Brain Injury - Day in the Life with Esther Klang

Esther Klang is a 31-year-old accessibility tester, writer, and speaker living with quadriplegia from a brain tumor removal surgery she had a month before her 11th birthday. In this episode, Esther opens up about what her daily life actually looks like, the tools that make her work possible, the misconceptions she encounters every single day, and what she most wants the world to understand about disability, accessibility, and living a full life.

This conversation is honest, practical, and at times deeply personal. Esther doesn't offer easy answers or tidy inspiration. She offers something more valuable: the truth of her experience, plainly told.

What We Cover

• Esther's background – quadriplegia, complex respiratory needs, and the layers of daily medical management most people never see
• Problem-solving under real constraints – persistence for Esther isn't a personality trait, but a necessity trained into her by circumstance
• Social attitudes and their cost – what it feels like to be talked to like a child, and how she chooses to protect her energy and sense of self
• Person-first vs. identity-first language – Esther's nuanced, and perhaps surprising, take on how she refers to herself vs. how she prefers others to refer to her
• Misconceptions about brain injuries and tracheostomies – a physical injury is not a cognitive one, and people with trachs deserve to be spoken to like anyone else
• What accessibility actually means – it isn't a ramp or a toggle; it's a baseline, and what happens when that baseline fails
• Her work as an accessibility tester – what lived experience brings to product testing that a checklist never can
• The assistive technology she depends on – head tracking, Voiceitt, on-screen keyboards, text-to-speech, speech-to-text, and why these tools are infrastructure, not extras
• Her typical day – from waking at 9 or 10 AM (by design, not by habit) to doing meaningful work built entirely around what her body needs
• What brings her joy – the moment someone in an audience shifts from "how inspiring" to "I'm going to build differently"
• Her closing message – a survival strategy for living with a disability that is practical, honest, and one of the most memorable things said in this conversation

About Esther

Esther Klang works at the intersection of disability and technology. She tests digital products using the assistive tools she relies on every day – head-tracking software, Voiceitt (a speech recognition application trained on her unique voice), an on-screen keyboard, keyboard shortcuts, and text-to-speech tools. She also writes and speaks about accessibility, inclusion, and what it means to build for everyone.

She uses a wheelchair and manages complex respiratory needs, including vocal cord paralysis, a tracheostomy, and Sleep Hypoventilation Syndrome. Her perspective as a tester comes not from a checklist but from lived experience – from being the person on the other side of the locked door.

Resources Mentioned

• Voiceitt – Speech recognition software designed for non-standard speech. Find out more at The Babel Group (B-A-B-E-L), at thebabelgroup.com
• Head tracking software – Used by Esther to navigate her screen through head movement
• On-screen keyboard and keyboard shortcuts – Core tools for text input and navigation
• Text-to-speech and speech-to-text tools – Used for reading, writing, and real-time communication

Key Quotes

"If I gave up every time I couldn't do something, I would never accomplish anything at all.""Accessibility is not an exception. It is a baseline. It is the floor, not the ceiling.""My life is full. It looks different from what many people imagine a full life to look like. But it is full of purpose, connection, meaning, and work that I believe matters.""Mental paralysis is the worst kind of paralysis. Worse than any physical limitation I live with is the moment when the mind stops believing it can move forward.""Take it one day at a time. Not as a cliché. As a genuine survival strategy."?

Connect with Esther

[Add Esther's contact information, website, or social media links here.]

Accessible Community Podcast is dedicated to bringing real voices, real stories, and real conversations about disability and accessibility to listeners who are ready to listen and act.

ADA Live! Episode 155 – Technology, Accessibility, and Equality in the Real World

Release Date: Jul 1, 2026

Host: Marsha Schwanke

Episode Summary: Accessibility is about far more than meeting legal requirements; it’s about ensuring people with disabilities can fully participate in work, education, and everyday life. In this episode, Esther Klang shares her personal journey and explains how assistive technology, communication access, and thoughtful design have helped her maintain independence. She discusses the importance of designing digital experiences that prioritize real-world usability over simple compliance.

Transcript

Esther: 00:01

I am not going to tell you that life with a disability is easy, or fun, or all games. It is not. It is a challenge. It is an obstacle you have to meet, not once, not in one defining moment of triumph, but every single day. There are days when the obstacle wins. There are days when I am exhausted in a way I cannot fully explain to someone who hasn't lived it. There are days when the gap between the life I have and the life I might have had, or that I imagined, feels very large. I'm not going to pretend those days don't exist, because pretending would be a disservice to everyone listening who is living something hard right now and wondering if they're doing it wrong because they're not always at peace with it. What I can share is what helps me. The most practical thing I know is this. Take it one day at a time. Not as a cliche, as a genuine survival strategy. If you try to carry the full weight of your future, all the uncertainty, all the limitations, all the unknowns, you will not survive it. But one day, one day is manageable. One day, you can face it. And the second thing, the thing I feel the most strongly about, is this mental paralysis is the worst kind of paralysis. I know this from personal experience. Worse than any physical limitation I live with is the moment when the mind stops believing it can move forward. When the story you tell yourself becomes, I can't, I won't, there is no point. That story, once it takes hold, is the most disabling thing I've ever faced. Your body may have limits. Your mind doesn't have to. That's the one thing I would ask you to protect above everything else. Keep your mind free. One day at a time.

