Jean Ducrot

“Do your thing and don’t care if they like it.” ~ Tina Fey

Friendly heads up: this is a long-form piece. Why? Because our experiences shape our worldview, and this is my blog so you can’t stop me. This also gives you a peek into my mind and my past, which might help you understand the perspective in some of my posts better. You’re welcome.

In The Beginning

I was born in the United States to French parents. My dad started his own art book editing company in NYC in the '70s, and by all accounts, life was good. We moved to Paris when I was a few years old, and I eventually grew up near Bordeaux in the southwest of France. By then, our financial situation had changed dramatically because the French business environment was very different from the American one, especially in the '80s. So even though the setting my sound romantic, it was definitely tougher than it sounds. My parents both came from large families, so I grew up with many cousins around, for better or worse… I attended a Catholic private school with mandatory Bible study once a week as well as mass for every major Catholic holiday. I was even a choir boy for a while. That didn’t last long though, as I had a habit of getting kicked out of Bible study and music classes too often to be considered choir boy for the long haul.

After graduating high school, I attended Bordeaux University for one year to study economics and flunked out spectacularly. That summer, I jumped at the opportunity to visit friends in NYC and just never came back to France. I was 19, and my English was about as good as you’d expect for someone taught by French teachers who’d learned their trade in the UK.

“Never doubt the courage of the French. They were the ones who discovered that snails are edible.” ~ Doug Larson

NYC

I started working at Starbucks in the fall of 97 and started sharing an apartments with various roommates in the big city. After a couple of years, I moved up to manager but even though the money was good for a 20-year-old, and my English was improving rapidly, I felt something was missing and started looking into options to start going to college. Starbucks didn’t offer tuition assistance back then. That all came crashing down in the summer of 1999 when my mother was diagnosed with several cancers. She told me not to worry as she started chemo, but that fall I quit my job at Starbucks and went home to spend the rest of the year with her. I returned to NYC in early January, and she passed away in early February, just a few days away from her 51st and my 21st birthday.

“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.” - Dr. Seuss

The U.S. Military

During those last few months with my mom in France, I promised her I’d graduate college. So when I returned to the States, I enlisted in the United States Air Force for the education benefits. I scored well on the tests and secured a job as a computer programmer. By April 2000, I was in basic training at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Texas. I then moved to Keesler AFB in Biloxi, Mississippi for “tech school,” where I learned to program in the sweltering summer heat. If you enjoy standing out like a sore thumb and relish agonizingly hot, humid summers, I highly recommend joining the U.S. military and spending time in the Deep South with a strong French accent. I suppose that’s why God created Louisiana…

My time in the Air Force was both amazing and highly disappointing. I initially thought I’d stay in for at least 20 years. It started well—I was assigned to the Pentagon in the summer of 2000. I got to learn web development at the dawn of the internet age and got exposed to WCAG 1.0. I was at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, and won several awards for my work during the 4 years I served there. I even ended up escorting a group of Air Force officers to France for the D-Day events in 2004 as a result on incredible coincidences. When I was asked in early 2004 to re-enlist—with a $5k bonus, it was a no-brainer. And from there, it all went to hell in a handbasket.

First, I was told that “a mistake was made” and that I wasn’t eligible for that bonus after all right after signing the re-enlistement paperwork (SURPRISE!) which left me with no legal recourse to stay in a part of the country where i had built friendships and profesional connections. They left me no choice but to do my time, shut the hell up, and head off to Vandenberg AFB near Santa Barbara in California in the fall of 2004. By then my first wife was pregnant with my oldest daughter Amelie. The Air Force wouldn’t allow her to see a doctor until several months into her pregnancy because of the timing of the move. That’s right folks, to the military, it’s more important to get ass-ets across the country in to than to make sure they get there healthy and in one piece.

