Marco Salsiccia

After losing his vision suddenly back in early 2014, Marco Salsiccia’s life had to change along with his ultimate career path. He devoured any and all information about accessible technology, getting up to speed as fast as he could to try to get back to his original computer and smartphone aptitude. Marco quickly became an expert in screen readers and other methods of accessible interaction, making his way through Independent Living Skills, learning Grade 1 and 2 braille in 3 weeks, and advocating for himself and others with disabilities in situations where they ended up forgotten or ignored.

Drawing back on his experience as a QA engineer, he found that delivering high-quality and constructive technical feedback were skills that he could focus on and enjoy. Understanding that fixing accessibility problems had a direct impact on our ability to interact with the world, he draws upon his own experience as an end-user to help shape the best practices for UX/UI and accessible design.

Programming descriptions are generated by participants and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SXSW.