Join this diverse panel of people from across the tech ecosystem for a deep and animated discussion about deaf culture, the deaf community and how we can better include people with hearing impairments into our work cultures. Panel developed by William Albright.

Oludare West Oyedele, Software Engineer, Hewlett-Packard

Oludare West Oyedele has worked with Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) for 10 years as a Software/Firmware Engineer. Throughout his career at HP, he has primarily specialized in user access security on HP’s enterprise class printers supporting Smartcards, directory services, and certificate management. Following the company split, he has been at Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) in a new role focused on test automation for campus edge network switches.

Oludare graduated from Northeastern University with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. He completed graduate level course work in the Computer Science program at Rochester Institute of Technology, before transferring to and graduating with a Master of Sciences in Computer Science from California State University, Chico.

During his free time he enjoys hiking with his wife and dog, playing basketball, and volunteering in the Deaf and American Sign Language (ASL) community.

Joe Vasquez, Manager, Runway Incubator & Co-Founder, Michelson Runway EdTech Accelerator

Joe Vasquez has severe-to-profound bilateral hearing loss but hasn’t let that define who he is. He is currently the Director of the Michelson Runway edtech accelerator and Manager of Partnerships & Strategy at Runway Incubator. Joe is also an iOS developer and co-founder of StartX, an accelerator for Stanford entrepreneurs. Prior to joining Runway, he taught at the Kauffman Fellows Academy, was a Data Analyst Fellow at LocoMotive Labs, worked in investment banking for Goldman Sachs, and spent two years teaching bilingual math with Teach For America. Joe holds a BS in Atmosphere & Energy Engineering from Stanford University.

Photo by Will Johansson.

Ian Smith, Senior Software Engineer, Lookout

Ian studied CS at MIT and Linguistics at Gallaudet, and is now a software engineer in San Francisco He’s interested in how public narratives around disability and #a11y shift over time, and the possibilities of tech and open data to increase civic engagement.  He also runs elevatoralerts.com.

Bobby Cox, Developer, University of California Berkeley (Moderator)

Bobby studied Communication at RIT and is now a developer at University of California Berkeley. He has tried many things in his life, including starting companies and kombucha. After work he likes to hack on LED sculptures driven with microcontrollers, dance the night away with music, and spend time with his partner, Joy. Bobby’s current interest is in increasing ASL arts and sound appreciation among the Deaf/DeafBlind/Late Deafened/Hard of Hearing communities.