Sameer Doshi was born with poor eyesight and went blind as an adult.
His blindness did not prevent him from having a great career in technology.
This is the story Doshi told Lauren Crosby Meddicott.
Something is being loaded.
I recall having quite thick spectacles to help me see as a child. My vision has always been impaired by high myopia, but it did not prevent me from having a happy childhood, being elected president of the student council in high school, attending college in Boston to major in biomedical engineering, or getting a job in New York as a technologist for a financial-services company. My poor eyesight has never slowed me down.
But at the age of 25, I had a retinal tear in my right eye. While doctors attempted to salvage my right eye through multiple procedures, it became unusable.
I am an optimistic individual who has opted to continue pushing forward. My wife and I relocated to Illinois, where we purchased a home and got a puppy. I was working as a vice president for Citi Group at the time.
My left eye developed a cataract during my wife’s pregnancy, and we intended to have surgery after the birth of our child. Although the operation to remove the cataract was successful, I had a negative reaction to the steroid treatment administered afterward, and thus lost all vision in my left eye.
When I contacted my company’s disability coordinator, I was provided sessions with a low-vision specialist who taught me how to navigate as a newly impaired person. This was an absolute lifesaver for me.
I interviewed for a technical position without disclosing my blindness.
A former coworker of mine who now works for Microsoft informed me of a digital transformation role at Microsoft that would be ideal for me. I decided to give it a chance and filled out the online application, which did not question about blindness specifically.
When my in-person interview date was confirmed, my self-doubt intensified. How would I work at one of the world’s largest software companies? And also, how would I work there as a blind person? They demanded the best personnel, and I was concerned about meeting their expectations.
Instead of being anxious, I decided to prepare for the interview. I spent one month creating a PowerPoint presentation and remembering the arrangement of every word and diagram on each slide. I requested permission from acquaintances, coworkers, and family members to practice the presentation on them. In the shower, I ran over each slide verbally.
On the morning of the interview, I arrived two hours early with my cane and requested the receptionist to direct me to the interview room. I spent the next two hours creating an environment in which I felt comfortable presenting. I rearranged the seats, practiced standing and walking to the screen for my presentation, connected my computer to ensure everything was functioning properly, and swept the floor to prevent tripping.
Although I had no intention of concealing my blindness, I was determined to make the interview about my skills, not my inability to see. My preparation paid off, as my interviews went without a hitch. There were three rounds of interviews, and after each one I felt confident. I never mentioned my blindness. I was never asked.
I have the job.
I was offered the position and informed that my start date would be October 2018. When I reported for employee orientation, I received a call from my boss, one of the individuals who had interviewed me, warning me to keep an eye out for another member of his team who would be training alongside me. He claimed to be six feet tall, with salt-and-pepper hair and a blue pickup. It was the first time I discovered my supervisor was unaware of my blindness. Despite not disclosing my blindness during the interview, I had assumed it was clear, but apparently not.
On the phone, I said honestly, “I’m blind.” I felt awful placing him in a position where he could feel bad, but I had to inform him. Wow, he exclaimed. “That’s OK. It is not a major issue. I’ll have the individual search for you instead.”
Since then, my supervisor has been nothing but supportive of my job, my development, and my education. When I started working, I found there were a large number of blind employees. Even though I had to fill out all the required papers to request special magnification software, I was never made to feel inferior. I could do the job well, and that is why I was hired.
My disability hasn’t impacted my career path. I am empirical proof that all that matters is that the task can be completed. Despite my blindness, the task has been completed. There have been obstacles along the way, but I’ve overcome them, and four years later I’m still working and advancing at Microsoft.