International Women’s Day

Today we are excited to be celebrating International Women’s Day (IWD)! 

This year’s theme established by the United Nations, “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality”, is particularly relevant to our mission at Remarkable and the role disability tech has to play in gender equality. 

Every day, we work to nurture and grow the global disability tech ecosystem empowering the people that it serves. That includes being intentional about working to achieve gender balance across the founders, mentors and speakers we work with, as well as our team.  

Because representation matters. As does who gets to shape the world through technology.

“When women and girls are left out of tech and innovation spaces, it’s no surprise that digital tools fail to meet their needs. But the creation of tech that meets their needs is possible.”

Learn how on UN Women’s website.

So to celebrate this year’s IWD, we’ve asked some of the women in our community to share with us what this year’s theme means to them. Read what they have to say below.

We invite you to amplify their voices and work, and also those of remarkable women, girls, feminine identifying, and non-binary people in your community. 

Headshot of Giselle Mota against a blue background

“Growing up as a young girl with neurodivergence and becoming the woman I am today, my work at the intersection of emerging tech and disability inclusion means that we can influence a future where women and young girls could experience what I would’ve loved to experience: technology that would’ve made me feel safe, empowered, and included” – Giselle Mota, Creator of NFTY Collective.

Headshot of Cheryl Gledhill against a blue background

“The future is inclusive and this means in every way – for people with disabilities and to empower women and girls who have been traditionally underrepresented in technology. All technology is assistive, and we’re working to make sure technology is inclusive and accessible for all.”
Cheryl Gledhill, Director of Product at Culture Amp & Accelerator Alumna

Headshot of Urwah Nawaz against a blue background

“More and more people are building accessible technology with the idea of embracing and celebrating our differences, our individual and shared experiences, and personal expression in product development, because they want to break down digital and physical divides.”
Urwah Nawaz, Co-Founder of Vertere & Launcher Alumna

Headshot of Nidhi Jaisoor against a blue background

“Technology, especially tech used for communication and community, can be the great equalizer for everyone regardless of gender, geography, race, and disability, but only when we incorporate accessibility and equity — the idea that everyone should be able to use and experience that technology in the best possible way, and benefit from it equally.”
Nidhi Jaisoor, Partnerships Manager of Diversability.

Headshot of Sophie Li against a blue background

“To create change, it starts with being brave to take the first step.”
Sophie Li, Co-Founder of Signhow & Launcher Alumna

Headshot of Viv Mullan against a blue background

“The world relies on technology, however, a large amount of the tech and innovation available today isn’t built to be inclusive, accessible or equitable – the theme DigitALL is a call-to-action to fix this. It is a reminder of how grateful I feel to work in a community of people who are driven by a mission to harness the power of tech, innovation and our platforms for advocacy to amplify human potential and work toward this future that is truly inclusive, accessible and equitable for all.”
Viv Mullan, Marketing & Communication Manager of Remarkable 

You can also check out some of the female-led content from our Remarkable community below! 

Inspired by Maya Angelou’s quote: “Do what you know until you know better. Then, when you know better, do better” Launcher Alumna Kelly Schulz has launched a new podcast that brings to the forefront how the uniqueness of being human impacts how we experience the world.

Kelly looks at products, services, retail, digital and experiences that you might not notice as you go about your day.

Want to know how to run an inclusive event? Curious to know more about fundraising for your disability-focused startup?

Molly Levitt, the Director of Remarkable US has recently launched a bi-weekly newsletter called ‘Build Accessible’ that features musings on accessibility, assistive technology & entrepreneurship.

Some of the world’s greatest entrepreneurs, innovations and technologies have been shaped by lived experience of disability but how much do we know about the intersection between innovation and disability?

Remarkable Insights host Viv Mullan, takes us across the globe to speak with disability-tech pioneers who are pushing the boundaries of innovation, business and social norms. We talk tech, we talk disability, we talk to real humans about real change.

We hope you enjoyed this women-focused, written and designed story and have a wonderful International Women’s Day!

2022 Remarkable Highlights

As we approach the end of 2022 we want to take this opportunity to reflect on everything we have achieved this year, and to say we’ve done ‘a lot’ feels like the understatement of the century. 

In the interest of time/space we’ve listed just a few of the amazing highlights from this year:

1. Announced the launch of our Remarkable US program
2.Launched our Remarkable Insights podcast 
3.Hosted the first-ever Disability-Tech Summit in San Francisco
4. Celebrated the completion of our inaugural Launcher Program
5. Hosted our #RA22 virtual Demo Day
6. Released our second Founder Stories Series
7. WELCOMED OUR FIRST RECIPIENTS OF THE JESSICA KING FELLOWSHIP 
8. Appeared at the Disability Royal Commission ‘Vision for Inclusive Australia’
9. Welcomed three new team members
FILIPA ARAÚJO

Head of Startup Ecosystem

LIZA MACLEAN

Head of Technology Implementation

Molly levitt 

Director of Remarkable US

Phew! We might just have a little lie down now! Haha! But on behalf of Cerebral Palsy Alliance, we send a special thanks to our partners icare NSW, Telstra, Vivcourt, SmartJob and TPG Telecom Foundation. 

