In 2005, I was working at The Manik Public School as a Computer Teacher. One of those evenings, I got a message on then popular instant messaging platform MSN Messenger from Shilpi Kapoor, CEO of BarrierBreak (then Net Systems Informatics IIndia) Pvt Ltd) asking if I am interested to join their company as an Accessibility Tester and that requires me to relocate to Mumbai. I felt extremely happy for two reasons. One was that Shilpi was my teacher who taught me the use of computers at IAVH. The second reason is that I got an opportunity to make a career in Accessibility. I have accepted her offer.and joined in 2005.
I started learning about Accessibility standards, testing techniques, tools to use and much more. I must say, we had a great learning opportunity with a lot of fun though we have had limited resources. I still remember spreadsheets we were creating to document our interpretation and rational. Some of my initial resources I referred frequently were Jim Thatcher articles and posts on WebAIM. Some of the tools I got introduced were Web Accessibility Toolbar by Vision Australia. Came across some amazing people like Steve Faulkner, Andrew Kirkpatrik, Henny Swan, Sally Cain and others. Got a chance to work alongside incredible colleagues Priti Rohra, Pooja Nahata, Mamta Tandel, Vivek Gaikwad, Ramya Venkitesh, Sunita Mahadik and many.
During my stint at BarrierBreak, I got an opportunity to sell Accessibility services to corporate, Government and International organizations. This got me build awesome networking and marketing skills. I was also part of the Organizing team of Techshare India – India’s 1st Accessibility Conference and Assistive Technology Exhibition.
My experience at BarrierBreak has been a foundation for my two decades of Accessibility Journey. In next post, I will share my journey with Yahoo!
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