Kenny Singh

0:01

(GENTLE MUSIC)

0:06

KENNY: Disability in North India

0:08

was not a perspective

0:10

of empowerment.

0:11

That may have contributed to me

0:13

wanting to mask the fact that

0:15

I actually had an eye condition

0:17

because it made me feel

0:18

lesser of a person.

0:22

It's pity versus compassion,

0:23

both two very different things.

0:25

Telling people that I needed

0:26

some extra support

0:28

in producing my best-quality work.

0:31

Because I walked into

0:32

such a high-performance environment,

0:34

I did not want people to feel

0:36

that I could not operate at

0:38

the same level that was expected

0:40

in that environment.

0:43

There was no precedent for someone being really successful

0:46

with a vision impairment

0:47

in computer science.

0:49

I just had to take a chance.

1:04

Role models and precedents of someone being successful

1:09

in a certain craft or trade

1:12

is essential to someone gaining the confidence

1:15

to better their career on a specific direction.

1:18

STEVEN: I think it's that combination

1:20

of humility, growth mindset

1:22

and this insatiable appetite to stay current

1:25

and to be the very best that he can be.

1:27

And in that context, he's been a role model for many of us for many years.

1:31

I can channel my passion and my innovation and my experiences

1:36

in overcoming obstacles and adversities

1:39

in a way that now I just would not give up.

1:44

Spontaneously, my mind is programmed

1:46

to look at every specific challenge as a problem that needs to be solved.

1:50

Kenny has definitely worked very hard

1:53

and there's nothing that he feels cannot be done.

1:56

HARJI: Yeah, he's the soul of the family.

1:58

You know, he's very helpful

1:59

to everyone.

2:00

(LAUGHTER)

2:01

The work that he leads contributes very directly

2:04

to the business outcomes.

2:06

Not just projects but the outcomes for large partners.

2:09

And so this is an important area of our business

2:12

and Kenny is a very senior leader inside that part of the business.

2:19

KENNY: I was born in India in 1979.

2:21

In North India, in fact.

2:23

I had the absolute pleasure to live in a region

2:28

which was in the countryside of North India

2:30

and, especially around the April time frame,

2:33

that very strong green fragrance of crops being harvested.

2:37

So that's a very distinct memory.

2:39

I'd actually say it was a very normal but privileged life in India.

2:44

(RHYTHMIC INDIAN MUSIC)

2:46

We actually did have a lot of support

2:48

and we had house help basically 24 hours a day.

2:51

That person helped in cooking, that person helped in cleaning

2:54

and we did have a driver for a car as well, yes.

2:57

HARJI: We were a happy family.

2:59

We...we're a family of doctors

3:01

and, yes, so quite well-off.

3:06

KENNY: India's a very, very communal society.

3:09

We basically knew most of the neighbours in our street

3:13

and we could essentially walk into any neighbour's house

3:15

and have a meal, as kids.

3:17

That was the whole thing about

3:18

it being a very small, close-knit community.

3:20

So there was a very strong communal element there.

3:22

GUGU: This is Kenny four-year-old,

3:24

with our friends.

3:25

This is Kenny.

3:28

Kenny was actually a very good child.

3:31

Yeah, right from the beginning.

3:32

He's a big problem-solver.

3:35

He tries to solve everyone's problem.

3:37

-Even if it's beyond his reach. -(BOTH LAUGH)

3:42

KENNY: So, I just saw the impact

3:44

that doctors could potentially have on the world around them

3:47

and I was absolutely fascinated by it.

3:49

And that's exactly why I wanted to be a doctor.

3:52

(CHILDREN CHATTER AND LAUGH)

3:54

KENNY: Going to school

3:56

was something I really, really used to look forward to.

3:58

I was quite academically inclined from a very early age.

4:02

I think that was also because

4:03

there was a lot of focus on education and academia

4:07

in my family circle.

4:10

If you look at STEM -

4:11

so science, technology, engineering, mathematics -

4:14

that was my sweet spot,

4:16

so I would actually say that the STEM subjects really motivated me as well.

4:21

Kenny was in one of the best schools

4:24

and he did very well,

4:26

so he always stood first in the class.

4:28

That was actually a tradition in my family,

4:30

everyone stood first in the class.

