TIE HARDY
Born in Prince George’s County and raised in Massachusetts, Tie is a technologist and accessibility advocate with experience in web operations and front end development. They have Cerebral Palsy and a bachelor's degree in Neuropsychology which both deeply inform their technology work. Tie has also had the opportunity to complete several bootcamps and tech upskilling programs which has instilled a passion for community based technical education.
Tie’s first foray into federal policy was in high school, organizing with a local community center under the CDC’s drug free communities grant. There they had the opportunity to visit DC, tour Capitol Hill and network with other young people interested in having their voices heard on matters of federal policy. These experiences left Tie with the understanding that policy issues are best addressed by the people closest to them.
In the last five years Tie has had the incredible opportunity to work for a number of organizations and clients in both the public and private sectors. A highlight has been working on the digital services team at the Massachusetts Department of Transportation handling work related to intranet governance, digital accessibility, web content management and public communications. In addition to their work at MassDOT, Tie has worked on digital teams serving mission based clients in the non profit space including Girls Inc. and PJ Library which is inspired by Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. They have also had the opportunity to educate folks across the country on the importance of digital accessibility at conferences like Netroots Nation.
Informed by their professional background and personal experience with Cerebral Palsy,Tie is passionate about accessibility and disability justice and is excited to jump back into policy on a range of issues including but not limited to the intersections of AI and accessibility, healthcare and transportation, AI ethics, and digital accessibility.