Building Accessibility Into Products

Welcome to Crescendo Chats: Scaling Diversity & Inclusion. In this series, Crescendo co-founder Stefan Kollenberg hosts conversations with HR and diversity & inclusion practitioners, sharing valuable insights from their work. 

This week’s conversation is with KR Liu, the Head of Brand Accessibility at Google’s Brand Studio.

Listen to the podcast or read below for the edited transcript. 

Stefan: Can you share a bit about yourselves to get us started?

KR: Absolutely. I’m currently the head of brand accessibility at Google. I’m a very passionate, fierce advocate for people with disabilities, LGBTQ people, and women in tech. I’ve been in the industry in sales and marketing for over 25 years, and I’m very passionate about inclusive design and bringing an inclusive lens to brand accessibility in our content, media, and products. 

Stefan: How does your identity shape the way you view the world?

KR: I’m a very curious, passionate, empathetic person. I’m always looking for ways I can help people and how I can change perceptions in areas where there’s a lot of stigma and pushback. I’m someone who has had hearing loss her entire life and struggled to belong. It’s been hard when you don’t feel like you don’t see yourself anywhere. And that really shaped me into what I do now. I want people with disabilities - which is itself a diverse community - to see themselves. To make sure that they are heard and their stories are told. 

Over the years, living through different challenges, hiding my hearing loss, and then not coming out as a gay woman… I had steps I had to take to feel like I could truly be myself. Once I started doing that, it opened up the door for me to see that there are more people like me, so how do I use the position I’m in to elevate that and to show the world that. 

Stefan: How do you help someone else feel heard and seen?

KR: I was fortunate. I only came out 8 years ago when I met my now-wife and she had also not publicly come out. So it took the both of us saying we want to be proud of our relationship and we know this is long-term, so why hide it. If people don’t accept us, that’s on them, not us. 

Stefan: How has that shaped the way you build user or customer personas?

KR: I’m always bringing the lens of a few different areas where I don’t see a lot of representation. Whether it’s disability, LGBTQ, race, gender, sexual orientation… it’s something I definitely try to amplify in a more positive light. For me, it’s about the story. 

I’m in a product field, so I’m all about how you tie products to the human connection - and thinking about how it’s helping someone do something they love or pursue a passion or create new opportunities. I’m always thinking about that when I’m building a user story or looking at how to apply a product or a tool. And my area of expertise is very much about accessibility, so we are thinking about how we help people solve problems so that they can do things everyone else can. 

Stefan: Can you share some examples from your years of experience?

KR: For many years I had hearing loss. I worked in hardware for at least 10 years before I came out with my hearing loss. And there was this moment where I wanted to break into the audio industry and innovate in hearing. The reason being is I had a brick-wall moment where I wear hearing aids, and they are thousands of dollars not covered by insurance. So a lot of people have hearing loss that don’t wear aids or can’t afford them. They are also highly stigmatized, so even if they could wear them, they wouldn’t. 

So one day at work, my hearing aid stopped working and I had to go to an audiologist on my lunch break to try to get it repaired. They said I couldn’t repair it and it would be over $3,000 - I did not have that money. I couldn’t believe it. I was thinking, do I pay my rent or pay for hearing aids? I just need to be able to hear and communicate. I gave him two credit cards and my life savings, sat in my car, cried my eyes out, and went back to work. I had to keep figuring out how to do my job. 

In that moment I was vulnerable for a second. When I went back into the office, I was grateful that my CEO at the time saw me and pulled me aside, asking what was wrong. I told her I have hearing loss - and I can’t hear because my hearing aid broke. She said first of all they would have supported me but then second that I needed to do something about this problem of access. 

I remember sitting thinking who is going to listen to me. No one will take me seriously. I’m just trying to be taken seriously as a sales and marketing person in this industry right now. She said to think about it and keep telling my story because you never know when the right moment might come. 

