The 2025 Brady UX Accessibility Spotlight: 10 Underrecognized Innovators Changing the Game
bradyux- May 25
- 10 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
At Brady UX, we believe accessibility isn’t a checkbox — it’s a creative challenge and a human responsibility. Every digital experience we design should work for everyone, and that means learning from those who are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in accessible technology.
Each year, we recognize and amplify under-the-radar innovators who are transforming lives through empathy-driven tech — whether through software, hardware, AI, or community advocacy. This isn’t a list of big names or high-profile startups. It’s a tribute to the builders, founders, designers, and thinkers doing meaningful, underappreciated work in accessibility.
These are the people we wish more folks were talking about — so we’re talking about them.
🌍 Meet the 2025 Accessibility Changemakers
From AI-powered sign language avatars to DIY vision aids, these ten innovators are solving real problems for real people:
Kyran O’Mahoney – Making AI a Tool for Digital Inclusion (Nexus Inclusion)
Kyran O’Mahoney is the visually impaired founder of Nexus Inclusion, a Dublin-based startup using generative AI to break down digital barriers. Launched in 2024, Nexus Inclusion’s platform automatically simplifies complex web content, adds captions/transcripts to media, and ensures compatibility with assistive tech. O’Mahoney – who has only 17% vision himself – raised €2 million in 2025 to scale this AI-driven solution. His goal is to ensure “no one is excluded due to difference,” leveraging AI as a transformative tool for accessibility. By anticipating compliance needs like Europe’s new Accessibility Act, Nexus Inclusion is quietly empowering organizations to make their digital services inclusive by design. (Learn more: Nexus Inclusion on LinkedIn)
Rebecca Rosenberg – Empowering Low Vision Users with ReBokeh
At just 25, Rebecca Rosenberg – an engineer with albinism – founded ReBokeh Vision Technologies to help others with moderate low vision. Frustrated by the lack of tools “that would work for me,” she created the ReBokeh smartphone app to transform a phone’s camera feed into a customizable vision aid. Users can apply real-time filters to adjust contrast, color, and zoom, essentially personalizing how they see the world. What began as a college project has grown into a platform embraced in 96 countries, with a new premium tier offering advanced filters and presets. Rosenberg’s human-centered approach – informed by her lived experience – reflects deep empathy and innovation. By putting adaptive optics in everyone’s pocket, ReBokeh fills a long-overlooked gap between no aid and medical-grade devices, making everyday life more accessible for thousands of low-vision users. (Learn more: ReBokeh Official Site)
Prateek Madhav – Building an Assistive Tech Ecosystem in India (AssisTech Foundation (ATF))
Prateek Madhav left a successful IT career to co-found the AssisTech Foundation (ATF) in Bengaluru, spearheading a grassroots innovation ecosystem for disability tech. Guided by the mantra that “disability is not the problem; inaccessibility is”, Madhav’s nonprofit incubator empowers startups to develop affordable solutions for India’s underserved disabled population. Since 2019, AssisTech Foundation (ATF) has connected assistive tech innovators with funding, mentorship, and testbeds – a market-driven approach distinct from traditional charity. His team even partnered with the government to establish a one-of-its-kind Assistive Tech Center of Excellence, seeding new ideas in everything from AI-powered braille scanners to motorized wheelchairs. By bridging gaps between compassionate inventors and the communities who need them, Madhav has quietly catalyzed a generation of Indian startups tackling accessibility at scale. (Learn more: AssisTech Foundation Official Site)
Oluwatomisin “Tomi” Kolawole – Opening Eyes with Assistive Reading (Vinsighte)
Nigerian doctor Tomi Kolawole co-founded Vinsighte to ensure blindness need not end one’s education. As medical students, he and his friends saw visually impaired classmates dropping out due to lack of accessible materials. Their answer was Visis, a text-to-speech mobile app that reads printed text aloud and even identifies objects and colors for the user – all offline and affordable. What began in 2018 as a campus project (“giving vision and creating insight”) grew into a digital health venture with a dream “to help thousands of blind people achieve their dreams” through independent reading and navigation. Visis is now deployed in at least seven special schools across Nigeria, reducing dependence on expensive braille books and human aides. Kolawole’s long-term commitment to inclusive design is opening doors to education for visually impaired Africans – a mission pursued with little fanfare but life-changing results. (Learn more: Vinsighte Official Site)
Sally Chalk – Bringing AI to Sign Language Interpretation (Signapse)
