Join Us at #TechInclusion in SF Next Week

We are proud to be a community partner of the Tech Inclusion Conference in San Francisco from October 15-17, convening the tech industry to focus on solutions to diversity and inclusion! This fourth annual conference -- themed "Voices of Innovation" -- will highlight diverse, underrepresented voices building innovative technologies and cultures of our future. Topics include: artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency, virtual reality and inclusive design, ethics and equity, macroaggressions and biases, allyship, inclusive teams, inclusive venture capital and much more!

Ahead of the conference, Diversabilty community member Michael Iseri shared a few thoughts on what tech inclusion means to him.

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[Image Description: A head shot of Michael Iseri shows him wearing a suit and red tie.]

I am a disability rights attorney that specialized in accessible technology. My full story on being born with a disability as well as surviving a gunshot wound to the back-of-the-head in a high school shooting is on my personal website: lawpp.org/about.

Tech inclusion is vital for everyone because of the need to develop culturally/gender sensitive technology as well as accessible technology for people with disabilities. Currently, 15% to 20% of the world population has a disability; and in the legal field, that number is shockingly low at ~1%-2% of law students have a disability, ~0.39% of lawyers at law firms have a disability, and ~0.3% of law firm partners (the highest position at a law firm) have a disability [numbers by NALP]. It is extremely difficult to argue against hard numbers, and the legal field really lacks inclusion methods for people with disabilities. For me, I am directly combating this lack of inclusion in the legal field, and I would love to gain insights to how technology companies are encouraging inclusion in their workforce. I was recently appointed by the California Supreme Court to be on the Committee of Bar Examiners (CBE, the main group creating policies for the main licensing exam for California attorneys), and I hope to gain these insights so I can share it to the CBE and other legal organizations I work with (such as the California Young Lawyers Association where I am the Chair of Advocacy and Diversity Initiatives for all new California Attorneys 8 years and younger). Lastly, disability inclusion is important for everyone because it is the one "minority" group where anyone can join due to birth, genetics, accidents, or age.

As an attorney for disability rights and technology law that does accessible technology and access to justice (A2J) software programming, I am really looking forward to hearing from Danielle DeRuiter-Williams from The Justice Collective and Laura Montoya from Accel Impact. I would love to hear from their experiences and insights on themselves and their work in using technology in a public interest manner. For myself, I created Android programs that are fully voiced in 35+ languages to dynamically complete legal services (expungements for homeless and emergency restraining orders domestic violence survivors), and I would love to hear their journey with social impact programs.

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Join us in learning new solutions, meeting diverse people who care, being stretched in a safe environment, and gaining new tools and strength to advocate for change!

Plus join us for the Tech Inclusion Career Fair on 10/17 from 11am-3pm. Candidates register free here (https://sf18.techinclusion.co/#register)! Note: registration is required to attend.

Register here with our special 20% discount: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tech-inclusion-2018-tickets-45538440702?discount=Community-DiversabilitySF1820