4:36

So, Dad was actively looking for a couple of years

4:39

for a place overseas to migrate to,

4:42

they'd be moving to a country

4:43

where it would probably be a lot better for the children.

4:48

We were confident that if we go abroad,

4:51

then, yeah, they can achieve their potential.

4:53

That was the main aim, yeah.

4:54

And after doing all the research

4:56

and having lots of conversations with people,

4:58

friends and family who'd settled overseas

5:00

in Canada and Australia and New Zealand,

5:03

they zoomed in on New Zealand specifically.

5:08

My initial impressions of New Zealand was that it was probably

5:11

one of the most beautiful places I've seen in my life.

5:13

I had never seen a beach before moving to New Zealand.

5:15

(LAUGHS) Because North India is a landlocked state.

5:18

The people in New Zealand, they're extremely friendly,

5:21

extremely forthcoming, extremely welcoming.

5:23

Nevertheless, because of the entire lives

5:25

that my family had spent in India,

5:27

it was really, really difficult for them to get adjusted.

5:31

I think the whole family felt quite isolated,

5:34

quite uprooted and careers disrupted,

5:38

so there was a very strong sense of being out of place in New Zealand.

5:43

(CALMING MUSIC)

5:46

New Zealand was really hard for me.

5:48

There was no social gathering, no friends.

5:51

There was no home help.

5:53

-But the main problem was jobs. -Jobs.

5:55

There was no jobs.

5:56

It was challenging. Very challenging, yeah.

6:02

It was in the latter parts of school in New Zealand

6:04

that my eye condition got diagnosed.

6:07

The symptoms were quite obvious,

6:09

I began to bump into things and so on and so forth,

6:12

so we went and saw an eye specialist.

6:16

I got diagnosed with an eye condition called retinitis pigmentosa.

6:23

I always saw myself as someone who wanted to be

6:25

or who was going to be a doctor in life

6:27

and that's how I sort of defined myself,

6:30

so I had to completely recalibrate

6:32

and re-create who I really was in my own head.

6:35

I was really struggling mentally

6:37

because there was just a very significant alteration

6:40

of the course of my life.

6:43

So it was a very difficult time

6:44

because there were financial constraints,

6:46

there were, you know, mental health issues in my own head

6:50

about not being comfortable with my new reality

6:54

and denying the new reality,

6:56

so there was a complete compounding of a lot of things.

7:00

There was times where I actually felt,

7:03

"Right, I just need to end this pain."

7:05

You know, I actually had to go see a counsellor regularly

7:08

because I just wasn't doing very well.

7:10

You know, the friends and family circle was very supportive,

7:12

so I think that actually sort of helped me push on

7:17

and recalibrate things.

7:20

GUGU: I used to read for him.

7:22

For us, together, especially when there was exams.

7:27

So, up to 2 o'clock at night I would read for him

7:32

because he wanted to learn thoroughly everything.

7:36

I've always been a very curious soul right from childhood.

7:40

And when I got diagnosed with this eye condition,

7:42

I had a little door shut

7:44

because my access to information significantly reduced.

7:49

I got a laptop from the New Zealand education system.

7:52

I got taught how to use screen readers and magnifiers.

7:56

So instead of your eyes reading what's on your computer screen,

7:59

this very sophisticated program reads everything out to you.

8:03

I can even script my screen reader

8:05

to do some very, very unique and powerful things

8:09

and present information to me in the way that I can consume it the best.

8:12

I could read faster than what I was actually able to do

8:15

when I was fully sighted.

8:18

GUGU: It really changed his life.

8:20

And then he started doing his work independently.

8:23

He could read, listen and type also his assignments.

8:29

Then there was no problem for him.

8:31

KENNY: It really opened up a world of social connection,

8:34

of new information, learning and the internet World Wide Web itself.

8:38

It actually gave me the information that I needed

8:41

to recalibrate the identity in my head.

8:50

I was told that there was precedents

8:52

of people with some kind of an eye condition

8:54

pursuing a degree in law, right, and commerce.

8:58

So I thought, right, that's, you know, from a career perspective,

9:01

commerce and law together

9:02

might actually be a strong value proposition in the corporate sector.

9:05

I mean, I actually had no intention of pursuing these specific careers,

9:09

but, yeah, I got into discussing these possibilities

9:14

because medicine was not going to be a possibility any longer.