It’s also important that we thank the community of Remarkable supporters including our startup founders, mentors, coaches, facilitators, friends and the extended Remarkable family!

We would not have been able to achieve everything that we did without this incredible community so from the bottom of our hearts we thank you all.

We are growing!

The idea for Remarkable developed in 2014 after a single design-athon event, that has since evolved into a hub of global programs, fellowships, summits and knowledge exchange, that supports the emerging disability-tech startup sector and the growth of innovation that positively impacts people with disabilities. While we have been around for a little under 7 years, the best is yet to come.

We often say that we are grateful for the advocates and allies who have come before. And we have both a right and a responsibility because of their work. Now we see a strong convergence happening, creating the conditions for rapid change. First, there is a recognition of the rich history of innovation by and with the disability community. Coupled with the fact that starting a company being the cheapest it has ever been, creates conditions for remarkable innovation. Second, there is an emerging market where people with disabilities are recognised for their purchasing power. Choice and control help shape markets. Mixed with this is the rise of diversity, equity and inclusion. This has begun to elevate disability in new ways in the corporate boardrooms of the world. And third, the rise of conscious capital and impact investing is seeing more investments flow into an often under-represented area of the market that is having both impact and profitability.

So Remarkable is growing the team in a deliberate way to help shepherd a really important part of this change. It is helping to create some more capacity across the global programs we are now running and also providing a greater extension of the pathway of support we can offer founders.

Can you help us find our newest team members?

Head of Investment

The Head of Investment role is a newly created hybrid role that will lead the commercialisation and scaling support that focuses on Seed / Series A stage companies in disability, ageing and health related areas. It helps assess the portfolio of companies that Remarkable is supporting, and build their investment readiness.

You’ll be working closely with Pete Horsley, Founder of Remarkable

Digital Campaigns and Engagement Manager

This role is responsible for building our online presence through execution of digital campaigns, brand awareness through creation and implementation of engaging and relevant content and building meaningful relationships between various customer segments and Remarkable.

You’ll be working closely with Viv Mullan, Marketing and Communications Manager

Project Coordinator

The Project Coordinator role is a newly created hybrid role that will deliver a range of high-level services to support members of the Remarkable team to help bring to life the events and programs and to help systematise internal processes and automations.

You’ll be working closely with George Miller, Head of Operations.

We are committed as an equal opportunity employer and will provide adjustments so you can do your best work. If you experience any issues or have any questions please contact Shelley Hensel on 9975 8033 or email hello@remarkable.org

So if you think you could be the remarkable person we need and if you want to make a remarkable impact, then apply today!

Meet our newest team member, Liza Maclean!

We are so excited to welcome Liza Maclean to our team as the new Head of Technology Implementation! 

This role will facilitate collaboration with Remarkable and various departments in CPA including client services, research and other key stakeholders to ensure that people with disability have access to new and innovative technologies.  

We’re thrilled to have Liza’s experience both as an Occupational Therapist and leader in the field of assistive technology as well as her long standing commitment in providing mentoring support to our startups to bring to this new role. 

Get to know more about the amazing person Liza is in our Q&A below!

TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOU AND YOUR BACKGROUND EXPERIENCE.

I am an Occupational therapist with over 25 years of experience working in the health, disability and injury management sectors. I have a background in assistive technology and am passionate about the power of technology to positively impact life for people with disabilities.
I’m also on the board of the Australian Rehabilitation and Assistive Technology Association, the national peak body representing rehabilitation and assistive technology stakeholders and users in Australia.

WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO WORK WITH REMARKABLE?

I’ve been connected with Remarkable for several years now, through my previous role as investment manager for the icare/Remarkable partnership, and as a mentor through several programs. I’ve always been impressed with the passion and experience of the Remarkable team, the extensive network of mentors, coaches, investors and startups they have built, and their vision to improve the lives of people with disabilities all over the world.

I’m what they call a Cerebral Palsy Alliance ‘boomerang’ – I’m a returning staff member after a 10 year hiatus in government. My aim in coming back to CPA was to work for a purpose driven organisation whose vision and values aligned with mine. Following 12 months of getting to understand the business again in an acting role as Clinical Governance Manager, I was very excited to take up this opportunity to focus my knowledge, skills and passion in the emerging technology space which is a key priority for the new CPA strategic plan.

WHAT EXCITES YOU ABOUT STEPPING INTO THE NEW ROLE?

So many things! I’m excited about how we can better support our startups to engage with our clients, families, clinicians and other staff to help test and develop their products and services. I’m excited about helping to facilitate the connections between research, startups and the business to support the evaluation, acceleration and implementation of technology. Most of all I am excited about ensuring that our clients get access to emerging technologies that can enable their participation and potential.