Taylor: 02:13

Welcome to the Day in the Life series on the Accessible Community Podcast, where we explore disability and accessibility in everyday life. Each podcast episode is a new lens to broaden our understanding and drive inclusion. For show notes, go to accessiblecommunity.org slash podcasts. Let's make accessibility part of everyday life.

Esther: 02:42

Communication can be very challenging for me, both written and spoken. Using a keyboard or AAC software is very slow and energy demanding for me. Voice it is a web application that has learned my unique speech and allows me to communicate both verbally and through typing. It can display my words in text or repeat a message after me. I had to record 200 phrases to get started. Speech recognition still makes mistakes, and you need to be very patient with it. Often, the gist of the message is clear, or I can correct an error by typing a single word or repeating the message. I like using Voice It because talking is faster and easier for me than typing when I have enough breath to speak. I type one letter at a time on an on-screen keyboard using head movements. You can find out more about Voice It at the Babel Group website. That's B-A-B-E-L, like the Tower of Babel.

Taylor: 04:01

Awesome. That's a really cool insight into how you best communicate, especially in a format like this, and it gives helpful context to anyone listening or watching for how you're going to be communicating during this interview. I appreciate that.

Esther: 04:18

I'm genuinely excited to be here today. More importantly, I'm eager to share my personal journey and story with this audience. I hope everyone listening will not only enjoy this conversation but also find something truly inspiring, insightful, or a practical takeaway they can apply to their own lives and careers. I don't get to have conversations like this every day, and I want to make the most of it, so let's get into it.

Taylor: 04:51

Awesome. Well, we really appreciate having you on this podcast. I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be a fun experience for me, and I hope you're looking forward to being a part of it. Would you be able to tell us a little bit more about yourself, your impairments, but also just more about you as a person?

Esther: 05:14

Hi, everyone. I'm Esther Clang, a 31-year-old woman with quadriplegia from a brain tumor removal surgery. I present like a C4, C5 spinal cord injury, but my deficits stem from a brainstem tumor that was removed a month before my 11th birthday. I was left quadriplegic, which limits the use of my hands, arms, and legs. I use a wheelchair or sit in a recliner during the day. Aside from the paralysis, I manage complex respiratory challenges. I have vocal cord paralysis and shallow breathing, which means I have a tracheostomy, a tube in my throat. This affects my voice, making it sound breathy, quiet, and inconsistent. I also have sleep hypoventilation syndrome, more commonly known as sleep apnea, which means I stop breathing several times a night. So I sleep with a ventilator, a machine that breathes for me, to ensure adequate oxygen and safe sleep. Managing these interlinked conditions demands significant daily medical attention from both my caregivers and me. I think it's important for people to hear some of that medical complexity, not because I want sympathy, but because I want people to understand the full picture of what my daily life actually involves. It's not just a wheelchair. There are layers of medical and physical management that occur before I even sit down to work. And yet, here I am. I want to say something I believe deeply, and I will say it plainly. A person's physical ability should never define or reflect their knowledge or intellectual capacity. People with physical disabilities are just as capable as anyone else. That is not a motivational statement. It is a fact, and I carry it into every moment of my life and everything I do, I've had to, because the world does not always lead with that assumption, and that means I have to work to debunk that and staunchly advocate for that fact. Every single day.

Taylor: 07:45

Thank you so much for everything you shared so far. Something very interesting I've learned throughout doing these interviews is how people like us with disabilities end up being really good problem solvers because we're constantly overcoming barriers every day. I'm curious: what has that experience been like for you? What have you learned about your ability to problem solve?

Esther: 08:12

Many people give up when they can't find a way to do something. That is understandable. But if I gave up every time I couldn't do something, I would never accomplish anything at all. My situation doesn't give me the option of walking away from a problem and coming back to it later in a different form. I have to work within real constraints, and that means finding creative paths that other people might not think to look for. Here's a simple example. If I can't find a product or a service I need online, I keep looking, because I can't go to a physical store. The option that most people take for, granted, simply doesn't exist for me. So I search differently, I ask differently, I try different tools, different workarounds, different searches. Persistence isn't a personality trait I was born with. It was trained into me by necessity. I've been working on a specific problem for the past few years and continue to seek a solution. I won't go into the details here, but the point is this, most people would have given up on that problem a long time ago. I haven't. Not because I'm endlessly optimistic, but because giving up doesn't actually change the problem, it just means I'm living with it unsolved. That's not acceptable to me. What my disability has taught me about problem solving is this. You look at what's available, you try everything, and when everything fails, you try again with a slightly different angle. You don't need perfect conditions to make progress. You need patience, creativity, and the refusal to let an obstacle be the end of your story.

Taylor: 10:12

That's a great way to go about it, and I highly relate to that as a screen reader user as well as a user of some other assistive technologies. If a web form, a PDF document, or a website is inaccessible to one form of assistive technology, I'm always hopping to different ones. I'll try it on my mobile device, I'll try it on my desktop, I'll try JAWS, I'll try NVDA, or built-in screen readers in the browser. I get that, and I think that's something that a lot of people with disabilities have to get accustomed to. If they want to be successful, you have to constantly be adapting, and that's one of the many skills that people like us develop that are highly valuable in whatever we do. Something we talk about quite a bit in this podcast series is identity and how it relates to our disabilities. I'd love to hear your perspective. How does your disability overlap with your identity, and has it changed over the years? What are your thoughts on that?