Even better, After months of move preparation of both sides of the country and a two-week cross-country drive with my pregnant, uncomfortable spouse, I was informed that another “mistake was made”. This time, they were apologizing because someone should have noticed before that day that a position for my career field didn’t actually exists in that unit. SURPRISE! The perfect embodyment of hurry up and wait, and Air Force classic. To top it off, the United States had just invaded Iraq, and in war times, the u.s. military places limitations on internal troop movements, including if and when people can change unit or leave the military altogether even when their contract expire. So once again, I had to be a good boy, and stay there and take on every crappy detail.

It all came to a head after I returned from spending the summer of 2006 in Iraq. I thought volunteering to go to a combat zone surely would get me a gold star or two which I woudl then parlay into an application to officer school by the end of 2006. Well, you guessed it, although no mistakes were made this time, though. It was all deliberate.

When my boss, who was about to retire after 22 years in the Air Force, sat down with me to review my performance for the year, he told me that he wouldn’t be able to give me that 5 on my annual review because a 5 is reserved for people who go “above and beyond in the exercise of their duties.” To him, that meant your specific job, which of course I didn’t technically have. Mind you I didn’t have a job in the same unit the year before and somehow he gave me a top rating then without going to a combat zone, which of course he had never done… So my final decision in the Air Force was the easiest one to make, and I left with after giving most of my 20s to my country.

“A ship in port is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for.” ~ Grace Hopper

Back In The East And Into A11y

During my time in the Air Force, I acquired several physical and cognitive disabilities. I partially tore both of my Achilles tendons, which made running very difficult and stretching a daily necessity. Upon returning from Iraq, I noticed some memory issues, which were further compounded by problems in my marriage and my one-year-old daughter experiencing a frightening episode of epileptic seizures—thankfully, she has never suffered from them since.

After I left the Air Force we moved back east to Blacksburg, Virginia, where I worked as a contractor for the U.S. Army. My second daughter was born there, but the South’s unique societal dynamics made me feel uneasy, so we relocated to New York in 2010. After a brief stint as a contractor for New York state, I finally landed the job I had always wanted: remote software engineer for a startup. During my ten years at Interfolio, I evolved from a full-stack engineer to a front-end one and eventually specialized in accessibility. Working with WCAG 1.0 at the Pentagon in the early 2000s is what made me an easy choice, not to mention I was probably the only one who had any interest. I had sought opportunities to learn more about accessibility, but opportunities and resources circa 2014 were still sparse. Running into Hadi Rangin from the University of Washington changed all that.

I officially moved into the field of accessibility full-time when I joined TPGi in February 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic began. There I spent a fantastic year and a half learning the real accessibility ropes on significant accounts like Amazon from many accomplished pros in the field, many of whom I am lucky to count as friends and mentor to this day: David Sloan, Sarah Horton, Adrian Roselli, Ian Lloyd, Scott O’Hara, Ashley Bischoff, Steve Faulkner, and Jonee Meiser.

Although I loved the team, doing audits all day long takes its toll so I moved on to Pearson in 2021. Unfortunately, Pearson as a company doesn’t take accessibility as seriously as it should, despite having a small but mighty accessibility team filled with mighty good people. Since January 2024, I am with the accessibility team at Elsevier, where I’ve been put in charge of employee tooling accessibility—and I’m enjoying every minute of it.

“Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.” ~ Miles Kington

Personal Life

I will forever be grateful and proud to be the father of two wonderful daughters. Although things didn’t work out with their mother, I can’t help but beam as I see them grow into the women they are becoming. Our relationships haven’t always been easy, but I’ve always tried my best and only ever asked them to do the same.

I’m also a very lucky man for having found love more than once. I married my soulmate, Marcella, in the summer of 2023. She’s the one who took the time to get to know me when I had forgotten who I was, who listened when I seemingly had nothing to say, who always believes in me (and the Mets, Jets, and Knicks) when hope is in short supply. She’s the only person I’ve ever met who loves sports for the sake of competition and human achievement as much as I do. She’s the one who lets me be myself when no one else knows what to do with that.

“To love someone is nothing, to be loved by someone is something, to love someone who loves you is everything.” ~ Bill Russell

FAQ