Building a More Inclusive Future at Pure Storage

At Pure Storage, we believe in the power of diversity—of thought, experience, and ability. Supporting each other is not just the right thing to do; it’s key to building a stronger, more innovative organization. This week, we mark the International Day of Persons with Disabilities as an important opportunity to reflect on how we can foster inclusion, eliminate stigma, and create an environment where everyone feels valued and empowered to contribute their best.

From accessible design to creating a culture at Pure Storage that embraces neurodivergence, every step we take reinforces our commitment to equity. This year, we’re launching two new partnerships aimed at advancing our inclusion efforts within the company:

• Auticon, a leader in neurodiversity in the workplace, will conduct a neuroinclusion assessment for Pure Storage, helping us identify opportunities to better support neurodivergent talent.
• Aubilities, a platform for supporting neurodivergent employees, will partner with our EMEA teams to drive awareness, build acceptance, and promote diversity. We’ll consider a global rollout in the future based on this pilot.

Our Able Employee Resource Group, a community for employees with disabilities, caregivers, and allies, was the driving force behind these new partnerships.

How Accessible Data Enables Better Digital Accessibility

At Pure Storage, we’re also aware of the broader possibilities for using data as an enabler of accessibility, especially digital accessibility: web-based content, services, and products that are accessible to those with disabilities, whether cognitive, visual, hearing, or motor. Emerging technologies like generative AI (GenAI) are making strides in digital accessibility possible.

Keep in mind that data accessibility is for many more people than those living with lifetime disabilities. At many points in our lives, often due to illness or medical procedures, we may face temporary or chronic disabilities that interfere with our ability to access data. At these times, accessibility tools are a godsend.

Data processing also lends a hand in creating accessible technology. With AI and natural language processing, we can build systems to convert text to speech and offer faster, more accurate closed captioning. Computer vision can improve how images are processed and described, creating more meaningful text descriptions for the visually impaired. Adaptive hardware will allow the motor impaired to use eye movements to navigate on their devices. And the list goes on.

“As the mother of two children born with disabilities affecting their speech and movement, I see so much promise around AI-powered accessibility technology to facilitate communication for them within both the digital and physical world- connecting with others, ideas, and even themselves. For example, someday with AI, these tools will be able to gather data multimodally to learn, adapt to, and interpret what my daughters are truly communicating, beyond what they are physically capable of saying. And then there’s potential for adaptive assistance with learning differences to guide learning interactions between students and teachers that is truly customized through digital adaptation for the needs of each individual learner. (And the list of other possibilities goes on!) By meeting disabled individuals where they are instead of expecting them to adapt, this technology will allow people like my daughters to more-fully experience and participate in the world.” – Andrea Acosta, Americas Alliance Director at Pure Storage

Let’s use this day as a reminder of the collective responsibility we share to create a world where everyone can thrive. We all can make a difference in the lives of persons with disabilities through empathy and action.

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