I left that company a few years later, and ended up at Pebble. I was fascinated by Pebble, which is a smartwatch before the Apple watch or anything like that. I loved it because it would give me a vibration notification on my wrist when I would get a call or text message. I was often missing my phone calls because I couldn’t hear them, so Pebble was a really cool accessibility tool for me. So when I started running their national sales and marketing division, the CEO came up to me one day and asked me why I loved the watch. I said because it allows me to know when my phone is ringing. 

Then a couple of weeks later I went to him with the idea of bluetooth hearing aids that allow me to stream my phone calls to my ears, but whenever I want to change the volume, I have to pull out my phone and people think I’m being rude. I said I had an idea - the watch has an open API where I could work with the company to make an app that would go on my watch, so I could touch my watch when I want to change the volume so I don’t have to pull out my phone. He said I could work on it as a side project. 

I contacted a hearing aid company and met with them - we built an app in a week. It was really just a passion project for me. I showed it to a couple people in my office. Our PR team saw it and asked if they could tell my story. I said yes, and my story was published on this idea and changed my entire life - it kickstarted my career into innovating in hearing technology and becoming a known advocate in the space. 

Stefan: What was the story you told?

KR: I didn’t want to hide my hearing loss. I was tired of the stigma and being ashamed. And I wanted to show that you could merge the world of medical devices that are highly stigmatized and wearable devices that are socially acceptable, affordable, and cool. 

So an idea that came from a random person like myself, who’s not even an engineer, is something that is massively used today. And I think there are so many stories like that, especially around disability, that people don’t know. Like email and text messaging: those were things created by people with disabilities, and people don’t know that. 

You never know. The lesson for me in that was if I had been too afraid or I was too worried I was going to get rejected, where would I be now? So I always tell people the worst thing that can happen is you hear no. You always have to try - and that’s hard. We all don’t like that feeling. But sometimes you’re not right. Other times someone will listen and the timing is right. For me, the timing happened to be perfect. 

Stefan: How can people start when building intersectional, diverse personas?

KR: For me, it’s always starting with the disability lens. Then looking at things like demographic, geographic, and sociographic lenses. That’s how I approach it because that’s the world I’m in. I’m trying to solve problems and create opportunities for people with disabilities, so I’m coming from that lens of who is my audience and who I am trying to help. 

Stefan: Are there any mistakes you’ve made that you do differently?

KR: A couple stand out for me. I wish I had not hid my disability for 10 years. I think the emotional, psychological drain on me personally and on my mental health was so painful. 

The other I would say is that I used to be very stubborn and think that my way was the way and I would push for something that I thought was the direction to go. And instead of sitting back and listening to all the opportunities or voices or looking at the bigger picture, I’m thinking about the right direction for that moment and whether I agreed or not. Now I take a different approach where I’m looking at the product narrative. I’m taking a broader view. And I’m bringing more voices to the table including ones that don’t agree with me. I think all of that was because I felt intimidated - I was the only woman in the room 95% of the time so I felt like I had to put my foot down and be pushy and strong about it. 

You have to have your voice be heard, but you have to make sure that you’re looking at the whole picture, all the voices, and really being thoughtful in your decision making process. 

Stefan: How has your work in accessibility changed due to COVID-19?

KR: Disability has always been looked at in certain buckets. You have an older population, you have people with physical disabilities, hearing loss, low vision. In representation, people always thought it’s an older white person. What I’ve seen happen with disability representation is more people are self-identifying because more people are at risk with COVID-19 now. If you have high blood pressure, lung disease, heart disease, or if you’re recovering from cancer. Those are all disabilities, but people never really looked at it like that before.

More people are talking about it than ever before, and learning from people in the disability community who have been living with these issues their entire life. We’re learning from each other and helping each other, and that’s definitely been a huge shift that I’ve seen. 

The community is also much more vocal than before. The disability community was vocal, but usually within our circles. It wasn’t such a mainstream conversation. 

Stefan: Have any personal stories stood out to you in the community around COVID-19?

KR: There are two things I’ve seen. 

