Nicole Bergstrom, Hilton, Senior Director of Digital Accessibility

Nicole Bergstrom talks about her first exposure to accessibility while working in the federal government. She describes her move to Hilton and how they are building accessibility into all the touchpoints of their customers for digital services. 

Mentioned in this episode:

Info about Accessibility at Blink

(rhythmic music)

- Hello, this is "Digital Accessibility,

the People Behind the Progress".

I'm Joe Welinske, the creator and host of this series.

And as an accessibility professional myself,

I find it very interesting as to how others

found their way into this profession.

So let's meet one of those people right now

and hear about their journey.

(rhythmic music concludes)

All right, well, we're back

with another episode looking at accessibility practitioners

and how they got to where they are today.

And so I'm very pleased to be speaking today

with Nicole Bergstrom.

Hello, Nicole, how are you today?

- Good, how are you?

- Everything's going well, I'm as mostly usual

at my home office on Vashon Island, near Seattle,

which is where Blink's headquarters office is.

Where are you talking to us from?

- So I am coming to you

from just a little south of Denver, Colorado.

And it is a bright, brilliant blue sky out, no snow

even though we're in November.

But I also am working out of my home office here.

- Well, that's one of the nice trade offs of Denver

is that even in the winter, when it gets cold,

you still have some sparkling sunny days

and that kind of makes everything still feel okay.

- Absolutely.

- Well, I think good place to start would be, you know,

talking about what you're currently doing for your work

and then we'll kind of move back in time after that.

- Yeah, absolutely.

So currently I am the senior director

of digital accessibility at Hilton Worldwide.

And what that really means is I have the honor

and privilege of overseeing

a fabulous team of accessibility SMEs.

And we have several areas of focus within Hilton.

So the overarching is really

from a programmatic perspective

to grow and mature Hilton's accessibility program

and overarching program.

What that distills down to and looks like

is really helping to inject accessibility

into all of our guest facing,

so our outwardly facing technology in the digital space.

That's our property websites,

our Hilton Honors mobile application.

You name it, if it's digital,

then we have some responsibility.

We also really take an approach at Hilton,

borrowing a term from others in the accessibility industry,

of shift left.

And in our model, the shift left

isn't just from a testing into development,

it's actually shifting accessibility way up

into the discovery and ideation phase.

And we find that when that happens,

then it sets this stage for accessibility,

just inherently being baked in

all the way down the workflow.

So that's kind of one area or one pillar.

But given the nature and the diversity

of the accessibility team and our expertise in technology,

in assistive technology, being users with lived experiences,

it also puts us in a very important position

within the organization to help elevate disability inclusion

and what that really looks like.

And so that is also another big area and role

that myself and my team play across the Hilton enterprise.

- Well, it sounds like quite a lot of responsibilities.

And I'm interested

in digging a little bit deeper into your current work.

But one of the things that I like to do

with this interview is find out people got

to where they are today because we come

from so many different ways into the accessibility practice.

So kinda where does it start from for you

when you first started thinking about it?

- So I really wish

that I had like maybe this most amazing story,

but the reality is that up until about a year ago

I did not live in the Denver area,

I lived in the Washington DC area

and had been there for, you know, 30 some years.

And folks who live in that DC area know

that the federal government is a huge employer,

be it actually federal employees or contractors.

I was a federal contractor.

And more specifically I was working

on a contract under the National Institutes of Health.

And when you're in the federal government

then the accessibility focus

is the Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.

And because of the nature of work that I was doing,

I was managing all of the NIH Clinical Center's

online communications, both internal and external.

It also meant that the Section 508 compliance obligation

was part of my responsibility.

So I go to an Access Board meeting,

and the Access Board being the body

that came up with the Section 508 standards.

And at this meeting was the first time

that I had ever encountered a person using a screen reader

giving a presentation.

And it was amazing, exhilarating, new,

and it just somehow resonated with me.

There was the learning from that and that experience

was so powerful that it really motivated me to learn more

and bring that back

into the work that I was doing to an even greater level.

And so before the, you know, the talk about shift left

that I've mentioned, again,

part of the work that I was doing,

I actually injected a Section 508 check

as part of our content workflow.

And as I moved out of the federal government,

it then moved over

into web content accessibility guidelines.

And I saw that there really is a gap and a need

for education, awareness, training,

and helping organizations really get

what it means to be accessible.

So I made a career decision and I said,

this feels right to me.

I think that this is where I wanna go

and this is where I wanna take my career.

And that's what I executed upon.

- Well, yeah, everybody has their own starting point

of where they come into accessibility, obviously.

And you're talking about, you know

in the federal government.

