Design for the person, not the label.
Everything I build starts in a special education classroom. The question there was never “what's wrong with this student?” It was “what does this person need to do this on their own?” I still ask it about every tool, course, and app.
My passion is using technology and AI to help neurodivergent people live fully, on their own terms.
Where it comes from
Special education teacher
Six years teaching middle and high school students with mild to moderate disabilities, in California and Oregon. I wrote IEPs, built behavior supports, and designed lessons so every student had a way in.
It taught me the thing I still design around: when something works for the person most likely to be left out, it works better for everyone.
Teaching teachers to use accessibility tools
I coached more than 200 educators on instructional technology, with a focus on the accessibility tools built into the software they already had, and presented on Microsoft Learning Tools at CUE and SEIS.
That was my first taste of the work I do now: finding what's already in the stack and helping people actually use it.
Learning design and AI enablement
Adobe, Google, Apple, Pantheon, and now enterprise AI enablement, with graduate work in educational technology and instructional design along the way. Different audiences, same rule: design for the person who'll struggle first.
What person-first means in practice
Start with the person
Who they are and what they want to do comes before any diagnosis, role, or skill level.
Independence over assistance
The goal is someone doing it themselves, not someone being helped forever.
Dignity on every screen
Nothing that talks down, nothing that exposes, nothing that makes a person feel watched.
Less, but clearer
Fewer choices, plain words, and one obvious next step.
Choice and control
People decide what happens. Tools suggest, and people approve.
Design for the edge
Build for the hardest case first, and the common case gets easier too.
Legacy Honored
A voice-first AI companion I co-designed with my father. His screen shows three things: a greeting, his day, and a button to call someone. Everything clinical and administrative lives in a separate portal, so his side never feels like being managed.
Start with what the person wants to do on their own, then hide everything else.