Think and Zoom Future of Disability 2020— Global list of Disabled Innovators
Think and Zoom is
“Creating a world where visual impairment no longer steals dreams or kills careers”
Introducing
This summer we celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, #ADA30, and this October, we are celebrating the 75th annual National Disability Employment Awareness Month, #NDEAM, as well as the annual Blindness Awareness Month, #BlindMonth. This year’s initiatives are centered on the theme of Increasing Access and Opportunity.
At Think and Zoom Future of Disability, we are doing our part by
shining the spotlight on “Disabled people solving Disability problems”.
We are highlighting the achievements of individuals who are ‘Overcoming Disability with creative abilities’.
We are promoting people who are turning personal problems into global solutions and igniting the #InclusionRevolution. At Think and Zoom, we believe that the #FutureOfDisability lies in Disabled Innovators!
Vint Cerf
● Location: Washington DC area
● Role/ Title: VP, Chief Internet Evangelist at Google
● Achievement: Widely known as one of the “Fathers of the Internet,” Vint Cerf is the co-designer of the TCP/IP protocols and the architecture of the Internet.
Gleison Fernandes Faria
● Location: Itauna, Brazil
● Role/ Title: Cofounder at Key2Enable Assistive Tech
● Achievement: Inventor of Key-X Keyboard, an innovative computer keyboard for people with Cerebral Palsy
Ralph Teetor Blind
● Location: Hagerstown, Indiana
● Role/ Title: President of Perfect Circle
● Achievement: Invented Cruise Control, also became the President of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)
Brandon Winfield
● Location: Atlanta, Georgia
● Role/ Title: Founder and CEO of iAccess
● Achievement: iAccess is a lifestyle, mobile application for users with mobility impairments to rate and review establishments based on their accessibility.
Alvaro Silberstein
● Location : Berkeley, California
● Role/ Title: Founder and CEO
● Achievement: He is Cofounder of Wheel the World, an online marketplace for people with disabilities to plan and book accessible trips.
Tyler Merren
● Location : Fort Wayne, Indiana
● Role/ Title: Owner of ReVision LLC
● Achievement: Creator of ReVision audio-based fitness app for the blind, Paralympic athlete and personal trainer.
● Website
Dr. Birendra Raj sharma Pokharel
● Location: Nepal
● Role/ Title: Former Senior Commissioner at the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) by Government of Nepal
● Achievement: Creator of Innovative Training Program for blind women called “Service Above Self: detecting breast cancer by blind women using Medical Tactile Examination”
Adriana Mallozzi
● Location: Boston, Massachusetts
● Role/ Title: Founder and CEO at Puffin Innovations
● Achievement: Patented Inventor of Puffin, an Oral control Smart Device, for people with Cerebral Palsy to easily control their electronic devices.
Joshua Miele
● Website
● Location: San Francisco, California
● Role/ Title: Inventor, Scientist, and Accessible Technology Strategist
● Achievement: Creator of #YouDescribe — the Descriptive Video Exchange (DVX), #WearaBraille, the #BlindArduino Project, and Talking Tactile Pen
Tim Cordes, MD/PHD
● Location: Wisconsin–Madison
● Role/ Title: Doctor of Psychiatry and Professor
● Achievement: Second blind person to attend medical school in the USA.
Built software that translates complex organic molecules into sound for blind users.
Jennison Asunción
● Location: San Francisco Bay Area
● Role/ Title: Tech Leader at Linkedin
● Achievement: Founder of GAAD Global Accessibility Awareness Day & many other disability initiatives.
Madison McCall
● Location: Raleigh, North Carolina
● Role/ Title: Founder of iLLimiTable.org
● Achievement: iLLimiTable.org is shining a spotlight on Disability through Technology, Entrepreneurship & Collaboration
Fredrik Larson
● Location: Uppsala, Sweden
● Role/ Title: Founder & CTO of ReadSpeaker
● Achievement: Created ReadSpeaker web software screen reader for blind users
Kyle Keane
● Location: Boston, MA
● Role/ Title: MIT Prof of Assistive Technology (AT)
● Achievement: Founder of Humanistic.app AT incubator and Human Co-Design Initiative (HCDI) AT workshops
Fernando Botelho
● Location: Curitiba Area, Brazil
● Role/ Title: Social Entrepreneur and Innovator
● Achievement: Creator of F123 lite — a Raspberry pi for blind, and screen reader for note taking
Mark Esho
● Website
● Location: Leicester, UK
● Role/ Title: Founder Access Rating CIC, Author of “I can, I will
● Achievement: Access Rating is a mobile app to empower & provide disabled access review for easier accessibility for disabled persons.