But you know, when we come into this area,

a lot of it can seem like there's an overwhelming amount

that you have to learn,

you know, where do we find resources?

What's the next step when you first started

to really get involved with it?

What was your experience there?

Was working in the federal government providing

some benefits or disadvantages in that?

Or kinda where did you go to, to start moving forward?

- You know, that's interesting, a great question.

So I had a technical background

and I knew how to code web pages.

So as I read the standards, they actually had meaning to me.

And then again, there were two specific places,

the section508.gov website.

It was not as robust as it is right now.

And then the Health and Human Services,

so the overarching department above NIH

had a lot of resources

and had packaged them in a way that was really consumable.

Whoever is listening and has been in the industry

as long as I have also remember a tool called Bobby.

So Bobby was an automated tool

that you could scan your website

and then if you were Bobby approved

then it was an indication

that you were, at that time, accessible.

So a lot of it was hands on learning.

I mean, the amount of training that is out there now,

it is enormous, and it just wasn't there.

So some of it was also interpreting the standards

and then turning around and writing policy

for how the NIH Clinical Center was going to interpret

and apply Section 508 standards.

- Well, so then you moved out of the federal government.

What was the kinda next phase of accessibility like for you?

- Yeah, so out of federal government, I then moved over,

it was nonprofit but higher ed.

And so that's where it was really,

because it was higher ed

working with higher education institutions who get funding

from the Department of Education,

it was still Section 508, but then the injection

of the web content accessibility guidelines.

And that was really looking at working with

this organization to do full on audits and remediation

of very specific applications.

- And so I imagine that that was, you know,

quite a bit of a different work environment

from the federal government.

Maybe there are some things carried over.

What were some

of the similarities and things that were different?

- You know, the similarities,

and I think that the similarities that we've,

throughout all of the different industries

with whom I've worked, is the A,

I don't know what I don't know.

B, accessibility is hard.

And C, well, is this good enough?

And accessibility is usually on the chopping block when,

you know, the timelines get tight,

scope has to be tightened up.

So I would say the, you know

that's a little bit different in the federal government

but much more prevalent when you're

in sort of private industry when you're looking

at speed to market and things like that.

But again, it was really a thought, right?

If you myth bust that accessibility is hard,

it leads to ugly designs, dumbed down user experiences.

And just a yes, I'm committed to accessibility,

but in application the behaviors don't demonstrate

what the mouths might be saying about their commitment

to accessibility.

So, you know, that is an overarching theme.

What do you do with that?

A lot of advocacy, a lot of awareness building,

a lot of training.

And at Hilton, my commitment was walking the talk.

So that meant bringing in people who have a disability,

both outwardly visible and invisible,

and putting them on teams, with our delivery teams

so that they now could say, I know someone, right?

It brought it home and it stopped the discussion

of why do we have to do this, right?

Because they would look

at their coworker and they would say, well of course

my coworker should have equal access

to everything that we're doing.

And so that was something.

And at the same time, it was a way

for me to also demonstrate to the enterprise

the value that a person

with a disability brings to the workforce.

- And, you know, that's certainly,

one of the best ways to be able to

build up your accessibility organization.

I think one of the unfortunate barriers is

that when we bring people with physical challenges

into the workplace, suddenly we're also recognizing

that our internal tools that we work with aren't accessible,

that, you know, the way that we carry on business

hasn't been set up for that,

which is a whole different thing

from what we're providing externally.

But you know, I see it as a really significant problem

as we bring more people into help us in accessibility.

- Absolutely, I mean, as we diversify our workforce,

even with COVID and people working from home

relying on technology more and more

on a day to day basis to interact with coworkers and things,

what's interesting is that climate,

the situation has actually, at least in, you know,

in our situation really allowed us to, again,

elevate the discussion.

And that discussions around mental health,

bring your whole self to work, they're door openers

where we can also then help people understand, you know,

a diverse workforce.

It includes accessible internal communication.

It includes accessible required training.

It includes hosting accessible meetings.

And so my team has just been phenomenal

in really seeing the opportunities

and quickly spinning up training so that we, you know,

the appetite's there.

And so we wanna feed that appetite and say, okay,

here's an accessible meeting.

And then we model it.

You know, here's what creating an accessible email

looks like.

And we do it in a way that is very supportive.

And then what we've been doing is building champions.

And so the champions are able to take back their learnings

and share that with other people in the organization.

And that's really, you know,

that is the way to really scale that.

- Yeah, and you know, reflecting on where we've gotten to

with your career so far with the federal government

and then with the nonprofit situation,

in both of those, we'll have compliance.