9:18

Somebody's got to serve otherwise no-one is going to eat, right?

9:21

-It'll still keep sitting there. -It's a very important task.

9:23

GUGU: When it is done, he'll talk to you.

9:25

I do the same thing as well - once she's cleaned up the whole kitchen,

9:28

I'm like, "Do you need some help?"

9:29

-(LAUGHTER) -Dad's a bit like Indian police.

9:31

(ALL LAUGH)

9:32

-Right at the end. -HARJI: "Do you need any help?"

9:34

(ALL LAUGH)

9:37

So, Tina's family had a very similar story to ours.

9:40

Her family migrated to New Zealand as well.

9:43

I met her in a social setting, I think, in sort of 1998, 1999.

9:47

I met him a couple of days after I reached New Zealand.

9:50

I was really disorientated from just such a big move

9:54

and change in life.

9:55

And I found a friend in Kenny over that time

9:59

whom I could really talk to

10:01

and who would understand what I was going through.

10:04

We came from a similar part of the world,

10:06

so there were a lot of common things behind the scenes as well.

10:09

And I guess all of that together

10:12

helped us, you know, help each other

10:13

and create a very strong bond together.

10:16

TINA: We're actually exact opposites of each other.

10:18

Kenny, super chatty, loves having friends around

10:22

and just, you know, he's kind of the life of the party.

10:26

And I'm actually the exact opposite.

10:27

I'm super introverted.

10:30

So we were really chalk and cheese as people and as personalities.

10:34

-Yes. -(BOTH SPEAK INDISTINCTLY)

10:37

KENNY: I actually asked her over a phone call,

10:39

"Do we see ourselves more than friends?"

10:41

I was like, "Yeah, let's... You know, let's do this. It's pretty cool."

10:45

So we started dating in 1999,

10:46

so we've been together for 21 years now.

10:52

At uni, Kenny was surrounded by lots of mates.

10:58

It was very good seeing him with his friends,

11:01

but it...sometimes it felt like

11:04

he was trying to be someone maybe he was not.

11:08

Almost as if he was trying to make up for something.

11:14

KENNY: That was the time when I was in denial.

11:17

And at any cost, I wanted people to feel

11:20

that I did not have an eye condition at all.

11:22

And that, in itself, became quite a limiting factor.

11:26

From the part of the world where I came from, where I was born,

11:29

if you had a disability,

11:32

you were considered lesser of a person,

11:34

someone that needed to be looked after

11:36

rather than someone who was an equal contributor

11:41

to the world around them.

11:42

In a certain way, that may have contributed

11:46

to me wanting to mask the fact that I actually had an eye condition

11:50

because it made me feel lesser of a person.

11:53

I was masking my eye condition so I could fit in,

11:57

so I could feel that I belonged to my university crowd

12:01

and that I wasn't an outcast.

12:06

In the first six months of my commerce degree,

12:08

I realised that it's not something I wanted to do.

12:11

I did not enjoy it one bit. (LAUGHS)

12:14

With law, it took me a little longer to figure out

12:16

that law was not something that I wanted to pursue

12:18

as a career in my life.

12:19

My calling really lied with computer science

12:22

and that's what I ended up pursuing throughout the course of my career.

12:27

So, there was a very strong sense of empowerment that I felt

12:30

when I embarked on the computer science degree.

12:32

I felt that if I really could make computers work for myself,

12:36

then I could be a lot more productive and a lot more effective in life.

12:41

I used to write little code segments,

12:45

in a language called Java at the time,

12:48

for family friends and their kids

12:50

for programs that would randomly throw

12:53

mathematical questions at young kids

12:55

and get them to respond to it and then reward them for it.

12:58

I actually found very strong passion in computer science.

13:02

I just felt that the more I learnt computers,

13:05

the more I actually had a safe space

13:07

where I could express my creativity and do things

13:12

and do things without constraints.

13:14

So it was very empowering.

13:17

So, I was at that time in my life where I really wanted to get a job

13:23

because I really wanted to get together with Tina

13:26

and get married to her.

13:27

We had been going out for a good four or five years.

13:31

At that point, your parents do say, "Oh, you know, what are your plans?"

13:36

KENNY: We came from two immigrant Indian families.

13:40

Living together without getting married was not an option.