HEADING INTO 2023 COULD YOU SHARE SOME OF THE GOALS THAT YOU’D LIKE TO ACHIEVE IN YOUR NEW ROLE NEXT YEAR?

I’m currently doing a lot of consultation with the business to understand the key needs and priorities for our clients and staff, opportunities for technology solutions to address these, as well as barriers and enablers to technology implementation.

I’m also keen to connect more with our startups to better understand what support they need from the business to be successful at different stages of development.

My goal for next year is to have a clear process for how we engage with startups, evaluate solutions, and how we successfully and sustainably implement them to get the best outcomes for our clients.

WE’D LOVE TO GET TO KNOW YOU A BIT MORE, WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DO IN YOUR FREE TIME? IT MIGHT BE THAT YOU’VE GOT A SPECIAL SKILL OR INTEREST TO SHARE?

In my free time I love being active and to be outdoors in nature – walking by the beach or in the bush, ocean swimming, or practicing yoga most days.

My special skill/interest is that I am a yoga teacher – you can find me once a week watching the sunrise with my regular crew of yogis at the Manly Life Saving Club. Longer term I’d love to combine my disability and yoga experience and complete my yoga therapy training, get a therapy dog and spend my semi-retirement years supporting people with disabilities to get the benefits from an adapted yoga practice and playing with my dog all day!

WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE BEEN GIVEN IN YOUR WORK LIFE THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO PASS ON TO OUR COMMUNITY?

I always love to quote my good friend and former CPA colleague Neil when feeling a bit overwhelmed with ideas and opportunities and where to start – “How do you eat an elephant?” and the answer is “one bite at a time”. In the startup space, I think that it is vital that businesses are listening to their customers and asking them what they want and need, and co-designing with them so they are focussing on the right bite of the elephant to start!

DO YOU HAVE AN INSPIRING BOOK / PODCAST / QUOTES YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE WITH THE STARTUPS AND OUR COMMUNITY?

I’m a bit of a Brene Brown fangirl. I have read several of her books and also love her podcasts, Dare to Lead and Unlocking Us. These quotes resonate and align with the CPA values of courage and curiosity:

  • “Courage is contagious. A critical mass of brave leaders is the foundation of an intentionally courageous culture. Every time we are brave with our lives, we make the people around us a little braver and our organizations bolder and stronger.”
  • “It wasn’t always a choice; we were born curious. But over time, we learn that curiosity, like vulnerability, can lead to hurt. As a result, we turn to self-protecting—choosing certainty over curiosity, armor over vulnerability, and knowing over learning”

I love that CPA and Remarkable are supporting courage and curiosity by investing in emerging technology and creating an innovative culture not just at CPA, but globally through the +N network. Together we can create a world that is accessible, inclusive and equitable for everyone.

First-ever Remarkable Tech Summit

It’s hard to find the words to accurately describe the magic of our first-ever Remarkable Tech Summit, but we are going to give it our best attempt in this blog post.

To make it easier, let’s start with a few questions…

What is the Remarkable Tech Summit? 

From November 2-4, 2022 we welcomed over 90 guests to the first-ever Remarkable Tech Summit in San Francisco.

This event was made possible by Cerebral Palsy Alliance and the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation, and was a gathering of innovators, entrepreneurs, corporate stakeholders, investors, researchers, disability advocates, partners and friends in our ecosystem for a truly Remarkable experience.

This two-day summit was jam-packed with panels, guest speakers and group discussions designed to connect, celebrate and grow the emerging Disability Tech ecosystem.

A man with fair skin and dark hair is seated at a table smiling and wearing a light blue collared shirt and purple lanyard around his neck.
Man with dark brown hair and wearing a long black shirt is standing holding a Mac laptop and talking to a man seated at a table wearing dark glasses, a light blue collared shirt and a purple lanyard around his neck.
A woman wearing a black pant suit and a man wearing a checkered business jacket and dark jeans are seated on wooden chairs presenting a talk on a stage. Behind them is a pink screen that includes the text 'Fireside chat with Regina Kline and Jim Sorenson'
Ariel view photo of an outdoor terrace that has people seated around several tables eating lunch on a sunny day.
Two men are standing and talking to each other in front of a stall that is promoting an affordable wheelchair product called 'Participant Assistive Products'.

What was the goal of the Summit? 

The goal of the Summit was to amplify the voices of disabled innovators, create connections, explore challenges, set commitments, and actively support one another to drive change. It was incredible to see the joint commitment from our guests to these goals, which we are proud to say we reached by the end of our two days together.

Below are a few powerful quotes from our speakers that capture this energy.

Person with fair skin and short blonde hair wearing red lipstick

“Humans are the most important technology we can invest in…when we talk about investing in tech, we’re investing in humanity.”

