As a Senior Accessibility UX Designer, Rachel Grossman-Kahn works to ensure everyone can enjoy Audible. This includes advising designers and engineers on how their work will behave with assistive technology, making sure our product empowers all users, and conceptualizing and creating new accessibility features. Rachel says, “I have friends who are blind, and audiobooks are an innately assistive technology that allow them to enjoy a wealth of literature.” Find out more about her important work below.  

What is life like at the hub you are aligned to? 

I’m based out of Seattle, where I work in the Amazon building. There’s a small group of us supporting Audible here, and we all sit together. It’s been a great way to meet people at on totally different teams. 

How does the work you do affect listeners or your colleagues worldwide? 

Our customers with disabilities are everywhere! One of the first accessibility consults I did when I joined Audible was with our team supporting our service for Japan. I taught them to use screen readers so they could assist our blind customers there. That was a humbling experience, as I learned that things like technology and disability etiquette are very different across the world, and therefore what customers want from Audible differs across countries.  

Can you share an example of a time when you received customer feedback that was meaningful to you?  

I have received so much feedback from people I’ve met in the blind community while out and about. I met a woman at a party who was losing her vision, and she told me, “Audible saved my life.” Every blind person I meet absolutely loves Audible — and some listen to audiobooks at double speed! When I visited our Audible Story House pop-up experience in New York City, I met a group of blind and disabled customers who said they came there every day for their group home outing because they loved the “movie theater” experience they got from the Dolby Atmos Lounge.   

Can you share about a time when you felt that someone at work practiced our “Activate Caring” principle towards you? 

I felt a huge amount of “Activate Caring” towards me when I went on a go-cart outing with colleagues. I had my service dog with me and he wasn’t able to ride in the cart. My colleagues took turns watching him while I go-carted. That really made me feel welcome at Audible. 

Other than the people, what do you love most about the culture here?  

I love that Audible has a culture of “yes, and.” I share new ideas with my colleagues all the time, and I am always encouraged to work on them. Plus, people at Audible are excellent collaborators. You can always find people who want to support you with your research, help you build a prototype, or go down the rabbit hole investigating a bug. I truly feel like I am part of a team.   

What are the benefits you find invaluable for your personal well-being, or that help make both your work life and personal life more fulfilling?  

We get a lunch stipend that encourages us take a break and walk to a nearby restaurant every day and try something new and delicious. To not have to think about packing a lunch saves so much time and effort.   

What’s one quality people interested in working in UX need to be successful here? 

You need to have both passion and grit. Passion will drive you intrinsically and make you overflow with creativity. Your passion is also the best way to recruit allies and collaborators when you have an idea. Grit will keep you approaching challenges from new angles, and give you a will to succeed that keeps you going.

Do you belong to any employee-led impact groups?  

I am a board member of audABLE. Through it, I’ve met other colleagues with disabilities and also learned who our biggest allies and supporters are.   

When I first joined audABLE, I had a conversation with leader Andy Marks about accessibility at Audible and he started including me in leadership meetings. I also co-founded a joint audABLE and A11y UX newsletter so we could connect the people making our products with people with disabilities using our products.   

Why do you think it’s important to have impact groups like audABLE?  

It’s important because of the friendships and working relationships you make. It gives you the opportunity to meet people on entirely different teams across the company that you wouldn’t meet otherwise. It also provides the opportunity to have fascinating conversations about what you have in common and feel passionately about! 

Can you describe a moment or experience within audABLE that made you feel particularly connected to your colleagues or the company culture? 

During my early days with Audible I was on a group outing and sitting alone in a row on the bus, as I didn’t know anyone. Suddenly I saw someone I vaguely knew from audABLE and invited him to sit next to me. We ended up chatting for the whole hour-long ride back, connecting over our interests in the disability space, and I made a true connection that continues to this day and has led to several collaborations.   

What kinds of professional development, mentoring or growth opportunities have you gained access to through audABLE? 

I’m very excited about speaking at audABLE’s Disability Pride event, alongside Audible’s Chief People Officer, Anne Erni, and audABLE’s leader, Andy Marks. I can’t wait to share what A11y UX has been up to and the difference we are making for our customers, as well as connecting with more than 200 Audible employees! 

What are you listening to right now? 

The My Weird School Specials. My seven-year-old and I snuggle and listen together every night!  They are totally silly and fun and bring me back to my elementary school days.

See open Product & Customer Experience roles at Audible