9 startups changing disability tech

Disability tech accelerator Remarkable held its 2025 Disability Tech Summit at Sydney Town Hall this week, bringing the event to Australia for the first time.

Founded as an initiative of Australia's Cerebral Palsy Alliance in 2016, Remarkable has since spread to the U.S., holding its previous three Disability Tech Summits in San Francisco and San Diego. The organisation now runs two disability tech accelerator programs annually: One focused on US-based startups, and the other for startups in Australia and the rest of the world.

"In Australia, the federal government currently commits around about a $100 billion per year to disability and aging. And we know that we're only just scratching the surface of what is way in excess of a $13 trillion global opportunity around innovation in this space," said Remarkable founder Pete Horsley.

"We really do believe that with Australia's world leading research design capability, and lived experience in leadership, we have the chance to make the disability sector the next wave of innovative industry that flourishes right here in Australia but also in other pockets around the world as well."

Here are nine startups innovating in assistive tech at Remarkable’s 2025 Disability Tech Summit.

ByStorm Beauty, makeup tools for people with disabilities

ByStorm Beauty's founder Storm Menzies has mild cerebral palsy and worked in the disability industry for years. Even so, it wasn't until she broke her dominant hand that she realised how inaccessible makeup is to many people with disabilities. 

"When I couldn’t open a tube of mascara, and I couldn't find the accessible beauty products that I needed, I googled. And even Google was confused," said Menzies. "So I called one of my friends, and I asked her how she did her makeup. And she said, 'Storm, makeup isn't made for people like me. No one sees me as beautiful.'"

This prompted Menzies to create tools which snap on to makeup products, enabling people with disabilities to hold and use them.

"I learned that my community doesn’t actually want accessible makeup," Menzies explained. "What they want is to be able to use the same makeup and beauty products as everyone else, the same products that are trending and viral on TikTok."

ByStorm Beauty's makeup attachments come in two models. The round Betty grip is suited to people with wrist or hand pain, while the paddle-shaped Margie helps people who can't curl their fingers. Both are made of medical-grade silicone, and can be used across different product types and brands. Based in Australia, ByStorm Beauty also currently ships to Canada, the UK, and New Zealand.

"While everyone else is chasing these high-tech, AI solutions, we are focused on simplicity," said Menzies. "Accessibility is not charity. It’s innovation. It is sustainability. And it is the future of beauty."

Possibility Neurotechnologies' Think2Switch, a brain-computer interface

Possibility Neurotechnologies' co-founder and CEO Dion Kelly describes its brain-computer interface Think2Switch as "like Siri for your thoughts." Designed for ease of use, the Think2Switch software enables people to operate up to four separate electrical devices using off-the-shelf brain sensing headsets.

"For people who experience challenges with mobility and communication,... none of [the potential options] are accessible, affordable, or usable by the average person," said Kelly. "With Think2Switch, anyone can go online right now, and they can purchase a Muse headset for $500, they can download our app, and start using it right away."

Equipped with EEG electrodes, Muse's headsets are intended to be meditation wearables. Possibility Neurotechnologies' Think2Switch reappropriates their ability to detect brain activity to turn it into an accessibility device.

"Imagine being told that your child will never talk, they'll never walk, they'll never be able to do anything independently," said Kelly. "Now imagine learning that there's a technology that can help your child interact with the world, a fundamental human right. So you get on wait lists. You do months and months of assessments trying to prove that your child is disabled enough to warrant this technology, in hopes that maybe insurance will cover it. If not, it's $15,000 out of pocket. That's the reality for 60 million people… where only two percent ever get access."

Based in Canada, Kelly states that Think2Switch has already been used by over a 100 families across 20 clinics. Of course, its ambitions stretch far beyond this. While Possibility Neurotechnologies is currently focused on people with disabilities, the startup hopes to eventually introduce Think2Switch to the kids' consumer tech and toy market as well.

"We're building this for all children, because the desire to control your world is not limited by disability," said Kelly. "With Think2Switch, interaction feels like magic, and what child doesn't want to experience that?"

Field of Vision, enabling people with limited vision to follow live sports

Established in 2020, Field of Vision was inspired by a viral video of a blind football fan celebrating a goal in a crowded stadium. The Irish startup's handheld haptic devices enable people with low vision to follow live sports, letting them feel engraved high-contrast field lines as well as the movement of the ball.

"I like to describe it a bit like a football Ouija board," explained co-founder David Deneher. "So you let the magnet guide your hand around the field, rather than the other way around, and then that can tell you where the ball is. And then there's vibrations for key events within the sports games, such as tackles or behinds goals, and there's different vibrations for each of them."

