Mission Possible: How Visually Impaired Developers re-shape the deep tech world

When we think of software development, we often picture someone staring at lines of code. But what if you couldn’t see the screen at all?

Across the globe, visually impaired (VI) professionals are breaking barriers in technology — not just in accessibility testing, but in deep-tech areas like AI/ML and complex data engineering pipelines. Yet, their journeys remain unfamiliar to much of the developer community.

In this session, we’ll explore how VI developers use the open-source screen reader "NVDA" (NonVisual Desktop Access) to assess, build, debug, and deploy code. You’ll gain insights into the tools, challenges, and scope for open-source contributions.

To bring this experience to life, the session will feature a live demo with a VI programmer, demonstrating how the VI truly lead in deep tech domain when given the right tools and opportunities.

This isn’t just a tech talk — it’s a "mindset shift".

Embrace DEI not as a checkbox, but as a genuine practice in your teams, communities, and FOSS projects.

1. Recognize the capabilities of VI professionals and help spread awareness.

2. Contribute to open-source NVDA add-ons that solve real-world accessibility challenges.

3. Have the accessibility guidelines while building any software.