Many blind professionals are looking for the same thing: a real career, meaningful work, and an opportunity to prove what they can do.

In this episode of WCATea, Bee Yang and Ellie Alvarado unlock truths about the Certified AccessAbility Tester (CAT) Program and explain how blind and disabled professionals can build careers in digital accessibility.

They discuss what the CAT Program actually teaches, why it is challenging, how the program is evolving from 14 to 18 weeks, what students can expect, and how a paid apprenticeship helps graduates gain real-world accessibility testing experience.

In this episode:

• What the CAT Program is and who it is for
• How blind professionals become accessibility testers
• DHS Trusted Tester Certification
• WCAG 2.2 accessibility training
• Paid apprenticeship opportunities
• Remote work for blind and disabled professionals
• Professional skills needed to succeed
• Why motivation matters more than technical experience
• How accessibility testing becomes a long-term career

Whether you're a blind job seeker, vocational rehabilitation client, accessibility professional, or someone curious about digital accessibility careers, this episode provides an honest look at what it takes to get started.

Learn more about the CAT Program: https://accessabilityofficer.com/vocational-rehabilitation

Learn more about AccessAbility Officer: https://accessabilityofficer.com

Subscribe to WCATea for conversations about blindness, digital accessibility, employment, assistive technology, vocational rehabilitation, and accessibility careers.

She's known around AccessAbility Officer as the AO Queen.

As AO's Business Operations Manager, Marisa Reder has helped support blind and disabled professionals, accessibility testers, and apprentices as they build meaningful careers in digital accessibility.

Her message is simple:

Just because you have a disability doesn't mean you deserve anything less.

In this WCATea conversation, Marisa shares the mindset that has guided her own career growth and why opportunity, high expectations, and continuous learning matter more than limitations.

Whether you're pursuing a career in accessibility or looking for your next opportunity, this conversation is a reminder that your potential should never be defined by your disability.

Listen to the full WCATea conversation for more discussions on accessibility careers, disability inclusion, and professional growth.

The government moved the accessibility deadline. Millions of disabled Americans still face the same barriers today.

In this episode, Bee and Ellie break down the new HHS accessibility rule, the extension of Section 504 digital accessibility compliance deadlines, and why disability advocates are pushing back.

From inaccessible healthcare portals and online forms to the broader fight for disability rights, this conversation explores what the delay means for blind people, healthcare organizations, and the future of digital accessibility.

If you've been following the HHS accessibility rule, ADA compliance, WCAG 2.1 AA, Section 504, or healthcare accessibility, this episode is for you.

This Global Accessibility Awareness Day, we're proud to release one of our most meaningful conversations yet. Bee Yang and Ellie Alvarado sit down with one of the most respected voices in digital accessibility, author, WCAG contributor, and AccessAbility Officer's Director of Accessibility Projects and Strategy, the legend, Sheri Byrne-Haber. Together, they talk about what happens when disabled parents raise disabled children in a world that already expects both of them to fail; and why accessibility, AI, and advocacy become deeply personal because of it. Here's Sheri's blogpost about Body Worn Cameras: Body-Worn Camera Footage Under ADA Title II: What state and local agencies need to know before the 2027 and 2028 deadlines • AccessAbility Officer Grab the book Sheri co-authored: Digital Accessibility Ethics Disability Inclusion in All Things Tech | WorldCat.org Want more real conversations about digital accessibility, disability employment, AI, advocacy, and ADA Title II compliance? Explore the AccessAbility Officer blog collection: Blog • AccessAbility Officer Blog: Digital Accessibility & Disability Employment for Modern Organizations • AccessAbility Officer And if WCATea moved you, challenged you, or taught you something new, help us grow this community by listening, subscribing, and leaving a review. Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wcatea/id1896601148 Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/WCATeaPod AccessAbility Officer YouTube Channel

If you're blind, you know the feeling. Rejection. Unemployment. The helplessness of being stuck.

Then everything changed. The blind people who've been rejected all their lives, get a shot. Their shot.

Welcome to the first episode of WCAT, a podcast dedicated to helping blind and disabled people launch their careers in digital accessibility.

Bee and Ellie will be spilling all the Tea, shedding light on tough topics no one likes to talk about.

Years of unemployment after hundreds of rejections.

Managing financial and family stress

How to actually get hired, and navigate this crazy job market as a blind person.

So grab a cup, smash subscribe, and join us as we spill all the Tea, on the WCATea podcast!

Nobody talks enough about what unemployment feels like when you're blind.

So we did.

This week, we're dropping the very first episode of the WCATea Podcast.

Bee Yang and Ellie Alvarado are talking about blindness, careers, and the moments that quietly change your life.

Join us as we spill all the Tea, on the W C A Tea podcast!

Subscribe. Share it. Tag us.

And if you're as hyped as someone finally getting a callback after 200 applications…

leave a review and tell us why.