13:43

One year before I was meant to graduate, I moved to Australia

13:47

and I made the decision to pursue a career

13:50

rather than invest another year's study.

13:52

There were just so many more career opportunities

13:56

and resources available in Australia for me to be successful at.

14:00

And that's how I moved to Australia first in about 2004.

14:04

And we did the long-distance thing for almost two years,

14:08

me being in New Zealand and Kenny being here.

14:11

We used to talk to each other for at least an hour every night.

14:14

The novelty wears off after a couple of months

14:16

and then you're just like, you know, "Can we just...can we just stop this

14:20

"and just get on with a normal relationship?" really.

14:24

KENNY: When I moved to Australia,

14:26

I applied for a lot of software development jobs

14:29

because I actually felt that I had strong skills in that vocation.

14:33

And Vision Australia was newly founded at the time.

14:37

They were in the process of creating

14:39

their first unified Vision Australia branded website

14:43

and they were looking for a web developer.

14:46

I understood web development really well

14:50

from the perspective of making that web development

14:52

as inclusive as possible.

14:54

So when I got a call from the hiring manager at the time

14:59

informing me that I had been chosen for the role,

15:02

that was the permanent role we were waiting for,

15:04

so I immediately called Tina, and Tina was delighted.

15:08

We fixed the date for the wedding.

15:09

TINA: We got married in 2006.

15:12

(UPLIFTING INDIAN MUSIC)

15:14

It was a relatively small-scale wedding

15:16

by Indian standards, I might say.

15:18

That's how we wanted it.

15:20

We just wanted intimate friends and family with us.

15:23

(UPLIFTING INDIAN MUSIC CONTINUES)

15:32

And when Kenny and I moved to Melbourne,

15:34

we absolutely loved it.

15:36

And that's where we've made our lives.

15:38

KENNY: Let's play.

15:43

Good boy! (CLAPS AND LAUGHS)

15:46

So, Vision Australia had a very inclusive culture.

15:48

All the equipment being labelled with tags

15:51

that were accessible to people with different cognitive needs.

15:54

Assistive technology, for example, screen readers and magnifiers,

15:58

making everyone feel that they could do their best work

16:02

with the support systems that they actually needed.

16:05

There wasn't any hiding of my eye condition at Vision Australia.

16:08

I actually felt quite empowered.

16:10

I was given a lot of opportunities to learn and grow.

16:13

After becoming a web developer, I became a team lead

16:15

and then an architecture and development manager after that.

16:18

We had a Microsoft partner consultant come in one day

16:22

to implement business intelligence for us.

16:26

He and I got talking and he saw the way I operated Microsoft tech.

16:32

I got a reach-out from one of the engineering leads

16:36

in the SQL Server team

16:38

and they basically said to me that would I be open to the idea

16:41

of coming and spending four weeks with the team

16:44

and giving them a whole raft of feedback

16:46

on how the software could be designed more inclusively?

16:52

Essentially, how do you write code

16:55

in a way that makes your software more inclusive?

16:58

The first time I went to the Microsoft Redmond campus in Seattle,

17:02

it was just absolutely incredible

17:04

and I just saw the work that people did there

17:06

and the impact that they were having in the world.

17:09

(LAUGHS)

17:10

And I think the mind was made up then

17:12

that I really, really, really wanted to work for the organisation.

17:17

There was a job advertised of a SharePoint consultant

17:21

in Microsoft Consulting Services.

17:23

There were a lot of interviews involved in that process.

17:26

We're a very thoughtful employer

17:29

in terms of the talent that we bring into the company,

17:31

largely so that we can serve our customers and partners

17:33

in the most effective way

17:35

and we want to make sure, as a result,

17:37

we have the very best talent that we can find.

17:39

We want the process to be two ways

17:40

so that each person who interviews with us

17:43

gets to know us along the way,

17:45

and so that they can make the assessment

17:46

that they want to choose to join us as much as we might choose them.

17:50

There was a lot of trepidation and a lot of unsurety

17:53

of whether I had what it took to work for an organisation like Microsoft.

17:57

I went for the job, I went through the entire interview process

18:00

and I was not successful.

18:02

So I was very deeply disappointed

18:04

that I did not get a role at Microsoft.

18:06

But I was very determined and I hadn't given up.

