Rick Blair
Senior Principal Digital Accessibility Program Manager, Schneider Electric
Rick holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and computer science and a master’s degree in electrical engineering with an emphasis on control theory. After graduation, he began his career in the field of industrial controls, designing computers to run machines and processes. In 1987, he joined Schneider Electric, where he is still employed.
Rick was born extremely nearsighted. In 1999, he began to lose his remaining eyesight and by 2012, he was a full-time screen reader user, starting with WindowEyes and migrating to NVDA. In 2010, he got his first Seeing Eye® dog. Despite losing his eyesight, he retained his employment with Schneider Electric with only slight adjustments in responsibilities, mainly due to inaccessible tools. In 2014, he planned to buy a product for his home, only to find out it was completely inaccessible, not only to him but also to people who were colorblind and people who used increased font sizes. Since then, Rick have been learning and evangelizing accessibility. In 2024, Rick was promoted to a newly created position in Schneider Electric as the Senior Principal Digital Accessibility Program Manager. This new role allows Rick to help Schneider Electric employees incorporate accessibility into their daily activities.
When not working, Rick enjoys baking, woodworking, and buying and drinking vintage wine.