Minnie Baragwanath, Chief Possibility Officer, Global Center of Possibility
Person with fair skin and short brown hair wearing glasses

“What the Remarkable Tech Summit did was offer another dimension to the very notion of the burgeoning Disability Economy. They have shown the poetry and prose of this economy are more than just about great ideas, innovative tech, or even the potential of the capital markets, but the idea that the congregation of this community’s impact can profoundly affect society and may have a broader appeal than one can imagine…”

Jonathan Kaufman, President, J Kaufman Consulting
Person wearing a light top with a necklace

“At the summit, I felt truly elevated and acknowledged, and I trust that more of this will only continue. Because what also took shape at the summit was a collective understanding that we still have a lot of work to do — but we’re all up for the challenge to set a precedent for more accessible, more affordable, and more inclusive tech not only for, but with disabled people.”

Katy Gaastra, Founder, Cerebral Palsy Strong & Digital Engagement Manager, CPARF

What were some of the highlights?

In addition to a stellar lineup of speakers, we were also thrilled to be able to celebrate some exciting announcements including:

The Summit included a startup pitch competition, which was an opportunity for selected founders to pitch their idea. We were excited to announce the winner of the judges grand prize of one prestigious shark hat to Parag Gad, CEO and Co-Founder of SpineX.

We launched applications for our 2023 Remarkable Accelerator (#RA23) global program, which will have programs run from Australia and the US!

Our friend, actor and advocate RJ Mitte joined us to celebrate the Remarkable Tech Summit and also shared a message about our accelerator.

We presented our plans* for our 2023 Design-athon, which has been inspired by the winner of this year’s World CP Day challenge called ‘Millions of Reasons’!

*2023 Design-athon plans will be published on our website soon.

What were some of the outcomes?

It was incredible to see a group of disabled and non-disabled leaders from across the world, come together – many meeting for the first time. This web of connections will continue to bear fruit in months and years to come. 

A priority of this summit was to ensure that everyone who attended was able to leave with learnings and challenges to help guide and support their work in the Disability Tech space. To ensure this, we hosted group discussions and brainstorms where our guests provided insight into what was still needed in the Disability Tech space. Some of the broad areas that were raised included: 

  • Advancing the employment rate of people with disabilities in leadership roles 
  • Highlighting and eliminating ableism from policy and procedure within all industries 
  • Increasing the investment and capital available to disability-led startups
  • Recognising the role that disabled hackers play everyday in making the world work for them when it hasn’t been designed to account for their needs
  • Building capability and education so that accessibility is built in from the beginning in products and services. 
  • Ensuring that design is being done WITH the community not FOR them. Learn more about this in a powerful blog post by Minnie.
  • The need for the ecosystem builders to create further connections between investors, researchers, corporate allies, founders and the disability sector.

What are the next steps? 

This year’s Summit was the first of what will hopefully be many more where we will convene global leaders who are building the disability tech ecosystem. We are always looking for collaborators, partners, other champions we can work with to keep making progress. We will soon release a report covering some of the challenges of emerging structural areas that need work for the benefit of the ecosystem. If you’d like to stay in touch, please get in contact with us on hello@remarkable.org

Remarkable Insights: Giselle Mota

Transcript

Tech themed Music transition

[00:00 – 00:28] Viv

What do you get when you combine a futurist, disability advocate, entrepreneur and the courage to challenge the metaverse? That’s right Gisele Mota! We’re speaking with Giselle, creator of NFTY collective, a project on a mission to bring disability inclusion into web 3 and the metaverse. You will also hear exactly what the heck the metaverse is and why it’s important we build with inclusion and accessibility from the start.

[00:28 – 00:31] Giselle

Thank you so much, it’s so good to be with you talking.

[00:31 – 00:46] Viv

At the start of this conversation I always like to ask people because this will be a video podcast as well to do a visual description of themselves, would you mind doing a visual description of your beautiful self in the setting that you’re in?

[00:46 – 01:10] Giselle

Thank you. I’m sitting in my living room in an apartment in New York City. I have my art on the wall, a little couch, a lamp and I am sitting in a chair. I’m wearing a green dark green cardigan a white shirt my hair is brown and black and I have it is long to cut in my shoulder length I’m a black woman or a woman of color and I have big green glasses on

[01:10 – 01:29] Viv

And those glasses are amazing I must say. I would love to pass it over to you to start with. You’ve spoken about how embracing your identity has really empowered you to sort of enter this new chapter of your career and can you speak to that a bit and share that Journey with us?

[01:29 – 03:33] Giselle

Well I do a lot of different things so in my career on my full-time work is that I’m a head of product and or chief of product inclusion at this company that deals with like human capital management technology and then I have my own project called NFTY Collective which is all about bringing people with disabilities into web 3 and the metaverse. So really I came to a point where before I had been focusing a lot on the future of work per se so how do organizations use technologies like artificial intelligence and data analytics and all these different types of tools to solve problems and to think about what the future looks like when it comes to work. It was awesome to be able to do those things but for me the past couple of years and a little bit more the pandemic, the racial and social injustices that were happening around the world like it really made me stop and think about how I was using my time and what I was doing with my impact. As an afro-latina I’m a woman of color you know I have an unseen disability of Dyslexia and I was really impacted by everything that was happening around the world and I wanted to do something about it. I wanted to channel my energy into something positive instead of sitting in frustration. So it led me to take forward actions and just be proactive. So I stopped just looking at the future of work and I started thinking about the future of technology and the future of work and is it inclusive are we bringing people along with us and I did every effort I could so basically the role that I have in my full-time work is a role that was created because I was proactive and it never was a role that existed before my company in an organization of over 60 000 Global employees and now I’m heading up something that’s thinking about inclusion in our products because I care about it. Now I’m doing this project of my own called NFTY Collective because I really don’t want to see people left out of emerging technology, especially people with disabilities.