Around the size of an iPad, Field of Vision's device has interchangeable plates allowing it to be used for different sports. Deneher stated that it can be used for soccer, rugby, AFL, and NFL, with the startup planning to expand to baseball and tennis. 

"We get our data from either AI cameras that are installed in the stadium that can bring it to the device in less than half a second, or we can manually track the data," said Deneher. "We can work in any size stadium, with big stadiums such as [Melbourne's] Marvel Stadium, all the way to our local ones….

"That's one of the big things we work on, is making sure the data gets to our device in less than half a second. Because the idea is we want the fans to be able to experience this sport at the same time as everyone else, rather than always asking what's going on."

Earlier this year, Marvel Stadium announced that AFL audiences will be able to rent Field of Vision's devices for free in 2026, in collaboration with Australian telecom Telstra. While Field of Vision's devices are currently loaned out by stadiums, Deneher hopes that sports enthusiasts will eventually own their own which they can take with them to games.

Understanding Zoe, an app for tracking neurodivergent children's health

Named for co-founder and CEO Laetitia Andrac's daughter, Understanding Zoe is an AI-assisted app which allows parents, teachers, and therapists to track their neurodivergent child's progress by logging their behaviours. The app's AI coach Pip then offers insights based on the information provided, helping adults identify a child's meltdown triggers and the calming techniques which work for them. 

"The whole idea of Understanding Zoe was to support [neurodivergent children who] are misunderstood and hidden and invisible," said Andrac. "To make sure that, from now on, we don't repeat the biases and the trauma from the past, and we support them."

Though the app is focused on children, Andrac noted that they hope to expand beyond this in the future.

"Understanding Zoe was born out of our own lived experience facing [a] broken system," Andrac said. "We are embracing ethical AI, we are correcting biases, and we are embracing strength-based neuro affirming care. We collaborate with researchers from University of Sydney, Oxford University, but we also collaborate with lots of clinicians and lived experience experts to really build this platform."

Understanding Zoe is available on both iOS and Android, and offers a free 30-day trial. After that, the app will set you back $AU10 per month per family, with multiple children and caregivers supported.

Rampey, an autonomous AI-powered robot ramp

As the name suggests, Rampey is a ramp. Of course, this is far from all there is to it. Introduced by founder and CEO Jay Davey, Rampey is a robotic, self-deploying ramp which uses AI to autonomously position itself in front of train doors. This means people with disabilities don't have to rely on station staff to help them, enabling them to get in and out of the carriage with greater ease.

"No staff needed, no waiting for heavy ramps, no arriving early," said Davey, who boasts over 20 years of experience in robotics. "Our autonomous ramps position themselves before the doors open. And what took minutes now takes seconds….

"The robot is safe around people, thanks to its hybrid LiDAR and computer vision sensor suite. Platforms with large gaps and curve geometries are no challenge. We turn in place to match the angle of the train, and we adjust the height of the ramp to the perfect height every time."

While Rampey is targeted at wheelchair users, Davey also acknowledged the need to consider how it impacts other people with disabilities.

"We want to put lights and sounds and audio cues to give some kind of indication of what the robot wants to do," said Davey. "But those lights and sounds — if they're not carefully monitored and carefully implemented — they can be challenges for people with neuro divergence or things like that. So that realisation, that awareness [of] what you're putting on the robot, matters a lot."

Though based in Australia and primarily focused on trains, Davey noted that Rampey could also be used for other modes of transport such as autonomous cars, and could eventually be deployed globally. The startup is currently looking to raise pre-seed capital.

Umps, a personal alarm exploring AI integration

Umps is named after co-founder and CEO Adam Jahnke's title for his grandfather, whose dangerous falls inspired the personal alarm startup. Jahnke's grandfather wasn't wearing his alarm when he fell, so Umps started out by developing a smart home system which could detect abnormal movements via sensors placed around users' homes. However, potential users were deterred by the feeling of being surveilled.

"We were creating really great opportunities for intervention," explained Jahnke. "We were particularly good at detecting things like infections, breakdowns in people's everyday routine, disruptions to sleep, more sedentary behaviour…. [but] people felt a loss of autonomy and a loss of agency when something passive was monitoring them."

As such, Umps ultimately returned to personal alarms, offering pendants and watches connected to a home hub. However, the startup is now looking at how to offer more services and greater functionality on its devices, integrating various wireless network protocols such as Bluetooth, Zigbee, Thread, and WiFi.

"We've got a whole bunch of technology in here that would enable us to integrate other sensors and medical devices," said Jahnke. "What we ended up building was a range of voice applications that can be delivered over the personal alarm, [with voice commands] not just going to an emergency centre, but also to be delivered to care. 

