Michael is a deaf and native American Sign Language speaker working as a creative designer for Amazon. Throughout his career, Michael's visual/conceptual way of thinking and problem solving have served him both as an asset and a challenge. He finds solutions around his disability through Universal Design.
Michael Allen Nesmith, a Chicago native, was born into a deaf-culture family using ASL as the primary language. He attended Gallaudet University (an all-deaf college) in Washington DC and then moved back to Chicago for his MFA in Visual Communication Design at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He moved to Portland, Oregon to begin his advertising career in W+K12; an experimental advertising school housed inside Wieden+Kennedy's Portland office. He is now a visual designer at Amazon in Seattle, WA. Throughout his career, Michael's visual/conceptual way of thinking and problem solving have served him both as an asset and a challenge.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at