[03:33 – 03:52] Viv

It’s so wonderful to sort of lead with that passion and be able to bring to the table that lived experience that you have, you know how do you explain to someone who doesn’t have any understanding of blockchains or web3 or the metaverse what this sort of like creative space could do for the world and how it could change their world for the for the better?

[03:55 – 05:11] Giselle

It’s very likened to we’ve been borrowing concepts so we’ve been borrowing concepts from games and think of your favorite animation movie that you’ve probably seen like maybe Avatar is up there for me that concept has morphed into other use cases and applications so now people are reimagining they’re like okay if kids can play and animations can happen on movies and kids can play in these like Virtual Worlds then why can’t we gather together and socialize in places like that and why can’t we learn a new skill in an environment like that that’s virtual or why can’t we actually work on a project together in an environment like that? So all of that is what we’re calling the metaverse and the metaverse is this place of like play and discovery and imagination it is using things like data and artificial intelligence and augmented reality and virtual realities behind the scenes so that’s all the tech that goes behind it but the user experience at the end is all about like imagining you know like it’s like a game it’s like animations but for other cases that we want to use in the real world. So you can go to a virtual concert and watch somebody in their avatar and you could be an avatar and enjoy that experience you know so yeah that’s what it is that’s what the metaverse is.

[05:12 – 05:37] Viv

Amazing that you mentioned the gaming industry because I know that there’s been a lot of work done about the accessibility and inclusion of the gaming industry and it’s made a huge amount of waves recently and I I wonder is there is there a conversation or a debate around the accessibility and inclusion of the metaverse and and the critical importance of that?

[05:38 – 07:06] Giselle

Yes absolutely. So right now as it stands the metaverse is not the most inclusive it is not the most accessible for people with disabilities either in fact when you do go into a lot of these experiences at the beginning it was all around like VR goggles that you have to put on this heavy set on your on your head and some people have motion sickness some people have eye tracking issues where you’ll you won’t be able to enjoy that experience or perhaps you may be low vision or completely blind and how can you enjoy something that’s only fixed on a mechanism of a headset right. So that was a stumbling block and in fact some legislation has come down the line in certain experiences now that you have to if you’re going to create experiences like that on the metaverse and things you have to make it inclusive outside of a VR set so that many people can enjoy it. So today you can get on the computer you can get on a mobile device and still hop into one of these experiences without having to have an expensive and maybe uncomfortable or inaccessible VR set. So yeah it’s also not inclusive in the fact that when you play a lot of these games your avatar is not really someone that if you look like someone who has no arms no legs you’re in a wheelchair you use a walking device the way that these systems work for avatar creation they don’t always recognize that that’s a human being or that’s that’s a person so it won’t track that oh that’s that’s a human in a in a device in a wheelchair it’ll be like unrecognizable.

[07:06 – 07:22] Viv

A part of the accessibility is the affordability of things you know. Yes, so much of the technology needed for these sorts of experiences is expensive. Is it sort of moving toward a point where you can access the metaverse without these sorts of things?

[07:23 – 08:16] Giselle

In fact the only things the only platform providers that we are partnering up with right now have to have we’re we’re saying you cannot just be based on a headset to have the experience so for us it’s like you can literally use your laptop you can use your navigation keys to get around or if you plug in for example an Xbox controller that is adaptable or accessible right for people with different disabilities you can use that to get around or you know there’s many different ways in which we’ll we’ll think about that for the VR – virtual reality it’s when you want to feel like you’re having a first person experience that’s more immersive where you feel like you are literally in that space and you can feel like when you’re looking around your avatar is looking around it’s jumping you’re jumping like that is the experience so that is something that a lot of VR providers the technology providers are like reimagining how they can bring down the price point so it’s truly accessible so there’s a lot of imagination that needs to be done there

[08:16 – 08:27] Viv

From where it’s at now you sort of speak like it currently isn’t accessible, how has it gotten to that point of the design phase and these things are only registering now?

[08:27 – 09:12] Giselle

It should be it should be for us and it should be by us right so like anything that you’re going to be making you should definitely include all sorts of different people who could be your end user in the experience when you’re first starting to design it so I would think I would assume that there was not a lot of people at the table who had disabilities when people were formulating it would be a good idea to have some virtual world and create these spaces because they weren’t really thinking. So now it’s catching up to where others like myself are saying wait a minute we need to like make this more accessible and or like me you’re saying you know what it’s not accessible so I’m gonna create opportunities where they where they are more accessible and so we’re having like rebellious people like me step in and try to change things right now.

