Spectrum Makes Accessibility a Family Affair

The Spectrum Access App, a technology that provides immersive audio descriptions for movies and TV shows, enhances the life of a Spectrum employee’s blind daughter by making it possible for her to explore the world with her own vivid imagination.

An otherwise happy and healthy baby, Haylee Barber was born with no usable vision or light perception due to a medical condition known as Leber congenital amaurosis. For her mom Keisha, a senior media marketing strategy manager with Spectrum Reach, working in ad sales at Spectrum has been so much more than a job. It has provided her a direct connection to life-changing technology and support that has dramatically improved the life of her now 9-year-old daughter.

That technology – the Spectrum Access App – creates an immersive entertainment experience by sending an audio description of what’s happening on screen or closed captioning directly to a user’s mobile device. The App was designed by Spectrum’s award-winning Accessibility Center of Excellence team, which develops fully accessible products and services responsive to customers’ interests and needs.

“Creating inclusive products and services that improve the lives of people with disabilities is incredibly important to us,” said Patty Bullington, Director for the Accessibility team, which was recently recognized on Forbes 2025 ‘Accessibility 100’ list and the recipient of the 2023 Hellen Keller Achievement Award. She added, “Spectrum’s Accessibility Center of Excellence relies on the insights and lived experience of its employees with disabilities to ensure accessibility is a priority at every stage of our product development.”

Finding Connection Through the Spectrum Access App

Keisha began working at Spectrum shortly after giving birth to Haylee. And when she was two, Keisha joined Spectrum’s Disability Business Resource Group (BRG), which connects employees of all abilities to technology, education, support and community outreach. Though Keisha wasn’t active at first, that changed when she attended a webinar highlighting the Spectrum Access App.

“At the time, Haylee was very young and not using technology,” said Keisha. “She was a toddler, so I didn’t even know things like the Spectrum Access App existed. I saw it and thought ‘I’m going to need that one day.’ That’s when I got more involved with Spectrum Disability.”

As Keisha developed professionally and her career progressed, the Disability group connected her to other Spectrum employees living with disabilities, as well as fellow caregivers. Through those connections, she had access to resources, support, shared experiences and new perspectives. What started as a workplace resource became a powerful support system for her family and has made Keisha a better advocate for her daughter.

A Way to Dream Bigger and Do More

Today, accessible technology, mobile devices like a tablet or a smartphone, and a reliable internet connection from Spectrum help Haylee - now a third grader and an avid reader through a braille display – fully experience the world. In 2024, she participated in the Braille Institute’s annual Braille Challenge, taking second place among first and second grade students from across the U.S., Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom, and she’s preparing to compete in this year’s competition as well.

When combined with the Spectrum Access App, these devices and services aren’t just tools – they’re a gateway to independence for Haylee and countless others like her.