18:14

Another role for a Microsoft SharePoint consultant

18:17

came up in Melbourne

18:19

and I applied for that role and after around seven interviews,

18:23

I was successful for that role

18:25

and I was just completely over the moon with that.

18:27

I mean, that was my absolute dream come true.

18:30

We had a big celebration when he got into Microsoft.

18:33

It was, you know, many parties and we had a good time.

18:37

(ALL LAUGH AND CHATTER INDISTINCTLY)

18:40

In Microsoft Consulting Services,

18:42

my role was very, very focused on helping Microsoft customers,

18:48

for example, the big banks, the largest telecommunications providers,

18:53

mining companies

18:54

on deploying Microsoft Cloud products and services.

18:58

I came from an environment which was very highly adapted

19:03

from an inclusion perspective,

19:04

into an environment which just did not have a lot of precedents

19:08

of someone with different cognitive needs working in it.

19:12

I just did not feel very comfortable

19:15

telling people that I needed some extra support

19:19

in producing my best-quality work.

19:25

And I ended up spending a lot of time myself magnifying the documents

19:31

to pick out visual inconsistencies in the document.

19:34

And where it was appropriate to get Tina's eyes on a specific document,

19:39

I got her to look at it and provide me feedback.

19:42

When Kenny started at Microsoft, he asked me to help him out.

19:47

Little things that we never thought about earlier,

19:49

things like using PowerPoint, for example,

19:53

it wasn't accessible.

19:55

Things like filling out his timesheets at work,

19:57

that platform again was not accessible at the time.

20:02

She actually has a very busy job and a very busy schedule as well.

20:05

Look, I just felt... I just felt very stressed

20:07

and that led to me...

20:11

..falling to food for soothing.

20:13

I did not have any motivation for exercising.

20:16

That actually led me to gaining a lot of weight

20:19

and my vital statistics not doing very well at all.

20:23

HARJI: We've got family history of diabetes from both sides.

20:26

Overweight and central obesity and blood pressure and...

20:30

So that puts him under risk of diabetes.

20:32

KENNY: It took a lot of emotional support from friends and family

20:36

for me to get through that period.

20:39

By that time, I had spent about seven years at Microsoft Australia.

20:44

I had a reputation of high performance

20:46

and a reputation of very high standards in the organisation.

20:50

One of our largest events,

20:52

customer and partner events, in Microsoft Australia

20:55

is called Microsoft Summit.

20:56

Steve and his team reached out to me

20:59

and they gave me the opportunity to tell my story

21:04

and to demonstrate the Seeing AI app at the Microsoft Summit in 2018.

21:09

So, I was one of the early users of the Seeing AI app

21:12

and I gave the team a lot of feedback

21:14

on how the app could transform my experience.

21:18

So, here we have the Seeing AI app on my phone

21:21

and I have a letter in my hands

21:24

and I'm just going to point the Seeing AI app to the letter

21:27

and let's see what it says.

21:29

FEMALE COMPUTER VOICE: Enclosed is a copy of the minutes

21:32

from the recent annual general meeting.

21:35

How would I tell whether I'm holding the letter the right way up or not?

21:38

But it doesn't matter because I can turn this letter around

21:42

and the app will still recognise the text in it.

21:45

COMPUTER VOICE: Enclosed is a copy of the minutes

21:48

from the recent annual general meeting.

21:51

I can also point the Seeing AI app at food products

21:54

in our fridge and across the kitchen

21:56

and it'll tell me exactly what's written on it.

21:58

We can all appreciate the role that technology can play

22:02

to help level that playing field.

22:04

I think it's enhanced and, in fact, enriched

22:06

by seeing it through someone with lived experience.

22:09

And having Kenny step through with us all

22:12

how our platform could be leveraged

22:14

in some of the new features that were coming out,

22:16

I know was eye-opening for many members of our team

22:19

as they think about other applications for that technology.

22:23

There were going to be 5,000 people in that summit,

22:26

so there was a lot of trepidation on my part

22:28

on whether I wanted to do this or not.

22:29

But, yeah, I made the decision that I do what is necessary

22:35

to change the perception about

22:37

someone with a different cognitive need

22:39

being effective in a high-performance environment.

22:44

The stage was absolutely bright.

22:47

In front of the stage, there was this sea of black, essentially.

22:51

It was very nerve-racking. Extremely nerve-racking.

22:54

So, good morning, all. My name is Kenny Singh.