Esther: 11:25

My relationship with my body has changed a lot over the years. I won't pretend otherwise. When I was younger, when I first became disabled, which happened a month before I turned 11, I don't think I had the capacity to understand what my life was going to require of me. You can't, at that age. You don't have the language or understanding for it yet, and even if you did, it would be too much to hold all at once. So in some ways, not fully understanding was protective. What I understand now that I couldn't have understood then is this. For a long time, I think I confused the two. I thought that accepting my disability meant giving up on something, some version of life I was supposed to have. It took years to realize that acceptance is actually what makes it possible to keep moving. You can't solve a problem you haven't admitted is real. I've also come to understand that my body, as complicated and demanding as it is, is still mine. The paralysis, the speech disability, the tracheostomy, the ventilator at night, these are not things happening to a stranger. They are part of the life I am living, and I have had to build a real relationship with that reality, not just manage it from a distance. I won't say I always get it right. There are days when the weight of it is heavier than others. But I understand now that those days don't undo everything else. They're just part of the picture.

Taylor: 13:20

It's fascinating that you talk about how attaining it at a younger age was protective, in that you weren't able to fully understand what was going on or be able to express how you felt about it. That's really interesting, and I experienced something similar when I attained my injury. Your brain has a way of protecting you from traumatic experiences. I think that's interesting, how you felt similarly about your experience, even though ours are vastly different. We do have that similarity there. But you've talked about some of the things like your speech, the ventilator, and tracheotomy, and I'm wondering: what are some misconceptions about any of those things you wish more people knew?

Esther: 14:12

One of the most persistent and painful misconceptions is that a brain injury automatically means cognitive or intellectual impairment. People hear brain injury, and they fill in a story that has nothing to do with me. They make assumptions about what I understand, what I can process, what I'm capable of, based entirely on how I look or how I move, they slow down their speech. They use simple words, they ask my caregiver questions instead of asking me. They do all of this without realizing it, and sometimes they do it with what they think is kindness. What I need people to understand is that my injury affected my motor function and my respiratory system. It did not affect my mind. I think clearly. I read, I write, I analyze, I have opinions, I form complex arguments. I am not a lesser version of a person. I am a person who moves through the world differently. Sometimes people use deeply offensive language, words I won't repeat here, not to me directly, but to people like me. They think that because they didn't say it directly, to me, it somehow doesn't affect me. It does. I smile, I laugh it off, I make believe it doesn't bother me. But I carry it, what helps me is coming back to something I hold onto privately. A reminder of who I actually am and what I actually know about myself. There's also a widespread misconception about tracheotomies specifically. When people see someone with a track, they often assume that person can't speak, can't communicate independently, or isn't intellectually capable. None of that is necessarily true. A tracheostomy is a medical device that helps someone breathe. That is all it is. Having one does not mean a person cannot use their natural voice. It does not mean they need to be spoken to slowly, loudly, or not at all, even when someone communicates differently because of a tracheostomy, through a device, through typing, or through assisted speech, they deserve to be spoken to like any other person, with respect, with patience, with the basic assumption that there is a full human being there, that assumption should not be something a person has to earn. It should be the starting point.

Taylor: 16:58

Yeah, I love that. As someone else with a brain injury, I have a better insight into some of the things you've had to deal with than some of the other people with disabilities I've spoken to. As you know now, Esther, I used to have a trach as well. You can see my scar right there. People would treat me differently, and sometimes they still occasionally do. It happens less and less now that I'm able to walk around a little bit better and don't get lost quite as often. I still get lost quite a bit, especially in new environments, but it's really interesting hearing how similar your experience has been in some ways to mine. Thank you for sharing that. How do social attitudes, like the way people speak to you and interact with you, affect your day-to-day life?

Esther: 17:55

This is something I navigate every day, and it is more exhausting than most people realize. When people talk to me like a child, or when they say something hurtful, I make a choice, and it has to be a conscious choice, because my default reaction would be to feel hurt. If I have the energy and the time, I try to educate them. I genuinely believe that most people don't intend to be unkind. They just don't know, they haven't thought about what it feels like to be on the receiving end of that kind of interaction, and sometimes all it takes is someone calmly saying, I'd prefer if you talked to me directly, or, I understand what you're saying, you don't need to repeat it louder. That kind of moment can actually change how someone thinks and behaves for the rest of their life, but I don't always have that energy. And on those days, I let it go. I try not to let it stick to me. And that's not because it doesn't matter, it does. It always matters. But I've learned that if I let every hurtful interaction fully land, I start to feel bad about myself. I go down a rabbit hole of dark thoughts, and then I can't focus or function for the rest of the day. The whole day is gone. So I protect my energy. I protect my focus. I protect my sense of who I am. That requires actively choosing not to internalize things that were never about me in the first place. That's not indifference, that's survival, and I think that distinction matters.

Taylor: 19:42

You have a very healthy outlook on that, and I would agree a lot of these interactions stem from ignorance and not being aware. For example, if someone uses identity-first language with someone who prefers person-first language, you can choose to get upset about that, or you can acknowledge that they just may not know. Some people prefer identity-first language. Using those opportunities to advocate for yourself and, as you said, kind of picking your battles, I think that's a good way to go about it as well. I'm glad you shared that. What do you think when it comes to using person-first versus identity-first language, specifically for yourself?

