About Dean

A lifelong entrepreneur and adventurer, Dean Vasile has always embraced change and new opportunities. After growing up around construction, he started his own construction business at just twenty years old. By twenty-five, Dean had become a vendor in the Massachusetts Vending Facilities Program, demonstrating a strong work ethic and entrepreneurial spirit.

At forty, Dean took on a new kind of challenge by joining “Little League” beep baseball – an adaptive sport for individuals who are blind or visually impaired. Now, at sixty-two, he is charting a new course once again as a Digital Accessibility Apprentice, proving that it’s never too late to grow, adapt, and pursue new passions.

Outside of work, Dean enjoys life with two loyal yellow Labs and his fiancé, Marie. Their favorite activities include long walks, shopping adventures, and experimenting with creative, flavorful cooking – especially exploring new ways to work around dietary restrictions using different vinegars and juices.

Dean firmly believes that life is about embracing change – because if you can’t change along with it, you miss out on the best it has to offer.

Want to work with Dean?

Check out his LinkedIn profile to learn more – he’s ready to make a difference!

We sat down with Dean, here’s what he had to say

After the Pandemic of 2020, I had to make some serious changes in my life’s direction. I tried to go into a business through “Ability One”, and after the 90-minute interview, I found out how lacking my JAWS skills were. I (through a roundabout way) went through SRUTT (Screen Reader User Tester Training), at the Carroll Center for the Blind in MA, and while there I was introduced to Kristy Schenderlein from BIT. When I completed that training, I approached BIT and took every Certificate course they offered. The Digital Accessibility program is exactly what I had been looking for.

This is a work in progress. I am solidifying my skills and learning a more comprehensive way of assessing websites and Apps, and also a more socially acceptable way of communicating with my team. Coming from a career where I was the final decision maker, working cooperatively with others is a new and most valuable skill. For this alone, I feel like the process is worth it!

My confidence is growing day by day. I enjoy the work, and I am eager to learn more each day.

This is an appropriate question for me. I truly would like a chance to work on Accessibility in Salesforce. I’m passionate about making platforms like Salesforce even more accessible for screen reader users. I’ve completed most of the Salesforce Associate Certification and am still working toward my Admin Certification — and I’m determined to get there! Salesforce is an incredible platform with so many ways for users to interact depending on their goals. I’m excited about the opportunity to help standardize and enhance accessibility features so that screen reader users can compete even more effectively alongside their sighted colleagues.

When I am given a task, I will work doggedly to get it completed. Recently, I had an instructor indicate to me that he hasn’t had the time to write up a scenario for a competency. I went and decided to try to give him a hand, and I wrote one up for him, to try to help him out. I was not asked to do it, I thought it needed to be done, so I did it. I don’t know if he will use it, nor do I know if he appreciates it. I simply wanted to let him know that I had his back.