Study No. 2
Accessibility Leadership
Introduction
Why Accessibility Matters
It’s a mindset that bakes equity into every blueprint, so products work the first time for every user, not just the usual suspects. When it’s done right, accessibility unlocks talent, crushes needless friction, and turns so-called limitations into launchpads for innovation. In short, accessibility leadership clears the path so everyone can sprint.
Challenge No. 1
How To Scale Accommondations
From the first interview handshake to the last late-night sprint, every Deaf or hard-of-hearing Amazonian needs an interpreter in the room—warehouse floor, Zoom window, or executive war room—no excuses, no lag. The challenge: stand up a 24/7, globally routed ASL program that can match Amazon's launch-a-day pace and make “interpreter on deck” as automatic as joining a meeting.
The Solution
I built Amazon’s first in-house ASL Interpreting agency
A 24/7 roster of staff interpreters paired with a scheduling platform that drops an interpreter into any meeting—from first-round interview to board review—in minutes. Each Deaf employee gets an anchor interpreter for daily rhythm, while a global bench covers overflow and night shifts. Seamless communication cut hiring friction and sparked a surge of new Deaf talent across engineering, operations, and creative teams.
Challenge No. 2
How to Make Google Platforms Accessible
YouTube hosts billions of videos; Google Glass floats screens an inch from your eye—yet neither spoke to Deaf viewers. The task: inject accurate, real-time captions into a never-ending video library and stream them onto a head-mounted display, all without lag or clunky work-arounds.
The Solution
Captions Everywhere—From Google Glass to YouTube
I turned Glass into a portable subtitle projector: slip it on in any cinema, any country, and the dialogue scrolls in your line of sight—no matter the language. Then I gave karaoke fans their own mic drop by streaming synced lyrics straight to the lens. On YouTube, I crowdsourced accuracy: a voting pipeline that bubbles the worst captions to the top and lets the community patch them in real time.
Challenge No. 3
Toyota, Amazon, and IMDb wanted their Grand Highlander launch to feel like a blockbuster—except drive-ins usually leave disabled fans parked on the fringe. My brief: turn an L.A. movie-night spectacle into a fully accessible adventure without dimming the Hollywood shine.
The Solution
We assembled an all-access task force
Deaf ASL interpreters at every microphone, a squad of ambassadors with disabilities to flag real-world gaps, and wheelchair-friendly paths lit like a runway. Films rolled with open captions and a separate audio-description channel; even the kids’ puppet show signed along. Result: a premiere where no one had to honk for access—every seat was the best seat.
Final Thoughts on Accessibility Leadership
From scaling a 24/7 ASL corps inside Amazon to subtitles onto Google Glass and cleaning up YouTube’s caption chaos, every project aimed at the same bullseye: nobody waits for access. The Grand Highlander drive-in proved the formula works off-screen too—turn the venue itself into adaptive tech and the whole crowd levels up. Different brands, one playbook: dismantle the barrier, wire the fix into the system, and make inclusion the headline, not the footnote.