Esther: 20:32

This is a question I find genuinely interesting, because my own answer is a little unusual, and maybe a little complicated. When I talk about myself, I use identity first language. I call myself a quadriplegic. Being quadriplegic is part of who I am. I can't change it, no matter how much I or anyone else might wish otherwise. I've made peace with that. It is woven into my identity, into how I move through the world, and into how I think, work, and live. Trying to deny that or put some distance between myself and my disability with language would feel dishonest. But when other people talk about me, I prefer to be referred to as a woman with a disability, or simply as Esther. The reason is that, to others, I want to be seen as a person first. My disability is part of my story, not the whole of it. When someone who doesn't know me leads with quadriplegic, the whole rest of me disappears for a moment. I don't want to disappear. I don't want to be known as the quadriplegic woman. I want to be known as Esther. My name is not quadriplegic. I hold both of those truths at the same time, and they are not contradictory. They reflect where I am in my life, and they reflect the difference between how I see myself and how I want new people to approach me. That said, this is a matter of personal preference, and there is no universally right or wrong answer. Every person with a disability gets to decide this for themselves. If someone uses a term that doesn't align with my preferences, I simply let them know for next time. There is no reason to become upset or defensive, how would someone who has never met me know unless they were told? Now, I'm going to be frank, and this might stir some controversy. I don't mind the word handicapped. In fact, I find it preferable to the more politically correct term. Disabled. The word disabled starts with dis, which carries a deeply negative connotation for me. Like dissatisfied or disadvantaged, I don't consider myself either of those things. I am just a person like anyone else. I didn't choose this prefix, and I don't want my disability to be the key characteristic that defines me.

Taylor: 23:18

I love that answer, and breaking down what the word truly implies for some people is really important. I agree when talking about disabled, thinking “dis” meaning not able. Yeah, I have a disability, but that doesn't mean I'm not able. I like that view on that topic. When talking about accessibility, accessibility, as you're very well aware, is an extremely broad topic. What do you think people misunderstand about accessibility when they hear that word?

Esther: 24:08

The most common misunderstanding I encounter is treating accessibility as something that applies to someone else. They hear the word and think of a ramp outside a building. Or a closed caption toggle on a video player. They think, that's handled, that's covered, someone already took care of that. And then they move on. What they miss is everything in between. The website that technically has an accessibility menu, but whose forms don't work with a keyboard. The document that has alt text on the images, but is structured in a way that a screen reader can't navigate. The app that works beautifully with a mouse and falls apart the moment you try to use it any other way, these are not edge cases. These are barriers that real people run into every single day, and they add up. People also treat accessibility like it's complicated, like it requires special expertise or significant resources before you can even attempt it. That framing becomes an excuse for doing nothing. I hear it all the time. We're not sure where to start, or, we don't have the budget for an accessibility audit right now. And I understand that, but accessibility doesn't always require a big investment. It requires a shift in how you think about who you're building for. What I want people to understand is this accessibility is not an exception. It is a baseline, it is the floor, not the ceiling. When something is inaccessible, it's not a minor inconvenience for a small group of people. It's a locked door, and the person standing in front of that locked door isn't waiting for you to get around to it. They're trying to participate in something right now. They're trying to do their job, or access a service, or learn something, and they can't. That's the reality.

Taylor: 26:17

That was a lot of really great points, and for anyone listening or watching, if you take one thing away from this, all of that right there was a lot of amazing information. I remember I use Excel sometimes, and I had a pop-up saying, “Hey, do you want to set up accessibility features?” I got excited, so I clicked yes, but then it popped up this super complex menu that I wasn't able to understand visually. It was like, all right, the accessibility is there, but I can't access it, so does it even matter if it's there to begin with? Then you talked about captions, like just adding captions doesn't mean it's accessible. Captions can be done in an inaccessible way. They can have poor color contrast, poor font, all these different things. I think that's so many great points right there, and I appreciate that very thoughtful answer. Now I'd like to shift a little bit and learn a little bit more about you, Esther. Can you take some time to explain to us more about yourself? How would you describe yourself?

Esther: 27:32

This is a question I've thought about a lot over the years, because how you describe yourself says something about how you see yourself, and I've had to work to arrive at a version of that I'm okay with and feel honest about. It has shaped and will continue to shape the trajectory of my life. It affects every decision I make, every tool I use, every plan I build. I can't pretend otherwise, and I wouldn't want to. But it is not the only characteristic I have. Just as I am a woman, and that shapes things too, in its own ways, I am a quadriplegic. It is simply a part of who I am. Not a tragedy, not an inspiration, not a limitation on my personhood, just a fact, a significant one, and one I have integrated into a life that is genuinely mine. I am also a thinker. A communicator. Someone who notices things, someone who cares deeply about fairness and about whether the systems people depend on actually work for everyone. Those things are just as true of me as anything else, and when I introduce myself, I want people to hold on to all of it, not just the part they can see from across the room.

Taylor: 29:02

Awesome. What I love about this interview in particular is you're able to give a lot of thought to your answers, which one would not necessarily be able to do if I asked you live and you had to come up with it on the spot. That's the same for everyone. If I ask anyone right away, they have to formulate these answers the best they can on the spot. I love that, for this interview, you've had time to think about it and formulate your responses, and it's been really interesting so far to hear how detailed and impactful your responses have been. I appreciate that. That was a really good description as to who Esther is, and I would love to know: what are some important and unique things about yourself you would want listeners to know?

