FTTLG: Azra Tayebi shines a light on living with blindness in Finland

Azra Tayebi lost her sight as a young girl in Iran, went on to complete a software engineering degree there and moved to Finland pursue a master’s degree. However her dream to become a developer eluded her.

“There were several times where I got past the first step because of my CV and then as soon as they realized that I'm blind, they're like, oh no, this is not going to work. Sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly and just quietly they just left me out. And that was a very hard experience for me.”

Tayebi didn’t give up on her job search and now works as a web accessibility consultant, where she helps developers and others consider the needs of different technology users.

“Because repairing something that's not accessible, it's much more time consuming, much more costly… It’s not equal if you just make this and say like, oh, we are going to make it accessible later. That's not equality. You know, if certain groups of people come later, that's not equality.”

Poor representation in media

According to the accessibility specialist, shortcomings in design can really be traced back to a lack of knowledge or interaction with diverse groups of people. She also linked this blind spot to a lack of representation in popular media.

”You know, when I think about disability and inclusion for people with disability, a lot of difficulties come because people just don't know a person with disability… How many movies or television programs [do] we make of a person with disability living just their life? Or a television program that's not about disability, but it's a person who is on a wheelchair and is a mother, a person who is blind and … working in a company, you know, just like that.How many games [do] we have with having persons with disability as their character that you can choose?”

Tayebi said she is happy to discuss her blindness and her capabilities and limitations with others to help them better understand her. But she said it shouldn’t be left entirely to employees to educate others in the workplace about their disabilities. There’s a role for employers there too.

Listen to the full episode and follow and subscribe to Finland: Through the looking glass on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify for Podcasters (formerly Anchor.fm). Remember to like, share and rate the show and follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

Audio production was provided by Travis Glossop and the podcast was recorded at Enchanté Café in Helsinki.