Listen before solving
The people who use a tool are experts in what makes it useful. Start there.
About · a life in technology
Curiosity came first.
Access made it matter.
I’ve been blind since birth. Technology gave me ways to learn, work, communicate, and build; community taught me that those possibilities should be available to everyone.
How it started
In 1985, I received my first guide dog, Sunny, from The Seeing Eye. I was also starting college and learning software development. The timing feels fitting: one partnership helped me move through the world; the other gave me a way to shape the tools in it.
My career began in technical documentation and grew into software development, teaching, product work, accessibility practice, and community leadership. At every turn, I have learned most by doing the work with people, asking better questions, and staying open to what I did not know.
Today I bring that experience to accessibility work at the University of Arizona, BITS education, and open-source projects through Community Access.
A partnership, not a prop
Guide dogs have been part of my life for forty years.
Sunny, Harold, Rory, and the dogs whose stories appear in these pages each belong to a different chapter. The journals preserve the training days, small breakthroughs, funny detours, and the trust that grows one route at a time.
Open the guide-dog archiveA few markers
A timeline of
learning by doing.
A short view of a long, collaborative path.
College, code, and Sunny
Started college and met my first guide dog, Sunny. I began learning programming and management information systems, building with the access technology available at the time.
First technology job
Began as a documentation writer, then moved closer to software development, onboarding, and teaching new colleagues.
Sharing what we learn
Hosted Main Menu on ACB Radio and interviewed people working across technology and blindness.
Service and community leadership
Served on the American Council of the Blind board and stayed engaged with the organizations and people shaping access.
Teaching, building, and widening the circle
At the University of Arizona, BITS, and Community Access, the work spans digital access, technology education, and tools designed with blind and low-vision users.
What I try to bring
Leave more room
for other people.
Teach with the learner
Access to an explanation matters as much as access to the interface.
Keep building together
Open work, shared feedback, and real-world testing make the next version better.
The career and personal milestones above are summarized from American Foundation for the Blind, the University of Arizona, and my original guide-dog journals.
The quieter details
Family, books, music,
and a story worth hearing.
Outside the projects, I make time for family, reading, music, podcasts, and audio drama. I have always loved technology, but I love what people do with it even more.