Accessibility startups

Autonomy, not assistance

The distinction that runs through this hub is between technology that helps someone and technology that removes the need for help. The companies here are almost all doing the second thing.

Communication without a third party

Nagish is the clearest example on the site. Its AI lets Deaf, DeafBlind and hard-of-hearing people communicate independently and privately - the second word being the point, because the alternative has historically meant a relay operator listening to every call.

Verbit works at scale on the same barrier, covering real-time and post-production captioning, transcription and translation as a vertically integrated voice AI platform.

The part captions throw away

Valence Vibrations is working on something genuinely new - emotional subtitles delivered in real time. Standard captions carry the words and discard the tone, which is most of what a conversation is actually doing.

Daily tasks, solved physically

Not everything here is software. June Adaptive makes clothing designed to be put on without assistance by people with disabilities and mobility challenges, and LifeHandle manufactures assistive carrying devices for people managing gear or a child while walking. These are the problems that determine whether a morning goes well.

Staying in your own home

AskSAMIE takes a curated marketplace approach to ageing in place: describe the difficulties someone is having, and it returns the adaptations that address them. The design decision worth noting is that it is built for a family member to use, not an occupational therapist.

Work and travel

MyDisabilityjobs.com connects inclusive employers with skilled disabled candidates, treating the shortfall as a matching problem rather than a training one. Travel For All does the equivalent for holidays, building the accessible-travel reference that mainstream booking sites do not provide.