Representation is showing up more diverse. It’s not just white. It’s Asian, it’s Black, and so many other different backgrounds and socioeconomic statuses. I always knew it was there, but it just wasn’t gaining the platform or the visibility. And not just from the COVID situation, but also the Black Lives Matter movement. The disability community is stepping up - and there’s the Black Disabled Lives Matter movement happening in parallel. That’s really important as well to make sure that the community is really getting seen. 

Stefan: Have you seen interesting virtual ways of getting involved with movements?

KR: One of my favorite campaigns right now is the Crip Impact Campaign, which is based off of the Netflix documentary Crip Camp, which talks about the history of the Americans with Disabilities Act and how that came about. It’s a very diverse amazing group of disability advocates that have come together every Sunday and do a town hall to talk about the different issues facing the disability community. And there are incredible conversations being had with thought leaders in the community, and even around the Black Lives Matter movement and COVID-19. 

Our community is thinking about things and how we can support each other not just now but in the future. That’s been wonderful to see. 

If you go to CripCamp.com and go to Crip Impact, you’ll see a webinar to sign up for that they do every Sunday. 

Stefan: Have you seen increased talk about mental health in the disabilities community?

KR: Absolutely. The disability community has always talked about social isolation and depression, because often we are very isolated, but now even more so - the conversation has rapidly grown. 

There have been some great thought leaders in this space. One is a personal friend, Margaux Joffee, the director of accessibility marketing at Verizon. She also started her own organization called Kaleidoscope Society, which is a platform for women with ADHD. And more thought leaders are gaining a platform to elevate the conversation, not only where they are in the workplace but also the things they are passionate about bringing up and raising awareness on. 

The disability community is worried - emotionally, mentally, and physically. Our unemployment rate was already high. Now it’s super high with COVID-19. Then there’s access to healthcare and worrying about if they are going to save you because maybe you’re too high risk. Or will they give you access to a ventilator. Those are real things that are happening - the disability community has lost a lot of people through this. 

There’s a fear that even if we get through this pandemic, what’s going to be left for us. How are we going to go back into the classroom? How are we going to continue to work? How are we going to financially support ourselves? There are some serious fears and worries about if people are going to do anything to help us. 

Stefan: What do you see as the future of accessibility in tech?

KR: We’re definitely seeing where voice is going. The power of voice technology and how that has given so much to people with disabilities. So much more independence and being able to do things as simple as turning on a light or being able to control different devices in your home. Or when you go outside using voice to navigate your phone. Those technologies will continue to get better and better. Also help with visual impairments and ways that people can stay connected when you’re blind or low-vision. I see that definitely getting more advanced. 

I dream of a world where I have devices in my ears and I walk into a room and I look at someone -- and that is the only thing I hear because that’s the thing I want to hear in a moment. So voice segmentation is something I’m really excited about in the future, and I think that’s a couple years away. 

I also see the hearing aid industry maybe not being the same. I think AirPods could be something you wear to listen to phone calls I use to hear the world. We’re both wearing the same thing and it costs a couple hundred bucks. 

I see that becoming more and more standard that companies will see just how massive this market is and how big the disability community is. And more focus will go towards innovating in that space. 

Stefan: Lightning round: Favorite quote?

KR: “Nothing about us without us”

Stefan: What motivates you in life?

KR: Helping people. 

Stefan: What’s a book or movie that changed the way you think about the world?

KR: Crip Camp documentary on Netflix. 

Stefan: Favorite podcast or music?

KR: I don’t listen to too many podcasts cause there are no captions. I’m looking forward to that technology evolving more. I listen to all kinds of music. But I would say my favorite podcast right now is 13 Letters by Be My Eyes.

Stefan: What’s the coolest tech product you’ve ever come across?

KR: When I worked at Doppler Labs -- the hearing augmentation earbuds we made were definitely a life changing moment. It was two wireless earbuds that you put in your ears. With an app on your phone, you could control everything you heard around you. You could filter out noise, change the frequency, all of that. 

Stefan: How can people connect with you?

KR: Check out my website and get in touch.

Stefan: Thank you!