We'll also have a mission to be able to support those

with physical challenges.

But when we get to the corporate area,

suddenly return on investment becomes a part of that

which maybe don't apply as much in those other areas.

And I would imagine that, you know, that's an important part

of what your organization thinks about

in terms of making your, you know,

using your properties' favorable to people

that are looking at other options.

- When you take the number

one billion people in this world with a disability,

and that's a number that you don't ignore.

It is a, I believe, it's a segment,

it's a segment that is eager to return to travel.

I believe that looking at end to end accessible travel

that includes from the time that someone starts to dream

about where do I wanna go?

You know, looking up, researching hotels or locations

all the way through, you know,

whatever they need to get to an airport, you know,

on the plane and then arriving at our property

and having an on property accessible experience.

You know, that is something where

we are really taking a a good, hard look.

And there are things that Hilton has in play already

that really helps facilitate.

So my team being plugged in

especially in the digital space, you know,

to make sure that people can book those rooms that they need

at the hotels where they want to travel.

But then you get to the hotel

and we have tools like digital key

where you can bypass the front desk.

You can go right to your room

and you can use your own device set up

in whatever way you need it to be set up.

You can have voiceover running,

you can have your large text,

and you can then activate the unlocking of your room.

You no longer have to figure out, you know,

which way does the key card go or try to, you know,

have fine motor skill in order to plug it in to the door.

And so that is really freeing

in support of independent travel.

You know, some of the other things that we are also

looking at and refining would be the smart room

and having smart room technology.

I tell the story, one of my team members

you know, before COVID, he traveled extensively.

He's blind, he has a guide dog.

And so he would travel to our various offices and stay

at usually the same hotels in the different offices.

And they yet, when we would go to the hotel, you know,

it was always a different room.

And he would have to feel along the walls

in order to locate the thermostat

because it was not in the same place in every room.

And then he would have to figure out, is the heat on?

Is the AC on?

Turning it up, turning it down.

Well, this smart room technology, again,

puts control of a thermostat in a person's hand

through our mobile app.

And they can use whatever assistive technology

or adaptive techniques, and then control that, right?

Again, that is pretty freeing.

And quite frankly, I think it benefits everybody.

I've had a long day, I've finally made it to my hotel,

I'm tired, I've put my feet up, and now I'm cold.

I don't wanna get outta bed.

Guess what?

Boop boop boop boop,

I can control my thermostat through my phone.

So just a couple examples.

And some of how we're thinking, right,

is that it really is something that it benefits everyone.

And it also supports this travel mindset.

- Well, those are some exciting things to hear about

going on at your organization.

Of course, inclusive design

where we're supporting the whole spectrum

with our solutions

I think is kinda where we all wanna be with everything.

So we've kind of come full circle

back to where you're at today.

Do you have any thoughts about, or, you know,

things that your organization

is looking forward to farther into the future

or maybe some other things that you're passionate about

that are going on right now?

- So some of the things I would say,

I'll keep it closer to home that I'm passionate about,

is really helping the enterprise understand,

you know, what is being successful

in hiring more people with disabilities?

And the kinds of support mechanisms to have in place

so that we set folks up for success.

And, you know, again,

that includes a lot to do with technology.

Obviously, technology is one of my areas of expertise

so I'm particularly sensitive to that.

So I see that as very exciting to be able to do that, right,

to be able to then have Hilton looked at as,

hey, this is a great place for everyone to work.

And it does doesn't matter, you know, your ability, right?

You're race, it doesn't matter where you live,

if you will, Hilton's a great place to work

and we will support you in your career success.

The other thing that, you know,

I always keep an eye on is directionally

where are we going with accessibility guidelines?

And so thinking about

what is the 3.0 of WCAG going to look like?

Thinking about, you know,

setting again the scaffolding, if you will,

so that Hilton can quickly pivot

and really understand how much do we really need to do

to pivot.

So those are some of the things.

And then looking for opportunities to partner

with disability advocacy groups, and also looking

for opportunity to build features, functions

in our Hilton ecosystem that are very specific

to addressing needs of certain disability populations.

And I think that that would be just fantastic.

And again, I maintain that it'll benefit everyone.

- Well, Nicole, it sounds like you're definitely

have more than enough on your plate

in terms of current activities

and things that you're thinking about.

And I want to thank you

for taking the time to share those experiences with me,

talk about your journey.

And, you know, maybe we'll meet up in the real world

at some point.

- Well, Joe, I appreciate the opportunity to share my story.

Hopefully it will inspire others to follow along

and do some great work as well.

- Yeah, I'm sure it will.

Thank you very much.