[08:27 – 09:31] Viv

It’s brilliant you Rebel! How do you think we go about policing the Integrity of that intentional commitment to inclusion and accessibility just knowing that the landscape of technology and accessibility is constantly shifting and changing?

[09:31 – 10:17] Giselle
For sure, I think one of the ways that we’re starting to see is that there are associations starting to form and legislation starting to come down the pipeline to legislate and regulate. If you are having some sort of technology experience you have to consider accessibility, you have to consider it all kinds of inclusion. So you might have a person of color that has experienced this or people of different gender representations or people who speak different languages or live in different parts of the world you can’t just create something with one you know one scope in mind anymore including people with disabilities you have to think about that so that’s happening now there’s many groups of people that are forming these coalitions and associations and form drafting out laws so that’s promising.

[10:17 – 10:28] Viv

And I suppose that leads beautifully to the work that you’re doing with the NFTY Collective. What exactly is your sole mission with this incredible initiative?

[10:28 – 11:25] Giselle

The mission is to highlight amazing people right and to give them the opportunity and I’m talking about people with disabilities and to give them the opportunity to show up as they are in web 3 and metaverse spaces and so for me it’s a space like we’ve been discussing that lacks, severely lacks, diversity it severely lacks representation of people with disabilities. So we’re working with people from around the world and we created avatars in their likeness and we’re using those avatars through we provide them as an NFT to some of them a non-fungible token where they can like create value with that and sell it or trade it if they want to they are now we’re making games out of these avatars so that they could show up in experiences. We’re doing a lot of different things but it’s again I’m being rebellious and just interjecting people into a space that has not included them and that’s what that’s what I’m up to that’s what I have to say.

[11:25 – 11:39] Viv

Although it’s a rebellion it’s a celebration. What is it opening up you know when people step into a space like a metaverse and they have an avatar that represents themselves. What are the other doors that open all of a sudden?

[11:39 – 13:06] Giselle

A lot of times I’ve spoken with people with disabilities and we started very organically we started to reach out to people and ask them simply would you like us to create an avatar of you and we explained to them what we were doing and they wanted to be a part of it and when they did in many cases we would have people literally start crying or literally just express how honored and touched that they were that somebody thought of them enough to not leave them out of something that was coming out yet again that was gonna leave them out. It’s important to yeah to make representation and I feel like that’s opening a door to make it more normal and to to shed a light on that hey when you design any technology you should be including people with disabilities and I don’t want to get emotional here but what I am aiming to do is also give people a chance to see themselves in an experience that’s so cool and so forward thinking that they could say I was a part of that during my lifetime I was a part of this experience and so those are the kind of doors that open up as well. Now we are being invited to create games and um inclusive art galleries with some of our characters and learning and development experiences for organizations and some people have asked us can we use your characters to you know add on to our products so that we can if we do have a little character in our product somewhere it can be someone with a disability so there’s so many different like opportunities that are coming up and the sky’s the limit.

[13:07 – 13:17] Viv

Being so closely and emotionally involved in this project what do you think about the risks involved in this space and in bringing these avatars into a space?

[13:17 – 14:17] Giselle

Yeah it’s funny, I’m guarding this project because of risks. I’m guarding it, I’m being careful with it I’m not opening it to just everybody and anybody can do anything in fact even people with disabilities have sometimes approached from an angle that is not mission-centric to what I’m trying to do and I’ve said you know I’ve had to turn some people away for wanting to kind of even look at this as a way to monetize or to do something where it’s not the mission-center that I want to focus on so all sides there’s risk from all sides, there’s risks from the people in the community themselves who are you know that that might not align to the vision that I have and what we’re trying to do and then there’s risk to other people who have approached me about funding opportunities but they only see it as like they do their math they’re like wait there’s one billion people in the world with disabilities and if you do this then we can do and I’m like like so there’s a lot of from the angle of disabilities there’s a risk. From the angle of you know technologies and what they’re trying to do in a space of the metaverse as well and how if they don’t put guard rails to your point that you were saying before that they people can be exploited people can be discriminated against like there’s a lot of things that can happen so I’m being very careful and very calculated with who we partner with what we collaborate on and how we’re using these characters. So really good question you ask some really good questions by the way you must do this often?

[14:17 – 15:08] Viv

I just got a really great guest. I’m so excited by the friendship! and is there a future for a NFTY Avatar that would if someone is low vision or blind is there sort of any future for a character to be sort of based on haptics or or an audio described experience for someone?

