13 Letters

Going with your gut is easier said than done — but for Sumaira "Sam" Latif, Company Accessibility Leader at P&G, trusting her instincts has made some of the most impactful changes to the world of accessibility. For far too long, blind and low-vision people had to rely on the shape of a product to judge what was in the package. Sam challenged all of this with the simple yet empowering idea to put tactile identification on Herbal Essences shampoo and conditioner bottles – an initiative which is now expanding beyond the brand and beyond P&G. We had the amazing privilege to hear Sam's take on getting P&G hooked on accessibility, on supporting both live events and TV commercials with accessible audio description, on hustling to get senior leadership buy-in to fast-track accessibility at work, and much more.

It ain't always easy being first – that's why we have brilliant folks like Victor Tsaran to do it for us. Victor was the first blind employee on the Yahoo campus, and has a whole bunch of other "firsts" under his belt from a 20 year accessibility career that starts with the first Ukrainian screen reader and involves, most recently, the first screen reader by Google. Victor chatted with us from Mountain View this week to talk about everything from the state of accessibility in Southeast Asia to our best bets for the accessible future.

What's it like to hide your blindness from the world? Caroline Casey did it for years. Her parents never told her she was "blind," and, when she got into the working world, she hid it from everyone else. Holding down a high-powered job as a consultant at Accenture for several years while still "in the closet," Caroline finally came to the realization that it wasn't worth it anymore – and that's when her life really started. Caroline chatted with us for the new episode of the Be My Eyes Podcast, about her childhood, her work, and her new initiative to get 500 of the world's most powerful CEOs to sign a commitment to include disability in their business agenda.

This week's episode is from The Be My Eyes Podcast – interviews with the world's most interesting and dynamic blind people. Subscribe to The Be My Eyes Podcast for more.

We don't always decide what we hear or how we hear it – but that's changing. KR Liu, the new head of brand accessibility at Google, has a mission to bring accessibility to the masses and she's not going to stop until everyone's listening. A pioneer in the hard of hearing community, a sales powerhouse, a policy wonk and a creative technologist in her own rite, KR's interests and ambitions are as vast as her experience. In her new role at Google, KR has a big task: to craft approaches, policies, and campaigns to promote and enhance what "accessibility" means at the company and by extension, for the world of information. We chatted with KR about growing up hard of hearing, reading peoples' body language and how to stitch accessibility into mainstream consciousness.

Larry Goldberg wants every piece of media to be "born accessible." 40 years ago there was no captioning, no audio description, no secondary audio channels on TV sets for blind viewers or people who speak foreign languages. And for the last thirty years, Larry has presided over great changes in media accessibility that have blazed the trail for our entertainment and education to be more inclusive and accessible regardless of disability. Now working as head of accessibility at Verizon Media, Larry is overseeing the cultural ambassadorship that their accessibility team is so well known for, pushing innovative awareness and mentorship programs, and looking ahead to exciting new developments in virtual reality, augmented reality and other new media – to make sure those formats will be accessible, too.

'Fearless' is a word many would use to describe Haben Girma, the first deafblind graduate of Harvard Law School. A disability rights lawyer, memoir author, and public speaker, Haben has certainly pushed the boundaries of how society regards deafblind citizens. Even with her many achievements, Haben would not consider herself fearless, but rather acknowledge fear as something critical in guiding one's life. She's met German Chancellor Angela Merkel, former U.S. President Barack Obama, and now we're lucky enough to sit down and talk with Haben on this week's episode of 13 Letters. On it, we'll discuss how politics affect the disabled, the importance of dance, and why a little bit of fear can push us in the right direction.

There was once a time when traveling with a disability was a daunting prospect. Srin Madipalli co-founded Accomable to create a database for disabled individuals to find and book the most accessible accommodation for their trips. Airbnb acquired Accomable in 2017, and Srin went on to work as Airbnb's product manager for in-home accessibility while holding accessibility workshops for hosts across the globe. Airbnb has since increased its focus on improving the accessibility of its products and working to address the problem of uninformed hosts. We sat down with Srin to talk about how an accessibility startup gets acquired, what his dream is at Airbnb and plotting the "accessible super city" of the future.

You don't mess with Lainey Feingold. That's probably why, after a 25 year career in accessibility and 75 successful, precedent-setting agreements with behemoth companies, Lainey has only had to sue someone once. (Can you guess who??). Based out of a small spare bedroom law practice in Berkeley, CA, Lainey has brought the corporate world to the table, over and over, to commit to accessibility in a process she calls the "structured negotiation." Rather than the shark stereotype that most lawyers have to deal with and sometimes even ascribe to, Lainey prefers to think of herself using another metaphor: a dolphin. Have your doubts? It worked for Bank of America, every team in Major League Baseball, and many, many more. In this episode Lainey talks about her career as a non-litigious attorney, her successes in public speaking, and what's really up with the CSUN AT conference.

Sheri Byrne-Haber self-identifies as a "no excuses type of gal." The head of accessibility at VMware, public speaker and accessibility expert with degrees in law, business and computer science, Sheri is most well known for her outspoken accessibility writing on her personal blog. Publishing at a steady clip and always raising the bar to outdo her own personal best, Sheri churns out accessibility content covering principles, best practices and simple, actionable tips for those working the field. In this episode, Sheri talks about her blog, her current role at the biggest tech company most people have never heard of, and previous work overseeing accessibility for McDonald's and others. Also discussed: miniature horses, peacocks, duck eggs, and self-driving wheelchairs.

When Whitney Quesenbery talks about elections, she uses phrases like "design tragedy" and "unintended consequences." Though the number of disabled voters has gone up over the last few decades, the numbers are still scary – and the gap between disabled and non-disabled voters still means millions of uncast votes. A usability and UX leader known for her book "A Web For Everyone," Quesenbery co-founded the Center for Civic Design to apply UX best practices to promote civic participation. Designing good products by focusing on real human personas and rigorous usability testing in the field, Quesenbery is determined to ensure that not only will voters get a chance to vote but to reduce the chances that a tiny design flaw will cause voters to accidentally vote for the wrong presidential candidate.