Esther: 29:58

I may seem quiet and reserved when you first meet me. It takes me a while to open up. That's not shyness exactly, it's more that. I observe first. I watch how someone listens before I decide how much I want to say. But once you get to know me, you will find that I have a lot to say and a lot to offer. I am thoughtful, I think carefully before I speak, and I mean what I say when I say it. I am direct, I won't tell you what you want to hear if I don't believe it's true. And I expect the same in return. I care deeply about the things I believe in accessibility, fairness, and honesty about the realities of people's lives, including my own. I am also more stubborn and determined than most people expect when they first meet me. I think they see the chair or the quiet voice and assume what I can take on. They're usually surprised. What I most want people to know is that my life is full. It looks genuinely different from what many people imagine a full life to look like. My days are structured differently. My independence is shaped by tools, caregivers, and careful energy management. There are things I cannot do. But my life is full of purpose, connection, meaning, and work that I believe matters. My life is not what I or my family ever envisioned years ago. But it is mine, and it is full. I want people to hold that, not as something remarkable, but as something ordinary. Because for me, it is.

Taylor: 31:48

Awesome. Well, thank you so much for that. It's been really, really incredible to hear your thoughts on your experience. It's been a lot of fun, really. Earlier on, we talked about some skills that we've developed as people with different impairments, like our problem solving or our creative problem solving specifically. What are some other strengths that you've developed throughout your experience?

Esther: 32:18

I want to answer this carefully, because it's easy to give a feel-good answer and miss what's actually true. The qualities of built, resilience, patience, determination, persistence, didn't come from some internal wellspring of strength I was born with. They were trained in me, by the demands of my life. I didn't choose to develop resilience. I developed resilience because I had no alternative. The same goes for patience. When everything you do takes longer than it would for most people, when every communication requires effort, when every task requires comprehensive setup, you either learn patience or you spend your entire life in frustration. I chose patience, not because it's easy, but because it's necessary. Determination came from the same place. When you are told, implicitly or explicitly, that you are limited, that there are things you can't do, doors that won't open for you, you develop a stubborn refusal to accept that as the final answer. I've pushed past the limits others set for me, not because I was fearless, but because I refused to let someone else's ceiling become my floor. And persistence, that one I think about a lot. Persistence isn't the same as optimism. You don't have to believe something will definitely work to keep trying. You just have to decide that stopping isn't an option yet. That's been true for me in my work, in my health management, in solving problems that have taken years. I'm still working on some of them, I'll keep working. What I want people to know is that these aren't gifts. They're skills, and they came out of necessity and at great cost. But they are mine and I use them every day.

Taylor: 34:25

That's great, and I like you talking about developing these skills out of necessity, whether it's for independence or success in your day-to-day life. I relate especially to the patience one. Things take a bit longer for me now with my lack of vision. Contrary to popular belief, like we're talking about with misconceptions, as a blind man, I still can read. That's great that you have the resiliency. I'm still working on that one. Sometimes when I encounter a barrier, I might give up after a little bit of trying and then come back to it at another time. Resilience is one I need to work on. That's great that you've gotten that one a little bit better than me so far. Practice makes somewhat perfect, at least in my experience.

Esther: 35:38

Yeah.

Taylor: 35:39

So up until this point, you've given us a lot of really great information, described yourself, and talked about disability and your identity and how they overlap. I'm curious: do you do work? I would love to learn some more about that.

Esther: 35:57

I work as an accessibility tester, writer, and speaker. My work focuses on making the digital and physical worlds more accessible to people with disabilities. I want to say something about why this work specifically matters to me. I'm not someone who came to accessibility from a design background or a legal compliance perspective. I came to it from lived experience, from being the person on the other side of the locked door I mentioned earlier. Every day, I use the web, software, and communication tools designed by people who may never have thought about someone like me. Sometimes they work well, often they don't. That experience gives me a perspective that I believe is genuinely valuable, and not in a vague, inspirational way. I mean, practically valuable. When I test a product, I'm not running through a checklist. I'm actually using it with my actual tools in my actual situation. The problems I find are real. The barriers I identify are things I personally couldn't get past. That's a different kind of testing than you get from someone who doesn't use assistive technology themselves. I take that seriously, and I think the organizations I work with benefit from it, when they're willing to listen. Helping the world become more accessible, one product at a time, that is work I'm proud of.

Taylor: 37:41

That's awesome, and I love your approach to testing. I think that's a fantastic point. You can use automated software, or a user could go in there and do testing visually, but if you don't use these assistive technologies, you can miss accessibility barriers that you would not find otherwise. I think that's great that you implement that into your work. I think that's an incredibly valuable insight that you're giving your clients. When you're doing this work and doing this testing and consulting, you talked about actually getting into the weeds and going through these products and websites how you would normally interact with them. I'm curious: when you're doing this type of work, whether you're doing writing or preparing for an engagement like this or whatever it may be, what are different technologies that you use to be effective in your work?

Esther: 38:43

Technology is not a convenience for me. It is how I work. It is how I communicate, it is how I participate in the world independently. Without the right tools working correctly, I simply cannot function professionally, and that's not an exaggeration. I use head tracking to access my phone and computer. This means that I move the cursor by moving my head, typing one letter at a time using an on-screen keyboard and voice it, a speech-to-text software for non-standard speech, when I need to type a longer chunk of text. I also use the text-to-speech software for recordings and presentations, which gives me a clearer voice when my natural voice is difficult for others to understand. These tools together are what allow me to be fully independent online.

