In a world increasingly run by digital systems, access isn’t a bonus feature, it’s a basic need. From logging into an internal tool to ordering a laptop, small design decisions can either enable independence or quietly shut it down. For disabled users, the difference is often whether something works at all.
Despite decades of progress in assistive technology, digital accessibility still lags behind. Many platforms rely on visual cues without alternatives, or ignore standards meant to ensure usability for people with disabilities. Even large tech companies sometimes release products that create unnecessary barriers.
Alyssa Minwell knows how frustrating bad design can be, especially when it locks people out. As someone who is blind, she’s dealt with digital barriers all her life. Now, working as an education and testing specialist at Dell Technologies, she’s in a position to do something about it.
She didn’t start in accessibility. Her early career was in sales, where she ran into a problem that seemed small but pointed to a bigger issue. A delete button was represented by an image of an X, but it wasn’t coded as a button at all.
“I had the opportunity to work with the engineering team to show them the problem and to come up with a fix,”
That fix became the first step toward a dedicated accessibility effort at Dell. It was the beginning of what would become Dell’s Accessibility team.
Minwell is now part of a growing internal network aimed at embedding accessibility across the company. There’s a dedicated testing group. There are training efforts for teams across departments. “We have a team who works on education and puts together programs and courses,” she explains. The goal is simple but ambitious: make sure as many people as possible understand accessibility not just as a compliance checkbox, but as a design requirement.
The changes are making a difference. A few years ago, she tried to help her mom buy a Dell computer online. The website wasn’t accessible enough to use with a screen reader, so she gave up and bought through Best Buy instead. But recently, when her parents needed to upgrade, she tried again. This time, she was able to complete the purchase on the Dell site independently.
“I was rather easily able to place the order,”
It’s a small but powerful marker of progress: the kind that shows up in the everyday moments others take for granted.
Still, the hardest part of working in tech, she says, isn’t always the tech. It’s the assumptions people make. “A lot of people think there are a number of things I cannot do,” she says. These assumptions aren’t always spoken out loud. Sometimes they show up in tone, or the hesitation in someone’s voice, or a meeting that’s quietly held without her input.
“One of my biggest barriers is informing others of what I am able to do and what I still may not because of my lack of sight.”
That conversation — explaining, correcting, advocating — happens over and over again. But it’s also part of why she’s chosen to stay and keep pushing. “We need to inform others about what all people with disabilities are able to do,” she says. “And teach others about the assistive technology that is available.”
From screen readers to Braille displays to accessible document formats, the tools exist. What’s missing is awareness and the willingness to make space for disabled professionals without questioning their competence.
At Dell, there are signs of change. The autism hiring program is one example. But Alyssa believes there’s still untapped potential in recruiting across a broader range of disabilities. That includes making sure the hiring process itself is accessible: job portals, application forms, interview formats, onboarding materials.
It also means not treating accessibility as a side project.
“Companies need to make sure that their internal tools are accessible and usable for those with disabilities,”
Too often, organizations pour energy into public-facing products while their own employees are left navigating broken systems.
What’s striking about Alyssa’s approach is its clarity. She’s not asking for special treatment. She’s asking for systems to function: for employees with disabilities to be able to do their jobs without having to invent workarounds. She’s not alone in this, either. More Dell employees, she notes, are beginning to speak up for accessibility. The conversations are growing.
Alyssa believes education is the key to changing that mindset. Not just about disabilities themselves, but about the tools disabled people use to get their work done.
“We need to teach others about the assistive technology that is available,”