22:57

I'm a Cloud Solution Architect

22:58

in the One Commercial Partner organisation in Microsoft Australia.

23:01

It was a coming-out moment for me

23:02

because there's 5,000 people sitting there

23:05

and, you know, I had to be completely transparent and vulnerable to them

23:10

on what my eye condition was

23:13

and how that specific app was making

23:15

a profound impact in my life personally.

23:18

We're only getting started.

23:19

So, imagine a world where you actually have a seeing AI

23:22

or artificial intelligence get to the point

23:24

where it can actually describe the world to the nth degree

23:27

to someone who actually has a vision impairment.

23:30

And, finally, what does it actually really mean?

23:33

To me, personally, what it actually means is independence,

23:36

it means empowerment.

23:37

As Steven mentioned earlier, it means a level playing field.

23:40

And above all, it actually means human dignity.

23:43

So, thank you so much.

23:44

-Cheers. -(APPLAUSE)

23:45

It was a very liberating feeling

23:48

because now the world was seeing me exactly how I was

23:51

and there was nothing hidden.

23:53

And for me, personally, I think it was a huge relief.

23:56

I had come out, so to speak, and was feeling very empowered.

24:00

I think any reluctance from that point

24:03

about being totally upfront about my eye condition,

24:07

that just disappeared completely.

24:12

There was an intention in the individuals around me

24:16

to create a more diverse and inclusive workplace

24:18

but it was just not front of mind for organisations, as it is today.

24:23

The real revolution happened when we had a CEO transition

24:30

and Satya Nadella, who's our new CEO, in collaboration with

24:33

our Chief Accessibility Officer, Jenny Lay-Flurrie,

24:36

put diversity and inclusion front of mind for the organisation.

24:41

Since Satya took over,

24:43

Microsoft in the last five years has almost tripled their share price.

24:48

The fact that when you have diversity and inclusion in an organisation,

24:52

you get much more diverse perspectives

24:56

to guide your business strategy,

24:58

you can see very tangible impacts to the bottom line of the organisation.

25:06

Today, if I need someone to visually scan my documents

25:10

for any inconsistency,

25:12

I don't need to spend countless hours doing that with a magnifier.

25:15

I can basically just reach out to a specific email address

25:18

to have a look at the formatting of the documents

25:20

and the visual elements of the document.

25:22

And that's a testament

25:24

to the transformational culture in the organisation.

25:26

The stress levels just directly began to fall.

25:29

And that had a very significant impact on my health and wellbeing.

25:33

I became very interested in getting my health right.

25:35

Since then, fitness and health has been a passion of mine.

25:39

(GRUNTS)

25:42

So, I joined Microsoft as a consultant,

25:45

then I got promoted to a senior consultant.

25:47

And very recently, I became the product manager

25:50

for cyber security and compliance here at Microsoft Australia.

25:53

The work that he's leading impacts hundreds and thousands of people,

25:56

maybe more than that, around the world now.

25:59

Because of our reach into so many countries,

26:01

the work that he leads will be shared

26:03

with our teams in the US and, of course, in Europe

26:06

and will impact the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.

26:09

And so I think he's now starting to appreciate

26:11

that he has this wonderful opportunity

26:13

to continue to be ambitious about how he can use that passion

26:17

and how he can have impact.

26:20

And it's been wonderful to see

26:21

because it's people like Kenny that are the heart and soul of Microsoft.

26:26

(GENTLE MUSIC)

26:27

I feel that it would have actually helped me a lot in my younger years

26:31

if I had some kind of a role model

26:34

who had pursued this career

26:36

and had been successful in this career

26:38

and had some tips and insights that they could share

26:41

from their own experience.

26:43

So, the story that I was actually telling myself was that

26:46

because I had an eye condition,

26:49

that somehow made me lesser of a person

26:52

and I had to compensate for it.

26:55

That was the story I was actually telling myself.

26:58

The story that I had to recalibrate or that is my story today

27:03

is that when I actually bring my full self

27:06

with all the experiences that I've gained through my life,

27:09

bringing my full self to work

27:11

has meant that my initial perception of feeling lesser of a person

27:16

because I had this disability

27:18

to almost feeling empowered, you know,

27:20

disability becoming my superpower.

27:31

(UPLIFTING MUSIC)