Taylor: 39:42

That's awesome, and we're getting a prime example of that text-to-speech software. You often see the acronym TTS. That's what that's for. I usually use the opposite, the speech-to-text software, because typing can be a little challenging for me, both on my desktop as well as on my phone. I fully agree. If I didn't have the technology I'm lucky enough to have access to, I would not be nearly, if at all, as productive and effective in the work I do. Even in my personal life, I use AI like Alexa and Siri and other AI tools to help me organize my personal life, keep appointments, and all things like that. I fully relate to that. My life revolves around technology. Can you describe some of the key accomplishments, what they've meant to you, and how they've shaped the path for you going forward?

Esther: 40:49

One of the accomplishments I am most proud of is turning my lived experience as a disabled person into meaningful professional and community-centered work. Over time, I have built a path as an accessibility tester, writer, speaker, educator, advocate, and community leader, drawing on both my personal experience and professional knowledge to help make digital spaces and conversations more inclusive. For me, this has been more than building a career. It has been about finding purpose in my journey and using my voice to support, educate, and empower others. Earning my CPACC certification was an important milestone in that journey. It meant a great deal to me because it validated the knowledge and skills I had been building in, gave me more confidence in my professional identity. It showed me that my lived experience and my technical understanding of accessibility are both valuable, that certification helped shape my path by confirming that I belong in this field and that I have something meaningful to contribute. I am also proud of the opportunities I have had to share my perspective publicly through speaking and writing. Presenting at the Assistive Technology Industry Association conference was a significant accomplishment because it gave me the chance to bring my lived experience and professional insight into an important conversation about accessibility and assistive technology. Being able to present in that kind of space meant a great deal to me because it reflected growth, visibility, and recognition of the value of disability-led expertise. Having an article published in Closing the Gap Solutions magazine was another meaningful accomplishment. That opportunity allowed me to share my experiences and ideas with a broader audience and contribute to important discussions in the disability and assistive technology community. Writing for a respected publication helped me see that my voice could have a wider reach and that my perspective could both inform and encourage others. It strengthened my path as a writer and showed me that storytelling in education can be powerful tools for advocacy. I am also proud of building my YouTube presence and using it as a platform to share my journey, experiences, and insights. Creating content in that space has been meaningful because it allows me to connect with people in a more direct and personal way. It has helped me make disability, accessibility, and assistive technology more visible while also giving others a chance to learn from my experiences. That work has shaped my path by expanding how I communicate and by reminding me that visibility matters. Another accomplishment that has had a strong impact on me is my volunteer work with accessible community. Being involved in that organization has given me opportunities to contribute to a mission I deeply believe in while also growing as a leader and collaborator. Through that work, I have seen how important it is to build spaces where disabled voices are heard, respected, and centered. Volunteering with accessible community has shaped my path by strengthening my commitment to advocacy, community, engagement, and accessibility-focused work that creates real impact. I am also proud of my work with the Northwest Augmentative Communication Society, NWACS, including serving as conference coordinator. That role has been especially meaningful because it has allowed me to help create spaces for learning, connection, and community around AAC and disability-related topics. Being involved with NWACS has strengthened my leadership skills and shown me the importance of organizing opportunities that bring people together and elevate important voices and perspectives. It has shaped my path by helping me grow not only as an advocate but also as someone who can support and guide meaningful community efforts. I am also proud of the work I have done through my website, Esther's Walking Journey, where I share my experiences, resources, and perspective in ways that support others and promote greater awareness of accessibility and disability. Creating and growing that platform has allowed me to combine personal storytelling with professional insight. It has helped me clarify my voice, connect with others, and build something that reflects both who I am and the work I care about most. What all of these accomplishments mean to me is that they represent growth, persistence, and purpose. Each one reflects a step in learning how to use my experiences not as something that holds me back, but as a source of knowledge, strength, and contribution. They have helped me build confidence in my abilities and shown me that my perspective matters in professional, community, and public spaces. These accomplishments have shaped my path by helping me see that disability is not separate from my work. It is part of what gives my work authenticity, depth, and value. They have shown me that I can use my voice to educate, advocate, and connect with others, and that there is real power in bringing lived experience into professional and leadership spaces. As I continue forward, these experiences remind me that my path is not only about personal achievement, it is also about contributing to a more accessible and inclusive world for others.

Taylor: 47:29

Awesome. It's great to hear what all those accomplishments meant to you. I like how you pointed out how gaining that certification sort of validated your skills and knowledge in the world of accessibility. Thank you so much for sharing that. That was a lot of really, really great information. Earlier on in our discussion, you gave a really great description of what accessibility means, specifically to you. Would you be able to share an instance where accessibility, or the lack thereof, affected you?

Esther: 48:08

The physical one. I once went to a hospital and needed to use the bathroom. When I got there, there wasn't enough room to close the door. I had no choice but to use it with the door open. That's not a minor inconvenience. That's a loss of basic dignity in a space specifically designed to serve people who are unwell, people who are already vulnerable. The fact that it happened in a hospital makes it especially hard to accept. The digital one is something that happens repeatedly, being logged out or timed out of a system without warning. For most people, that's a small frustration. For me, getting back in can take significant time and effort, navigating a login screen with head tracking, re-entering credentials through an on-screen keyboard, waiting for two-factor authentication to arrive, and entering it before it expires. By the time I'm back in, I may have lost my place entirely, or the window to do what I was trying to do has closed. It's not just inconvenient, it's a barrier that compounds over time, and it adds up across dozens of systems every week. These aren't edge cases, they are the everyday reality of inaccessibility, and they are entirely preventable.