Savyon Begun
● Location: Greater Boston Area
● Role/ Title:Industrial Designer at iRobot
● Achievement: Designed a smart cane for blind users to improve the navigation experience and to avoid obstacles using haptic feedback.
Tiffany Brar
● Location: Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
● Role/ Title: Disability activist and accessibility evangelist
● Achievement: Creator of ‘Reaching the Unreached’, a program that helps blind teenagers with residential training and employment
Kristhian De Oliveira
● Location: Miami Metropolitan Area
● Role/ Title: Founder & CEO of Amicis
● Achievement: Creator of Amicis software — social media application for the disabled.
Larry Skutchan
● Location: Louisville, Kentucky Area
● Role/ Title: Director at American Printing House (APH)
● Achievement: Proposed a full-size QWERTY Bluetooth® keyboard combined with a 40-cell braille display, and many other blind tech
Natasha Mooney Walton
● Location: Denver, Colorado
● Role/ Title: Founder at Tech Disability Project
● Achievement: Tech Disability Project connects people with a disability that work in the tech industry
Sara Minkara
● Location: Boston, MA
● Role/ Title: Founder of Empowerment Through Integration
● Achievement: Created Empowerment Through Integration, a non-profit which aims to transform the stigma of disabilities globally
Ross Mason
● Location: Greater Atlanta Area
● Role/ Title: Founder of Healthcare Institute for National Renewal and Innovation — HINRI
● Achievement: HINRI (hinri.org), is a venture philanthropy that connects social entrepreneurs and innovators to sources of capital and other resources.
Debby Marchena
● Website
● Location: Amsterdam Area, Netherlands
● Role/ Title: Fine Art Artist and Teacher, print maker
● Achievement: Invented “Marchena LightupCane, a smart cane for blind users that lights up at night so cars don’t hit blind people.
Feranmi Okanlami MD MS
● Website
● Location: University of Michigan
● Role/ Title:Physician, Disability Advocate.
● Achievement: Director of Adaptive Sports and Fitness, focused on attracting talented student-athletes with disabilities who seek to compete at events like the Paralympic Games.
Terri Bryant
● Website
● Location: New York
● Role/ Title: Founder of Guide Beauty, makeup artist
● Achievement: Parkinson’s disease causes her hands to shake with tremors, so she invented Guide Beauty makeup application tools, to help those with physical challenges
Meenakshi Das
● Website
● Location: Auburn, Alabama
● Role / Title: Cofounder of Working with Disabilities
●Achievement: Working with Disabilities focuses on sharing resources to US working professionals with a disability.
Diego Mariscal
● Website
● Location: Washington, DC
● Role / Title: Founder of Disability StartUP Network
● Achievement: Disability StartUP Network delivers entrepreneurship training to disabled Americans
Ed Summers
● Location: Cary, North Carolina
● Role / Title : Director of Accessibility at SAS Institute, Inc
● Achievement: Created Graphics Accelerator web software that
scans for graphs or charts and translates them into sound
Elizabeth Tikoyan
● Tiktok
● Title: Founder of Riley app
● Accomplishments: Creator of Riley app, the social network for people with medical conditions and disabilities, aiming to change the stigma around disability.
Jane Adamé
● Location:Oakland, California
● Role / Title: Co-Inventor of Keela
● Accomplishments: Due to being affected by Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, she co-invented Keela / The Flex Cup, menstrual cup for women with limited mobility
Michael Hess
● Location: Denver, Colorado
● Role / Title: Founder of Blind Institute of Technology BIT
● Accomplishments: BIT places Blind and Visually Impaired individuals in career roles to be Astrophysicist, Sports Broadcaster, VP of Accessibility, Judge, Software Engineer, Travel Agent, CPA and much more !!
● Website
See our 2019 Global list of Disabled Innovators
Link Here
Think and Zoom Future of Disability 2019 — Global List of Disabled Innovators
@thinkandzooom, @zubyonwuta
Think and Zoom Zuby Onwuta
#thinkandzoom #OpenAssistiveTech
#BlindInnovators #BlindTechInnovators#BlindTechUserInnovators #DisabledInnovators #DisabledTechInnovator #DisabledTechUserInnovators #thinkandzoom #SmartAssistiveTech #OpenAssistiveTech #inclusionrevolution #RepresentationMatters#makinganimpact #diversity #inclusion #disabilityawareness #disabilityemployment #disability #inclusive #accessibility#diversitymatters #inclusionmatters #disabilityrights#solveblindness #solvingblindness#solveforblind #solveDisability #solvefordisabled
