Behind the scenes with Accessibility Group Product Manager Clint Covington

The world of STEM is forever grateful to you, Clint, for sharing your story and championing accessibility at Microsoft. Our work with you on #Microsoft365Math was born from a single LinkedIn post when I was low on spoons from my own disability and tired of so many of my dyslexic, neurodiverse, and disabled students being shoved out of STEM. I'm amazed and grateful that your journey and my wandering path through the desert with engineering, education, and a 28-year disability brought us together.

Clint and I met when he responded to one of my LinkedIn posts. Run down by my chronic illness and "1000 inaccessible equations", I tagged him on a post asking Microsoft to please fix PPT math accessibility at the source. Software developer Peter Wu responded 3 minutes later on a Sunday, and the rest of the story will forever change 'who gets to be in STEM'. 

After nearly 20 in engineering, I was pushed out after breast cancer and choose to switch to engineering education. My first teaching job was at a private school for students with dyslexia and ADHD, and I had so many middle school boys in my homeroom with Clint's story. Smart, creative problem solvers [and problem causers :)] that I still consider my kids today who kept me laughing and determined to change the system. 

I met Ailee Dixon in 9th grade when she was paralyzed and looked at me defiantly saying, "There's nothing wrong with my brain. It's my body that doesn't work." She was my first student as a Home Hospital Teacher, and I've shared her story and that of my second student - a dyslexic young man who failed nearly every math class in school but made the Dean's List as a first semester freshman in business school. Ailee was pushed out of both high school and nursing school without her degrees after losing her vision and being told classes were inaccessible. She now presents all over the world with Peter Wu and I to change that experience for others. These are the students we're not going to forget or give up on, and the work Clint is leading at Microsoft is truly making a difference in education and the STEM workplace. 

Follow Clint, Peter Wu, Ailee Dixon, and I on LinkedIn for ongoing updates on this important work. We're all passionate about accessibility because it impacts real lives - like ours. 💙