New member intro - Dr. Michele A. Williams

Hi EOWG members,

New member alert! I’m Michele A. Williams and so excited to begin my Invited Expert journey on the committee. 😊

For background, I began my collegiate career as a Computer Science student in the early 2000s and, typical of most programs, I was not exposed to accessible code and best practices. I proceeded to receive my Master’s in Software Engineering with a concentration in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), where my advisor, Dr. Juan Gilbert, was the first (and only) person to ever ask, “How would a person with a disability use what you’re making?”

While I was fascinated by the idea of accessible technology, I didn’t quite know how to proceed at the time, and ultimately began working as a Voice User Interface (VUI) Designer (and UX Researcher) for the next 5 years. However, as life moved on, I realized I really wanted to work in accessibility and was fortunate to discover an opening at the company then known as SSB BART Group, now Level Access.

As an Accessibility Analyst, I was trained on WCAG and Section 508 manual and AT testing, working alongside colleagues with disabilities, and realizing even more I wanted to learn as much as I could about this field. This led to my final degree — a PhD in Human-Centered Computing (HCC) with a focus on conducting research exclusively with disabled participants to create new accessible technology. My research papers can be found on my LinkedIn page<https://www.linkedin.com/in/micheleawilliams1/>; my advisors were Amy Hurst and Shaun Kane and my “conference home” was the ACM ASSETS Conference.

Since my PhD I’ve focused both on UX Research and Accessibility, having internships at Yahoo (with Dr. Alan Brightman) and Microsoft Research (including with Dr. Merrie Ringel Morris), then full-time in a short stint at Intel in their wearables division, followed by a longer stay at Pearson in their higher ed division (where I met some of this group’s current members).

As of last year, I began my own consultancy (M.A.W. Consulting, LLC<https://mawconsultingllc.com/>), focusing on all the areas of expertise I’ve gathered over the years — from implementation to organizational strategy. I currently live and remotely work in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA and have lived throughout the US, though originally from Prince George’s County, Maryland.

I wanted to join W3C to start giving back to the community and am excited to find this group which fits right in with my passion to teach about accessibility. My goal is always to make accessibility plain and ultimately commonplace, rather than a rarity and specialty. I know what it’s like to only “happen upon” accessibility and I want to help end that trend.

Excited to dive in and continue meeting everyone!

Regards,
Michele

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Michele A. Williams, PhD (She/Her)
Owner & Accessibility Consultant
M.A.W. Consulting, LLC – Making Accessibility Work
Web: MAWConsultingLLC.com<https://mawconsultingllc.com/>
Email: Info@MAWConsultingLLC.com<mailto:Info@MAWConsultingLLC.com>
Mobile: 301.325.4309