"So with [Australian Christian community care organisation] Anglicare now, people can press this button, they can talk to the device, the device will transcribe what that person's request is and send it directly to their care team. Their care team can type back a response, send it back, and push it directly to the device."

Umps also plans to launch AI wellbeing checks next year, which will have its hub prompt users to gather information from them.

Hailo, an app helping people with disabilities catch public buses

In 2018, Hailo co-founder and CTO Santiago Velasquez missed a university exam after multiple buses failed to stop for him that morning. Though he'd arrived early, was wearing a high-visibility vest, and held up the route number, he wasn't able to see the bus to hail it. As a result, he missed his exam and had to spend an additional six months on his electrical engineering degree.

"It wasn't the driver's fault," said Velasquez. "They are focused on the road [and] traffic, and without a clear signal at the appropriate time, the decision to stop can pass in a blink… People with disabilities experience isolation daily because public transport is not for everyone. This means living smaller lives, fewer outings and having limited employment opportunities."

The Hailo app aims to address this problem, and make public transport more accessible for everyone. Commuters use the app to send alerts to drivers' dashboards, letting them know that there are passengers to pick up as they approach a stop. They can also plan trips and see live vehicle information in the app. Meanwhile, drivers will receive information such as how many passengers there are, whether they need to deploy a ramp, and if the bus' suspension needs to be lowered.

"Both drivers and travelers get alerts at pickup, during the trip, and while approaching the stop," Velasquez explained. "Hailo works with existing technology on vehicles, so we are ready to roll out across New South Wales, Australia, and the world."

Hailo conducted a trial across 400 buses in New South Wales last year, and is preparing to launch in Melbourne and expand globally. While Hailo was initially designed for people with disabilities, Velasquez noted that it could be useful to everyone who takes public transport.

"[Text messaging] was to help people who couldn't hear," said Velasquez. "Now everybody says, 'Don't call me. Text.' It's the same thing with Hailo."

Rove, lightweight customisable wheelchairs

Rove offers lightweight yet durable wheelchairs made of 3D-printed titanium and wound carbon fibre. Weighing approximately 4kg (9lbs) without wheels and capable of being customised down to the millimetre, Rove's assistive devices are for experienced wheelchair users who know what they like.

"Your chair has to match your aesthetic, but also get you around," said Rove's national sales manager Alex Jones. "It needs to go to weddings, to funerals, to appointments. And just day to day in your life, in everything you do, you are most likely going to be dependent on that chair for — depending on the use case — either one thing or everything you do in your entire life.

"So here at Rove, we try and use cutting edge technology… to take the pros of both [titanium and carbon fibre] and cut out as much of the cons as we can to make the best, most functional wheelchair that we can. 

"And then we really care about the aesthetics of it. So we do colours, we do all sorts of different things, because a wheelchair isn't just a thing that you have inside of your house. For a lot of people, it's something that they're going to use every day and be dependent on for their whole mobility…. We make them look cool….

"The look on someone's face when they see that chair that they actually want to be seen in public, that catches me by surprise every time."

Rove doesn't yet have any dealers outside of Australia and New Zealand, with Jones telling Mashable that it's currently going through the approval processes in the U.S. and Europe. As such, it will likely be a while before it makes it to dealers stateside. However, you can still order a wheelchair directly from their website, with Rove selling to customers across the globe.

Marco Polo, a housemate matching platform for people with disabilities

While Australia's National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) helps people with disabilities find housing, they typically don't get to choose their housemates. Marco Polo is a housemate matching platform which gives NDIS participants the power to select who they live with. 

"Across Australia, more than 700,000 people rely on the NDIS, and too many of them are being placed into shared homes with strangers," said Marco Polo co-founder Amy Connelly. "This leads to outcomes that range from conflict and distress to failed placements, and in some cases, violence and neglect….

"What the system needs is the ability to prioritise connection, choice, and compatibility first. But the system isn't designed for that, so we built the technology that makes it possible…. Think [Australian share accommodation website] Flatmates meets Tinder, custom built for people with disability."

People who receive NDIS housing assistance simply tell Marco Polo how much funding they receive and the location they prefer to live in. The platform will then show them potential housemates who match their individual circumstances and preferences.

Marco Polo is free for participants and support coordinators, while there are paid subscriptions for care providers, who can use the platform to list and manage vacancies. Connelly states that Marco Polo currently has over 600 users.

"Often people [using the NDIS housing model] have no choice in who they're living with," said co-founder Aaron Cotton. "It's, 'Here's three people, in you get, just deal with it and be happy that you've got somewhere to live.' We are changing that, and making sure that people with a disability and their families and whoever supports them have the ability to select who they're living with and who supports them."