“Did you know that approximately 1 in 5 people over the age of 18 in the US identify as having a disability?”
To close that gap, it is vital for businesses today to ensure accessibility across their products, services, and work environments. Having a “disability” can mean a wide range of things – there are people who are visually impaired, mobility impaired, hearing impaired, have a learning disability, as well as different mental health conditions. Birkir is a Digital Accessibility Engineering Lead at Fidelity, and his team have the critical mission to ensure our customers can access, consume and interact with all digital information on our platforms, regardless of disability.
With Global Accessibility Awareness Day coming up on May 18th, we caught up with Birkir to learn about his role, career journey, as well as what Fidelity is doing to make our digital channels more accessible for all. On a personal level, Birkir himself is blind, so he knows the importance of technology and how it advances us in removing accessibility barriers in our jobs and daily life.
Talk about your early career journey – what did you study in college? Did you know what you wanted to do after?
I studied Economics and Computer Science at Yale University. I struggled a bit early on but then figured out how to write and debug code as a blind person and started doing well. I had a summer internship with Microsoft – and even got the opportunity to meet with Bill Gates! After graduation, I got a full-time job in financial services as an analyst and software developer. Around 2008, I switched into accessibility consulting. I didn’t know much about web development or accessibility when I started out, but I posted a lot of questions to the Web Accessibility In Mind (WebAIM) mailing list. The people who frequented that list were always happy to answer my questions. The mailing list is still alive and well, and I always make a point of answering questions from newbies, because I know what those answers did for me.
Did you have any colleagues or peers that you would consider mentors in your career journey?
I had a lot of those. I would never have even thought of applying to Yale except through a random online acquaintance who was a Yale Computer Science undergrad and encouraged me to apply. They even mailed me the application forms, (hey it was 1997, we still needed paper back then).
I would not have made it through my under-graduate Computer Science courses without help from a blind programmer mailing list where I could get recommendations on the most accessible way to write and debug code. It was the community of blind professionals wanting to share their knowledge and workarounds that enabled me to succeed.
Can you share more about the work you do to improve accessibility at Fidelity? What does your day to day look like?
My job is to remove those barriers for the future me, and future anyone with a disability, through technology, and do it in a way that is scalable, sustainable, and cost effective. Accessibility touches every function of the business. Our primary focus is our customers – working on tech improvements when people are having difficulty with our websites or mobile apps. Our team is here to partner with hundreds of Fidelity associates and teams to ensure Fidelity content works with assistive technology applications, such as screen readers closed captions.
Every day for me is different, sometimes I’m debugging code, sometimes I’m testing, other times I am conducting training, writing guidance, recording video examples, participating in business planning, onboarding people and tools, or presenting to management and other stakeholders. Two things are certain, there’s always plenty to do and I get to work with awesome people.
What led you to Fidelity?
I’ve been in the United States for over 25 years now. I typically hear a mix of good and bad things about businesses, but I’ve never heard anything except good things about Fidelity. I also knew of Fidelity as I had my 401K with them. I wanted a bigger challenge and when I had the opportunity open at Fidelity, I made the move. During my interview, I pointed out challenges I saw on Fidelity’s digital sites and things that needed improvement. The team was open to my feedback, and I enjoyed the conversations I had with the team – they asked me the right questions and genuinely wanted to improve their digital accessibility. Interviewing with the Fidelity team really made me feel like there was something special here, and I was right. I couldn’t have a better team or a better manager.
How does Fidelity compare in the overall landscape of companies with their commitment to including people with disabilities in D&I initiatives? How do we compare with how accessible our digital experiences are?
So far in my career, Fidelity has had the most open mindset when it comes to including people with disabilities in Diversity & Inclusion initiatives. We currently have a team of 9 technologists and are continuing to grow – Fidelity sees the importance of ensuring our customer interactions are accessible for all.
We have come a long way with how accessible our digital experiences are, but we still have work to do.
What excites you most at work? What is your largest “driver” or “motivator”?
For me, like most people who get into this profession, accessibility is not just a job, it is a mission. I have found this to be true even for people without disabilities who end up in this profession. We know that we’re changing lives out there with our content and code. We’re providing people with disabilities the opportunity for privacy, dignity and professional success they would never have without accessible technology.
My biggest driver is the people I work with. I continue to be amazed how everyone I work with at Fidelity has this passion for learning and growing. I take so much pride in seeing them succeed in accessibility, from understanding what it is, to solving their first defect, to learning how to do simple checks, to getting professional certifications, some even wanting to do accessibility fulltime.
What would you say to someone with a disability who is considering a tech career at Fidelity?
Fidelity is a fantastic place to work. Be open about your needs and the barriers you run into. When you hide your challenges, you don’t give others the opportunity to understand and address them. From my experience, Fidelity really wants to do right by associates with disabilities. I am particularly happy that Fidelity has hired a full-time accessibility coordinator as part of its HR department. Sometimes I feel like there is a lack of understanding and fear that people with disabilities can’t have successful careers; that is simply not true anymore.
How has technology changed your personal life when it comes to accessibility?
- Go anywhere at any time with ridesharing apps like Uber
- Perform most errands without help (pay bills, grocery shop) via mobile apps or web (thanks Instacart, Uber Eats for being accessible)
- Check my mail (the Seeing AI mobile app)
- Manage my finances
- Lead a team of experts at a large (and awesome) international organization
- Go to the movies with audio description
- Lastly, I don’t think I would have gone to college if it wasn’t for the Internet. I also met my wife online, now we’ve been married 15 years and have 3 kids together.
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