I still remember the first time I used a piece of assistive technology that truly worked — not just technically, but functionally, in the world I was navigating. It was rare. Too often, the promise of accessibility stays locked inside prototypes, white papers, or grant reports. For those of us who are blind or disabled, it’s not innovation until it shows up in our jobs, in our classrooms, on our streets. The pace of invention in accessible technology has never been faster — but the path that carries those innovations into real people’s lives is still far too slow and uneven.
That’s why I’m especially honored to participate in CREATE Community Day on May 28, 2025 on the University of Washington’s Seattle campus. This event isn’t just about showcasing research — it’s about bridging the persistent gap between idea and impact. We’ll be talking about translation — not as a buzzword, but as a system, a process, and a responsibility. In this article, I want to share why that work matters so deeply to me, what we’ve learned across sectors, and why your presence at CREATE could help move accessibility from possibility to practice.
The Problem with Progress: When Innovation Doesn’t Travel
We don’t lack ideas — we lack infrastructure. Time and again, I’ve seen incredible research in university labs, breakthrough assistive devices, and thoughtfully engineered platforms that never make it past a conference table or a small grant cycle. Meanwhile, blind professionals continue to be underemployed, not because tools don’t exist, but because we haven’t built the systems to implement them — across public institutions, corporate HR policies, procurement processes, or vocational training pipelines. I’ve worked with clients whose workplaces “check the box” on accessibility, yet still exclude them functionally because no one translated innovation into workflow, policy, or culture.
The truth is, good ideas alone don’t transform lives. Even the best intentions can miss the mark when solutions are designed for us, not with us. That’s why CREATE’s work matters — not just its inventions, but its commitment to community-centered design. But even so, one research showcase a year won’t change the system unless it sparks deeper partnerships, implementation strategies, and leadership willing to do the follow-through. And let’s be honest — some prototypes, however creative, may never scale because they solve a problem that no one in the community asked to be solved. Frameworks like the Technology Translation Readiness Assessment Tool remind us: translation isn’t about pushing everything out — it’s about knowing what’s ready, who it’s for, and how to deliver it right.
What Real Translation Looks Like (and Requires)
Real translation begins with leadership that’s willing to listen — really listen. Not to check a box or affirm a hunch, but to learn from the people who live with the outcomes of our systems. The best solutions I’ve seen came out of co-creation, not assumption. That’s the ethos behind Surpassing Sight — where we bring together employers, policymakers, and disabled professionals to shape disability inclusion from the inside out. It’s also what CREATE embodies: a research community that actively partners with those of us whose lives depend on what they build. Translation, done right, starts with asking not “What can we make?” but “What do you need — and how can we build it together?”
That’s why I’m so energized to join this year’s panel alongside leaders like Dr. Mary Goldberg and Dr. Michele Williams. Mary’s work takes assistive tech from lab to launch, helping innovators understand how policy, training, and evaluation must travel with the product. Michele brings accessibility directly into UX workflows, helping teams embed inclusion from prototype to rollout. Together, we’ll explore how research, practice, and policy can stop moving in parallel — and start intersecting where it counts. Because systems change doesn’t happen in silos. It takes collaboration across vocational rehab systems, community nonprofits, tech firms, and government agencies. CREATE’s Community Day is one of the rare spaces where that kind of collaboration isn’t just encouraged — it’s expected. And that’s how real translation begins.
What You’ll See — and Why It Matters — at CREATE Community Day 2025
I’m proud to join this year’s panel on Translation: Bringing Research into the World, alongside some truly remarkable changemakers. Dr. Michele Williams brings deep experience as a UX researcher who teaches teams how to embed accessibility into every stage of design. Dr. Mary Goldberg is a national leader in translating assistive tech innovations into usable, scalable systems that actually reach people. Wilson Ng brings perspective from within local government and community-based accessibility efforts. And a local accessibility entrepreneur will round out the conversation with hard-won insights from the front lines of inclusive business. This isn’t just a panel about innovation — it’s a real-world dialogue between people who do the work of making it stick.
Immediately following the panel, the CREATE Research Showcase — co-sponsored by HuskyADAPT — will open its doors. If you’ve never seen a ride-on car adapted for mobility, or a gaming controller redesigned for all users, or a chatbot that generates image alt-text in real time, you’re in for a treat. But this isn’t just a science fair. It’s a lab for interaction, where your feedback helps shape the next generation of tools. I encourage everyone who attends to roll up their sleeves — ask questions, test prototypes, offer perspective. Your lived experience is part of the design process.
And if you’re thinking, “This isn’t my field,” I invite you to reconsider. Accessibility touches everything — healthcare, hiring, higher ed, transportation, the apps we use every day. Sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is just be in the room. When you’re in proximity to inclusive innovation — when you meet the people designing it, and the people it’s meant to serve — your perspective shifts. And once it does, you don’t lead, build, or hire the same way again. That’s why this event matters. That’s why I’ll be there.
Toward a Future Where Translation Is the Norm, Not the Exception
The challenge isn’t a lack of innovation — we have tools, designs, and frameworks ready to go. What we need now is implementation. Real access isn’t created in labs alone; it’s realized through policies, hiring practices, procurement systems, training programs, and public infrastructure. We already know what works. The question is: are we willing to do the work of delivering it where it counts?
That’s why I’m inviting you to join us at CREATE Community Day — not as an attendee, but as a collaborator. Whether you’re a policymaker shaping procurement, an educator designing inclusive curriculum, a tech developer building new tools, or a business leader seeking to widen your talent pipeline, there is a role for you in this conversation. And after the event? Keep going. Join the CREATE mailing list. Commission an accessibility audit. Hire disabled talent. Support the next generation of innovators. Community Day is a milestone — but it’s what we do next that counts.
