My name is Diana. I graduated six months ago from Georgia State University (GSU) where I earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration in computer information systems and a certificate of international business. The IT field is always changing, and I excel in dynamic environments so computing was a great fit for me.

“Is it working?” It sounded as though Minnie Mouse was talking, but I could see clearly that the person across from me was my mother, not an over-sized rodent in polka dots. The phrase was not as dramatic as Alexander Graham Bell’s, “Mr. Watson—come in here,” but for me, it was just as momentous. I was thirteen. As my cochlear implant was activated, those three words were the first I had ever heard clearly. I had just entered high school and this was the crossroads in my journey towards independence in the world and a critical impetus toward pursuing a career in a STEM field.