Accessibility Journey: From Casino Dealer to Code Champion

Julia Undeutsch's path to becoming an accessibility specialist defies conventional career trajectories. From studying musicology and Japanese while working as a poker dealer to becoming a passionate advocate for digital inclusion, her story reveals how diverse experiences shape innovative approaches to accessibility.

When Julia first encountered coding, she noticed something peculiar on Stack Overflow: developers often presented two solutions—a standard approach and an "accessible" alternative. Her immediate reaction speaks volumes: "Why would I choose one or the other? You always choose accessibility." This clarity of purpose has defined her work ever since, recognizing that accessible code inherently represents better quality and cleaner development practices.

Julia's linguistic background provides a fascinating foundation for her accessibility work. Having studied Japanese and Austrian Sign Language, she draws direct parallels between human languages and programming languages. Both require similar cognitive processes and serve as gateways to understanding different cultures and perspectives—skills that translate perfectly to creating inclusive digital experiences that work for diverse users.

Beyond her day job at Atos, Julia has become a community builder extraordinaire. Through the Google Developer Expert Program and Women Techmakers, she's created platforms to spread accessibility awareness globally. Her talks in Japan revealed a hunger for accessibility knowledge in places where it hadn't yet become mainstream. Alongside her "partner in crime" Laura, she's building Vienna's accessibility community by combining web development expertise with UX research.

What makes Julia's perspective particularly valuable are the real-world lessons from her poker dealer days—experiences that unknowingly introduced her to accessibility challenges. Whether accommodating a player with prosthetic arms who couldn't reach cards at a specially designed table or navigating rules about "English only" when a deaf player needed sign language, these moments forced her to consider fundamental questions about inclusion that continue to inform her work today.

Ready to learn from Julia's unique journey and gain fresh perspectives on accessibility? Tune in to hear how diverse backgrounds and passionate advocacy are reshaping digital inclusion for everyone.

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