Taylor: 49:40

Absolutely, and I love that example. That's one big thing I've really enjoyed having these discussions with guests like yourself. Even though on paper our disabilities might be fairly different, I highly relate to getting timed out of filling out a web form or whatever it may be, and how frustrating that is, because then I have to get back into it, and sometimes it doesn't save your data. You have to be like, all right, I need to see if I can get this done quickly enough so it doesn't kick me out again. I've had times where I was like, all right, well, I just can't reach out to this company because I can't fill out their form quickly enough. Something as simple as not having a time limit on the form, and having that accessibility barrier, can affect so many different people regardless of their type of disability. You've told us a bit about your work, like doing your accessibility and website testing and different stuff around that, but I would love to learn more. How do you best balance your energy and health needs with your work responsibilities? I would imagine that's quite a balancing act.

Esther: 51:05

This is something I've had to be very intentional about, because the default model for how work is structured doesn't fit my life, and pretending otherwise would only hurt me. My health comes first. That is not a preference, it is a necessity. I cannot do my work if I'm in a medical crisis, if I'm exhausted, or if I've pushed past the limits my body is operating within on a given day. So, health management is not something I do at work. Work is something I do around health management. That means I don't hold a full-time or part-time job with a set schedule. I can't be under a strict time crunch or work against inflexible deadlines. The unpredictability of my medical needs, any given hour might require me to stop completely to address something, means I need the freedom to step away without consequence. A traditional employment structure doesn't provide that, and I've stopped trying to fit myself into something that doesn't work. Instead, I take on freelance and contract work that I can do at my own pace. I set my own schedule. I start work when I'm ready, which is often late in the day. I stop when I need to, and I work when I am able, even if it falls outside regular office hours. I also don't charge by the hour. This is a deliberate choice. Partly, it removes the psychological pressure of watching a clock while I work, which would affect the quality of my thinking, but more importantly, it feels dishonest to me to bill for an hour when I might need to stop halfway through to handle a medical need. My clients pay for my expertise, my judgment, and my deliverables. Not for how long I spent at my desk. My work has to fit around my life. Not the other way around.

Taylor: 53:17

That was really interesting, hearing the financial side and how you prioritize that. That's a really interesting perspective. I also love that you prioritize your health over your work, and I think a lot of people, regardless of their disability status, should make sure they're doing that. Also, talking about the flexibility and work scheduling, that's really interesting. I think that's a prime example of a workplace accommodation, and it's nice to know that you found a way to structure your work to best suit your health needs and make sure you keep that balanced. Would you be able to walk us through what a typical day looks like for you?

Esther: 54:07

I wake up between 9 and 10 in the morning. I know that seems late to some people, but it is what my body needs. I am genuinely most productive at night, my thinking is clearest, my energy is steadier, and so my schedule is built around that reality rather than a conventional workday. My mornings involve getting assistance with the physical tasks of starting the day. Getting up, getting dressed, taking care of medical needs, and getting settled takes time and requires support. I usually spend most of my morning doing physical therapy, which is an important part of maintaining the flexibility and function I have in becoming stronger. I rely on caregivers for consistent, constant support throughout the day, and I want to say clearly, having good, reliable caregivers makes an enormous difference in how everything else unfolds. When that support is steady, my day works. When there are gaps or inconsistencies, everything downstream is harder. Good caregiving is not background noise in my life, it is foundational. Once I am set up and ready, I move into my work. I communicate and work almost entirely through technology. I check in with people, review documents, write, test, all, using the assistive tools I described earlier. The work itself is the same kind of work anyone in my field does. The means of doing it just look different. My days overall are structured around what I can do, rather than what I can't. That sounds simple, but it took time to build. I've learned which parts of the day are best. For which kinds of tasks, how to protect my focus, and how to recognize when I need to stop before I exhaust my energy entirely. Those routines are real and they matter.

Taylor: 56:19

Nice. On a fairly similar theme. I thrive on consistency and scheduling, and that's a very overlooked accessibility feature in my life, just the consistency. I thrive on it. That's cool to see that you're similar in that way. I would love to know: what are some things that bring you joy and help you stay connected to your community?

Esther: 56:52

I want to answer this honestly, even though the honest answer is a little different from what people might expect. To be candid, the range of activities I can do independently is very limited. I can't go out spontaneously. I can't run errands. I can't do most of the things that fill other people's evenings and weekends without significant planning and support. That's just the reality. Most of what I do outside of work involves technology, reading things that interest me, keeping up with what's happening in the accessibility and assistive technology. Community, and connecting with people online. I follow conversations, I engage with ideas, I maintain relationships through written communication. What might look like screen time to someone observing from the outside is actually my primary way of participating in the world beyond my immediate environment. I find real value in those connections. They are not a consolation prize for the in-person life I'm not having. They are authentic, meaningful relationships, real exchanges of ideas, real sources of meaning and engagement. I also find writing extremely therapeutic. Not just professional writing, but the personal kind. Writing forces me to organize my thoughts, to be precise about what I actually believe, to work through things that are hard to sit with. It is one of the most reliable things I have. These activities are not a substitute for in person experiences, but they are real and they matter to me.

Taylor: 58:44

That’s wonderful, and I am so glad that you have that way to stay connected, and having access to the technology  to give you the ability to communicate with others. That’s wonderful! I would love to include some of your writing., whether it's professional or personal in the show notes so people can check out some of your work, I think that would be wonderful to share. So you have told us a good bit about what you do in terms of accessibility and advocating for accessibility, and consulting, and testing websites, and helping companies become more accessible. So what advice would you share with business owner or someone listening on  how they can get started with accessibility?