[15:08 – 16:28] Giselle

Yes absolutely, that’s on the road map. So we have a couple of things on the map and one of them is using an algorithm and artificial intelligence to turn an image into sound so we next have ways in which we want to get the people who are not able to see their Avatar or experience it in that way visually that they’ll be able to hear a version of what they look like and so it sounds super nerdy but that’s a possibility and we’re exploring that we’re also exploring we’re doing a virtual gallery an art gallery and we’re making sure that it has audio descriptions so that someone who’s low vision or blind can enjoy that experience without having to see it they can still enjoy going to a gallery right. We just did an experience recently through augmented reality where you put up your phone or your mobile device and you scan a QR code and you’re able to see an experience like the story of NFTY Collective what we did with that is that right after the the you know first version of that story it was an audio description version of that story so that people using a screen reader and still have the ability to like pop up the experience on their mobile device could then hear it and enjoy everything else that was happening from the background music, to the descriptions of the characters and all that and we will continue to do that

[16:28 – 17:24] Viv

Wow, it’s like I’m not gonna lie when I when I first heard of the metaverse I was a little scared I just kind of thought oh gosh I’ve seen so many movies and that’s pretty much the only basis for my fear it was movies but hearing this and the excitement of these amazing things it just sounds like like you say like a playful land that we can go and just have all of these really creative experiences. At the end of these conversations we always like to invite our lovely guests to to leave us with a remarkable insight and that could be a piece of advice or a statistic about the metaverse or some sort of words of wisdom that you would like to leave people with that are thought-provoking when it comes to designing tech or experiences for the metaverse. What is something that you would like to leave people with?

[17:24 – 17:40] Giselle

Honestly approach it like we’ve approached anything else with technology if you know if you’re a technology provider think about the people that you’re trying to create for and don’t leave them out and it’s very simple that’s all I want to say as a message don’t leave people out of your experiences

[17:40 – 17:53] Viv

The full interview with our guest can be found in the link below where you press play on this podcast our show notes make sure you subscribe or hit follow to not miss another remarkable insights episode.

DOWNLOAD A WORD VERSION OF THE TRANSCRIPT HERE.

Watch the full video recording of this podcast here.

Connect with Giselle Mota on LinkedIn and follow NFTY Collective on Instagram.

#RA22 Cohort Featured in New Podcast from CPARF

Technology has tremendous potential to improve people’s lives, and the companies participating in our Remarkable Accelerator Program are building businesses to improve access and inclusion for people with disabilities. We are excited to announce that the eight innovative companies in our #RA22 program will be featured in the first season of a new podcast from Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation (CPARF) called Changing What’s Possible: The Disability Innovation Podcast.

In partnership with CPARF and with generous support from SmartJob, LLC, we are working to support the development of new assistive devices and accessible technology to improve the lives of people with cerebral palsy (CP) and other disabilities. With CPARF, we are piloting the first Remarkable US program, and their new podcast will introduce you to cutting-edge science, technology, and innovation that provide real-life impacts for people with disabilities. 

“As someone who inadvertently stumbled upon mobility technology that’s profoundly impacted my life, I know how hard it is for people to find information like this,” explained Katy Gaastra, Digital Engagement Manager at CPARF and Founder of Cerebral Palsy Strong. “And I know how important it is that they do.”

In the first season of Changing What’s Possible, each episode will feature a representative from one of our #RA22 startups, as well as an individual who has experience using the company’s product or service. “These stories need to be told — and they deserve to be heard,” remarked Jocelyn Cohen, CPARF’s Vice President of Communications and Engagement.

We are thrilled to be able to share the stories of these companies and valuable insights about their innovations from clinicians and people with CP and other disabilities who are using them in their everyday lives. 

“Remarkable US embraces ‘nothing about us without us,’ — a concept that underpins the disability rights movement,” commented Michael Pearlmutter, Executive Director of CPARF. “Changing What’s Possible is a natural and necessary extension of that. Whether we’re highlighting the story of a trailblazing disabled leader or amplifying the story of a user with a disability, the disabled perspective is front and center.”

New episodes of Changing What’s Possible are published on the first Friday of each month on a variety of podcast platforms. Listen and subscribe to the show to hear outstanding stories of life-changing science and tech and learn more about how our Remarkable startups are making important advances in disability technology to improve the lives of people around the world. 

Listen and subscribe to this show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts now.

Global Accessibility Awareness Day!

Today we are celebrating the 11th Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD)! 

The purpose of GAAD is to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about digital access and inclusion, and how this impacts on more than 2.5 billion people living with disabilities worldwide. 

Just as powerful as this annual celebration is the overarching work of the GAAD Foundation who are on a mission to modify the culture of technological and digital product development to include accessibility as a core requirement.

So let’s start by talking about some facts…

 

From the obvious human rights factors to the economic benefits these facts highlight some of the reasons why technological and digital accessibility simply must be considered and not continue to be overlooked.  

Now let’s talk about accountability…

While technological innovations continue to evolve, so does the world of accessibility, which is why our team at Remarkable will be the first to admit that we may not always get things right. As a team, we believe that accessibility is not a one-size-fits all concept, but rather an evolving concept where we learn from our mistakes along the way, while continuing to strive for excellence in accessibility. 