Sally Chalk is the co-founder and CEO of Signapse, a UK startup using AI avatars to translate spoken or written content into sign language in real time. With a background running one of Britain’s largest sign language interpreting agencies, Chalk saw technology’s potential to scale communication for Deaf communities facing interpreter shortages. Signapse’s generative AI produces photo-realistic signing avatars, aiming for accuracy and cultural nuance in British Sign Language (BSL) and beyond. The impact of this under-the-radar venture is already tangible – their system generates 5,000 BSL transit announcements per day across UK train stations and has delivered over 4,000 sign language translations for websites and videos. In 2024 the team secured £2 million in seed funding to expand these capabilities globally. Chalk’s vision is a world where Deaf individuals instantly receive information in their native language. By marrying cutting-edge AI with empathy for Deaf users’ linguistic needs, Signapse represents an inclusive innovation that’s quietly changing how organizations approach accessibility. (Learn more: Signapse Official Site)
Michael Curran & James Teh – Pioneers of Free Screen Reading (NV Access)
Two Australian developers, Michael Curran and James Teh, are unsung heroes behind the world’s most widely used screen reading software. In 2006 they created NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA) – a free, open-source screen reader for Windows – to ensure blind and low-income users could access computers without costly software. Maintained by their nonprofit NV Access, NVDA has steadily grown in functionality and global reach. Today it is a globally accessible screen reader relied on by millions, and surveys show it has become the most commonly used screen reader worldwide, even surpassing proprietary tools like JAWS. Curran and Teh have spent over a decade iterating NVDA with input from the blind community, enabling features like braille display support and web accessibility updates at no cost to users. Their commitment to “quality over profit” and serving the underserved embodies the empathy and openness that drive accessible tech forward. Though they’re far from household names, the ripple effect of their work is enormous – any blind person can download NVDA for free, instantly transforming any PC into a talking computer and opening a world of information. (Learn more: NV Access Official Site)
Mateo Salvatto – Connecting the Speech and Hearing Impaired (Háblalo)
Argentine entrepreneur Mateo Salvatto was still a teenager when he developed Háblalo (“Speak It”), a free mobile app that bridges communication between people who cannot speak or hear and those around them. Háblalo functions as a chat-like interface: users with hearing or speech difficulties can type or select phrases which the app vocalizes, and it can also transcribe speech to text – facilitating two-way conversations. What began as Salvatto’s high school passion project is now a fully fledged platform under his startup Asteroid Technologies, serving over 400,000 users in 65+ countries for free. The app supports more than 50 languages and assists people with deafness, autism, cerebral palsy, ALS, aphasia and other conditions that affect communication. Beyond individual use, Salvatto has rolled out Háblalo for Business, helping banks, airports, and even football stadiums implement the tool to better serve customers with disabilities. Mateo Salvatto’s relentless advocacy for inclusive tech (he often says that accessibility is both a social duty and a market opportunity) showcases a rare blend of youthful vision and mature execution. By empowering those who have been “left out of conversations”, his work is literally giving people a voice in society. (Learn more: Háblalo on Asteroid Tech)
Alwar Pillai – Championing Inclusive Design through User Testing (Fable)
Alwar Pillai is the co-founder and CEO of Fable, a Toronto-based accessibility platform that connects digital product teams with people with disabilities for on-demand testing and research. Pillai, who holds a Masters in Inclusive Design, recognized that one of the biggest barriers to accessibility in tech products was the lack of direct user insight during development. Fable’s online platform enables companies to collaborate with disabled users (screen reader users, people with motor or cognitive disabilities, etc.) at every stage of design – from usability testing to co-design sessions. This approach helps enterprises build apps and websites that work better for everyone, while also providing paid opportunities to a often overlooked talent pool. Under Pillai’s leadership, Fable has attracted major clients (Fortune 500 firms among them) and proved that involving the disability community leads to better products. She emphasizes that people with disabilities represent the largest untapped consumer segment and that inclusive design is a competitive advantage. By streamlining the logistics of accessibility research, Fable makes it efficient and normal for teams to “bake in” accessibility from the start, rather than treating it as an afterthought. Pillai’s quiet revolution is showing the tech world that empathy can be operationalized – and everybody wins. (Learn more: Fable Official Site)