Esther: 59:45

Most important thing I can tell you is also the simplest Ask the people who actually use your product or service. Not just one person, not just once, and not just a service question like this. This work for you. Have a thorough, honest, ongoing conversation with disabled users about their experience, what works, what doesn't, what they've given up on, what. They have found workarounds for because when someone has found a workaround that is a sign of a failure in your product. They should not have to be problem solving around you just to use what you build. I also want to name something I see a lot, but organizations ask for disability input and then treat it as feedback to consider rather than expertise to act on. There's a difference when a person who uses assistive techniques. Technology every day tells you that your form doesn't work with a keyboard. That is not a perspective. That is a report. It should be treated accordingly. Start with real users. Compensate them fairly for their time. Don't make them feel like they're doing you a favor by pointing out what's broken. And please don't consult a disabled person once and then declare the process done. Accessibility is not a project with a completion date. It's an ongoing practice that requires ongoing relationships with the people your product is supposed to serve. Don't know where to start? Start there. The people who live this every day will tell you exactly what you need to know. You just have to be willing to listen and to act.

Taylor: 01:01:39

I love those points you made, and first, I think it’s  great that you highlighted that   that people with disabilities should remember that  they offer a very valuable perspective. And shouldn't undervalue what they bring to the table. I think that is very important and I'm glad you brought attention to that. And also highlighting the importance of maintaining that ongoing relationship and not just checking that accessibility box once and thinking you're fine moving forward because accessibility and technology is ever changing, standards and laws are changing. So. It's always important to stay up to date and make sure you're keeping up with that in terms of accessibility because just because you're compliance at one point in time doesn't mean you're going to be compliant in six months or a year or five years. So that's a great, great point you brought up. So far you've shared a lot with us about yourself and the work you do. And I'm curious what are some things you would want people to take away from that message about living a meaningful life with a disability?

Esther: 01:02:53

I am going to be honest with you. Because I believe you deserve that more than a tidy, uplifting message. I am not going to tell you that life with a disability is easy or all fun and games. It is not. It is a challenge. It is an obstacle you have to meet, not once, not in one defining moment of triumph, but every single day. There are days when the obstacle wins. There are days when I am exhausted in a way I cannot fully explain to someone who hasn't lived it. There are days when the gap between the life I have and the life I might have had, or that I imagine feels very large. I'm not going to pretend those days don't exist, because pretending would be a disservice to everyone listening who is living something hard right now and wondering if they're doing it wrong because they're not always at peace with it. What I can share is what helps me. The most practical thing I know is this. Take it one day at a time, not as cliché, as a genuine survival strategy. If you try to carry the full weight of your future, all the uncertainty, all the limitations, all the unknowns, you will not survive it. But one day, one day is manageable, one day you can face it. And the second thing, the thing I feel the most strongly about is this, mental paralysis is the worst kind of paralysis. I know this from personal experience. Worse than any physical limitation I live with is the moment when the mind stops believing it can move forward. When the story you tell yourself becomes I can't, I won't, there is no point. That story, once it takes hold, is the most disabling thing I've ever faced. Your body may have limits. Your mind doesn't have to. That's the one thing I would ask you to protect above everything else. Keep your mind free. Keep it moving, one day at a time.

Taylor: 01:05:11

I like that. Just approaching it one day at a time. That's a really good coping strategy for a lot of different situations that people are dealing with, whether it's something physical or mental or whatever it is. A really good strategy. So that that's nice. So you practice that as well. So when you think about the work you do, what kind of impact are you hoping it has in that terms of inspiration necessarily, but in overall change? 

Esther: 01:05:45

I want to be precise about this because I think the inspiration framing actually gets in the way of the change I care about. Inspiration is passive. Someone watches you exist, feels moved and goes back to their day. I'm not interested in that. What I want is for something to be different because I was there. A product that works for someone but didn't work for them before. A designer who builds differently because they actually tested with someone like me. Heard what I found. An organization that stops treating accessibility as a compliance checkbox then starts treating it as a continuous responsibility to the people they’re supposed to serve. That's the change I'm trying to create. It's specific, it's practical, and it requires people to act, not just feel something. I also want to change what people assume is possible. I am a person with complex physical limitations who works, who writes, who thinks carefully about hard problems, who shows up. I don't say that to be inspiring. I say that because the assumptions people have about what someone like me can do are often wrong, and those assumptions get built into products, policies, and systems. When I challenge them by simply doing my work, well, that matters not because my story is remarkable, but because it is ordinary. It should be ordinary. The world should be built for it to be ordinary. That's what I'm working toward. Not a moment of inspiration, a different baseline. 

Taylor: 01:07:35

That's wonderful and as someone who gets to see the impact you have. I can attest that you've achieved a lot of that and hopefully you continue to do that because your perspective, especially today has been extremely valuable. Well, thank you so much, Esther, and I appreciate your patience with some of the technical issues. It’s  been a lot of fun chatting with you about this stuff.

Esther: 01:08:07

Thanks so much for your patience.

Taylor: 01:08:12

Yeah, of course. And that goes both ways. Thank you all for joining us while we explore accessibility and disability. If you enjoyed this podcast, check out more episodes and show notes at accessiblecommunity.org/podcasts  Remember be accessible be inclusive.