Built on Grit: Breaking Barriers to Employment
Beacon Stories
In honor of National Disability Employment Awareness Month, we’re celebrating Mike Hess, founder of the Blind Institute of Technology (BIT). After years of being the “token blind guy” in the corporate world, Mike turned his experience into a movement for equity and opportunity—empowering blind, low vision, and disabled professionals with training, resources, and pathways to meaningful careers.

Mike stands holding his white cane, wearing sunglasses, a black t-shirt, a gold zip-up hoodie, and gold light-up shoes.
Mike Hess has never been one to sit quietly on the sidelines. A technology veteran with nearly 20 years of experience managing seven-figure projects for Fortune 500 companies, he knew his skills and determination set him apart. But time and again, he found himself as the only blind professional in the room.
“I was always the token blind guy,” Mike recalls. “And the world was not built for people to be blind.”
That realization lit a fire under him, one that would grow into a movement. In 2013, Mike left his corporate career to found the Blind Institute of Technology (BIT), dedicated to breaking down barriers for professionals who are blind, have low vision, or live with other disabilities.
For Mike, the mission has always been personal. Growing up in a small town in northeast Ohio, he realized early that his eyesight was different. In kindergarten, he struggled to color inside the lines, and by first grade, teachers noticed him squinting at the page. After a series of painful tests, doctors at the Cleveland Clinic told him he would be blind by 18. He was just seven, and the word “blind” meant nothing to him at the time, but his single mom reframed it. “She told me it just meant I was going to be special,” Mike recalls.
But her support wasn’t about coddling. She raised him to be tough, to advocate for himself, and to never back down when others underestimated him. When he was bullied for using more light or needing large-print books in school, she pushed him to “punch the world in the mouth.” That grit became the foundation of his life, and it continues to shape him today. Mike is a devoted husband and father of three, a role he calls his proudest. His drive for equity is rooted not only in his own journey, but in the world he wants to build for his children.
By his twenties, Mike was officially diagnosed with cone-rod dystrophy. Still, he refused to let it define him. He carved out a career in software engineering, managing large-scale projects for some of the biggest names in tech. Yet no matter how successful he became, he was always the “token blind guy.”

Mike and his family smiling together.
Over time, he realized that while he had built a rewarding career, too many people in the blind and low vision community were locked out of the same opportunities. Unemployment and underemployment rates remained staggering, and Mike decided it was time to build the bridge himself.
BIT started as a nonprofit staffing agency, placing blind and low vision professionals into roles with local companies. But Mike knew it would take more than job placement to level the playing field. What the community needed was access to competitive, marketable skills. Drawing on his experience, he launched the BIT Academy™, where professionals could earn industry-recognized certifications—showing that in technology, a four-to-six-year degree isn’t required.
“If you’re willing to get the right certifications, you can chart your own career,” says Mike. He should know—he built his own six-figure path without a college degree.
Through a partnership with Salesforce, BIT became the first organization in the world to guide blind and low vision professionals through Salesforce Administrator certification. The program grew rapidly, becoming a global training partner for Salesforce and the first registered apprenticeship program in the U.S. for the pan-disability community. In 2024, BIT received an $8 million federal grant to expand further. Along the way, BIT achieved a milestone that made Mike especially proud: in September 2023, at Salesforce’s Dreamforce conference, BIT received the “Trailblazer Award,” highlighting the organization’s impact on accessibility, inclusion, and employment.
Today, BIT provides complimentary staffing, training, and development services to professionals with disabilities, and has placed talented professionals at companies like Salesforce, Allstate, Dell, and J.P. Morgan.

Mike stands with two colleagues outside Salesforce’s Dreamforce conference, in front of a stone wall that reads “Welcome Trailblazers.”
The ripple effects of BIT’s work are global. One individual, Ertay, discovered BIT through Reddit while living in North Macedonia, a country with no services for the blind and low vision community. After teaching himself to use a white cane and screen reader, he connected with BIT, earned Salesforce certifications, and now leads their global Salesforce team. Stories like Ertay’s keep Mike pushing forward with his trademark attitude and determination.
At the heart of it all are the values Mike lives by: family, health, and equity. Equity isn’t just a buzzword—it’s the foundation of BIT. He’s blunt about the challenges ahead, particularly misconceptions about reasonable accommodations.
“Employers hear that phrase and immediately think, ‘What’s that going to cost?’” says Mike. “We’re here to flip that narrative. Technology is the solution. The blind and low vision community can do the work because technology allows us.”
Now more than a decade into BIT’s journey, Mike has set a goal of placing 10,000 blind and low vision professionals in corporate America. He’s confident the day will come when employers stop seeing disability as a barrier and start seeing it as an asset.
As the nation observes National Disability Employment Awareness Month, Mike’s story is a powerful reminder that employment isn’t just about paychecks—it’s about identity, independence, and purpose.
“So much of one’s identity as an adult is their profession,” says Mike. “That’s BIT’s bridge. We help people realize their career doesn’t have to be over just because of their sight loss journey.”
True to his style, Mike doesn’t soften his message for anyone. He delivers it with the same grit his mom instilled in him as a child: don’t feel sorry for yourself, punch back at the barriers, and never stop proving what’s possible. Through BIT, he is showing the world that people who are blind or visually impaired aren’t just capable—they’re an unstoppable force.
This Beacon Story is sponsored by Johnson & Johnson.