Kentaro Yoshifuji – Combating Isolation with Avatar Robots (Ory Lab)
Japanese inventor Kentaro “Ory” Yoshifuji is transforming lives with an ingenious solution for people who are homebound due to severe disabilities. As a teenager, Yoshifuji experienced years of medical isolation and “negative loneliness,” which inspired him to develop OriHime – a small telepresence robot that acts as the user’s avatar in the outside world. Through a tablet or even eye-tracking controls, an individual with limited mobility can see, hear, speak, and move via an OriHime robot in a remote location. Yoshifuji co-founded Ory Lab to deploy these robots in ways that foster social inclusion and employment. Most famously, he launched the Dawn Avatar Robot Café in Tokyo, where OriHime robots staffed by remote “pilots” (people with ALS, spinal injuries, etc.) work as waiters serving customers. This concept of “telework via avatar” opens new opportunities for those who had been excluded from the labor force, while also educating the public about inclusion. What makes Yoshifuji’s innovation so impactful is its human-centric ethos: rather than building robots to replace workers, he builds robots to empower people who could not otherwise be present. In doing so, he’s alleviating loneliness and restoring dignity on a deeply personal level – one robot at a time. (Learn more: Ory Lab (JP))
Nadia Hamilton – Guiding Autistic Individuals to Independence (Magnusmode)
Growing up with an autistic brother, Canadian entrepreneur Nadia Hamilton understood how everyday environments can feel hostile to those with cognitive disabilities. She founded Magnusmode to bridge that gap through a novel assistive app called MagnusCards, which provides visual, step-by-step “card decks” for life skills and routines. From brushing teeth to grocery shopping, each digital card deck breaks tasks into simple illustrated steps, helping users with autism or other cognitive challenges navigate activities that others take for granted. Hamilton’s approach is grounded in respect and empowerment – the app supports independence without talking down to the user. Magnusmode’s impact has scaled through partnerships with major brands and public venues: companies like CIBC, Colgate, and Kraft Heinz have sponsored custom card decks that guide users through using their services or visiting their locations. This collaboration with industry not only expands the app’s content (e.g. a banking guide co-created with a bank, a travel guide with an airline) but also spreads awareness of inclusive design in corporate America. Though she keeps a low profile, Nadia Hamilton’s work is dismantling barriers for thousands of neurodivergent individuals, one illustrated card at a time. It’s a prime example of how a simple, empathetic innovation can bring dignity and autonomy to those who need it most. (Learn more: MagnusCards by Magnusmode)
Conclusion: These ten innovators – and the teams and communities around them – remind us that accessibility advances often start on the margins, driven by people with vision and heart. They may not be household names, but their consistent contributions are building a more inclusive tech landscape for the long term. By focusing on real user needs and rejecting one-size-fits-all thinking, each of these founders embodies empathy, simplicity, and efficiency in design. In doing so, they prove that “niche” accessibility solutions can have global impact. As UX practitioners and leaders, we can draw inspiration from these unsung heroes: when we champion inclusive technology, we enable everyone to participate more fully in life – and that is innovation at its most meaningful.
Sources: The information and quotes above were drawn from recent articles and profiles of the innovators and their products, including news releases and interviews, among others. Each citation corresponds to the original source material for verification. These individuals exemplify the spirit of accessible innovation in 2025, even if they aren’t in the headlines – yet.
Why This Matters to Us
These innovators aren’t just solving accessibility problems — they’re designing better systems for everyone. Many have lived experience with disability. Others have spent years working quietly in the background, doing the kind of patient, user-centered design that too often goes uncelebrated.
At Brady UX, this is the kind of work that inspires us. These creators reflect the same values we bring to every project: empathy, clarity, and inclusion by design. We hope their stories move you like they move us — and maybe even influence how you think about accessibility in your own work.
We encourage you to check out their tools, follow their work, and support their missions. If you're building something and wondering how to make it more inclusive, we’d love to talk.
Let's keep pushing accessibility forward — together.
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Have someone you think we should feature next year? Reach out to us or tag them online with #BradyUXAccessibility.
🔗 Let’s make something accessible together
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