We invite you all to join us on this journey that continues well beyond today. This is an invitation to work toward a future described beautifully by Fernando H. F. Botelho, where “Assistive technology will then no longer be a lesser technology, but one more essential layer on the infrastructure of modern society.”

Announcing a new charity partnership with TPG Telecom Foundation!

We are so excited to announce that we have been named one of the successful applicants of TPG Telecom Foundation’s annual charity grants program!

TPG Telecom Foundation has announced the seven non-profits to be awarded more than $1 million, focused on opportunities to improve the health, wellbeing and education of Australian communities in need.

Funding projects using innovative and scalable technology solutions, this year’s Foundation partner charities are ACON, Infoxchange, headspace, MissingSchool, Guide Dogs Australia, Remarkable which is made possible by the Cerebral Palsy Alliance (CPA) and Starlight Children’s Foundation.

“We are thrilled to be partner with TPG Telecom Foundation alongside some of Australia’s most impactful and prestigious charities. This grant will enable Remarkable to support more startups at the leading edge of tech innovation, ultimately leading to more inclusive and independent lives for people with disabilities,” said Remarkable Founder, Pete Horsley.

“We are proud to be supporting the ingenuity and innovation of our 2022 Foundation partners, as they continue to positively impact the lives of Australian communities,” said TPG Telecom Foundation Chair and TPG Telecom Group Executive People Experience, Vanessa Hicks.

Celebrating 20 years in Australia, the Foundation (formerly known as Vodafone Foundation Australia) has donated more than $26 million to date to charitable causes and organisations using mobile technology to improve the health of all Australians.

“Whether combating mental health issues and domestic and family violence, supporting critically ill children and people living with disability, or enabling important medical research and innovations, these unique projects will make a genuine positive difference,” said Hicks.

Remarkable is Australia’s leading disability technology accelerator, supporting startups with a mission to improve the wellbeing, independence and inclusion of people with disabilities. Since being established by CPA in 2016, we have supported nearly 50 startups, which have raised in excess of $35 million to power up the potential of people with disabilities around the world.

Click here to read the original version of this media release on TPG Telecom’s website.

Introducing our 2022 cohort of startups!

From wearable rehabilitation robots to Australia’s first audio tourism platform, we’re thrilled to announce the 8 innovative startups in our #RA22 accelerator program!

This announcement is also particularly exciting because it marks the launch of our partnership with Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation (CPARF) who we are working with to pilot the first Remarkable US program!

“In only a matter of years we have gone from an in-person, Australia-based program, to a global online program, and now we are launching bespoke international programs to further meet market needs! The launch of Remarkable US marks an exciting chapter that will allow us to rapidly grow our impact,” said Pete Horsley, Founder of Remarkable.

This year, Remarkable’s eight startups will be joining from several countries including Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom. The demand for their global presence is also representative of the increased popularity of the Global Disabled and Elderly Assistive Technology Market, which is predicted to be worth $32 billion by 2026.

Now without further ado, we are proud to present the #RA22 cohort!

  • Homeable – creates personalised and inclusive smart home solutions to increase independence in the home.
  • Nuroflux – the world’s first wearable to non-invasively monitor brain activity and blood flow alongside other vital activity relevant to stroke and stroke rehabilitation.
  • WearWorks – is a haptics design company that designs products and experiences that deliver information through touch.
  • RecoveryVR – provides a fun and engaging, medication-free, virtual reality application that motivates more adherence to rehab activities in the home or clinic while also providing measurement data, adherence tracking and unlimited healthcare access using a custom-built telehealth portal.
  • Participant Assistive Products – is democratizing high-quality assistive products and putting them within reach of unserved people, starting with the 70 million people who need but do not have a wheelchair or the mobility, health, inclusion, and dignity that an appropriate wheelchair can provide.
  • Vacayit – Australia’s first audio tourism platform, using storytelling to revolutionise travel for blind and low vision tourists.
  • Biomotum – design smart wearable robots to empower mobility and discovery in children with Cerebral Palsy.
  • Accessercise – the first complete fitness app created specifically for people with impairments.

 

Over the course of our 16-week our startups will be receiving $75,000 of seed funding and will participate in masterclasses, sprints, and deep dives. It all culminates in pitches to more than 500 international investors, partners, and industry connections at Demo Day on the 20th of July 2022. 

Each startup will be working with 1 of 8 expert coaches, who will help guide them on their Remarkable journey. Our wonderful coaches this year include Kate Jenkins, Alan Jones, Ben Reid, Poppy Rouse, Warren Bingham, Molly Levitt, Sam Lazarus and Laura Anderson!

The program will also be supported by an incredible community of mentors, as well as, Open Inclusion who we’re working to provide user-testing experiences with people with disabilities to identify practical, inclusive and accessible innovations.

We’d like to say a big thank you to the incredible support we receive from our partners icare NSW, Telstra Foundation and VivCourt, as well as, the newly introduced Remarkable US partners CPARF and SmartJob.