I opened this piece with a memory of the first time assistive technology really worked for me — not just in theory, but in the real world. That moment shouldn’t be rare. It should be the rule. I believe it can be. If we build with purpose, lead with humility, and translate together, we can create a world where access is not an exception — but the standard. Let’s make that real. Starting now.
Video Transcript:
Dr. Kirk Adams: The phrase that was very powerful was nothing about us without us, and now it is much shorter. It’s nothing without us. So the way, the way to do this is to have people with disabilities doing the work. So that means employing people and doing the work and including them in the work. So as I mentioned before, you know, organizations work within a context of a identity, and they work in the context of information. The work is performed on based on information. The relationships are the channels through which the information flows. And typically there’s not enough information in organizations. And it’s poor quality information. And in absence of good information, people will create misinformation. But having people with the lived experience of disability working in the organization, whether it’s a department, a work group, a team, a company, part of the network of relationships that provides the organization with lots of really high quality information about accessibility and accommodations and disability inclusion. So my answer is to hire people with disabilities into our teams, work groups, departments and organizations distributed throughout the organization, large or small, in a variety of roles. And there are some really good research. Doctor Geoffrey Moore at Anderson University, a small university in South Carolina. Since 2007, he and his doctoral students have been studying work groups that employ significant percentages of people with disabilities. And they’ve found that if about 20% of people have a disclosed disability in a work group. Some really cool things start happening and there are some kind of tangible bottom line things like lower turnover, absenteeism, better safety, better employee satisfaction, better customer perception. But then the identity change changes, the culture starts to change. And something he wrote one finding managers in inclusive organizations undergo a significant transformation from autocratic, production focused leaders to inclusive, relationship based leaders and back to relationships being the channels through which information flows. My, my, my contention is to really bring this stuff to life. You have to have people with disabilities not only being considered, but being involved in doing the work.
Panel: Kirk, in your bio, it suggests that you are, and I’m sure you are a master connector of key decision makers across sectors, so clearly require some sector collaboration there in the consulting world. I’d love to hear about how your work in cross-sector collaboration has helped related to the translation of very impactful, inclusive employment practices.
Dr. Kirk Adams: That’s knowledge translation means how do we take what we know to liberate people, to make them more free to pursue thriving in whatever way that means to them? When we’re talking about I can remember being my retina is detached when I was five, so I was sighted one day and blind the next day. And when I went into first grade classroom at Oregon State School for the blind, and they had that big tactile globe that set me free right there. How can how can we use AI to improve the lives of people in transformational ways, not incremental ways? And that’s going to that’s going to mean different things for different people, as also Estee Lauder has an app to help blind people put on makeup better. That doesn’t free me because I don’t I’m not a makeup person. But for somebody out there that is liberating them and making them more free to live the life that they want to. So to cross sector, the best example I have is a program I’m involved in called the Apex program. It’s WWE Apex program. It is a virtual training certification placement program to launch blind people into careers in cybersecurity. That came out of a two year research cooperative agreement that I had at the American Foundation for the blind, with the ability, federal Ability one commission, to bring forward three new lines of business that could create career pathways into knowledge based careers for people who are who are blind and one with cybersecurity. And I’ve partnered with a privately held cybersecurity company called Nova Coast.
Dr. Kirk Adams: They have a large consulting practice with global financials. They have a federal practice, a training business, a cybersecurity conference business, a placement business. And one of their founders has a blind child. And when I started talking to them about cybersecurity for blind people, they got very excited. So I think someone asked, how do you start inclusion? It’s like a it’s like, how does a oyster make a pearl? You start with a grain of sand, and often that grain of sand is a personal, impactful experience someone has with disability, whether it’s a child or a sibling. Jonathan Lazar was talking about Senator Bob Casey. He was the successor to Tom Harkin, who was one of the driving forces behind the Ada because Senator Harkin had disabled brother, and that’s what motivated him. And when he retired, his staff went to work for Senator Casey. So earlier I said, across sector, you need government corporate, nonprofit and community in order to make anything really big happen. And the apex program is designed that way. We have established relationships with vocational rehabilitation agencies in 24 states so far, which are funded by the Department of Education and their state, state agencies. So that’s the government piece. We have identified 70 employers who are all having challenges finding enough qualified, certified cybersecurity people to hire. So we have the corporate piece. We’ve partnered with nonprofits around the country who have a mission to accelerate employment of people with disabilities in their particular communities and have philanthropic dollars to do that.
Dr. Kirk Adams: And then we’ve engaged the consumer groups in all these states, namely the American Council of the blind, National Federation of the blind. So bringing all four of those, those sectors together is what makes the makes it work. Yeah. I would just say anytime you’re trying to take what, you know, to improve people’s lives, you want to have built in your design, your outcomes measurements. Michelle just mentioned indicators. Some of this stuff is so long term it might not well get getting the employment rate of people with disabilities equivalent with the general population probably won’t happen in my lifetime, but I would like to see some indicators that we’re making progress along the way. So whether it’s indicators or outcomes or targets I work with Seattle Theatre Group here in Seattle. For those of you who live here, they run the Paramount and the Neptune. And the more their executive director has two kids with disabilities, he wants his audience to reflect the community, which would mean about 15% of the audience and 15% of the employees should be people with disabilities. So we’ve established some targets and some timelines, and we’re measuring the percentage of people employed by Seattle Theatre Group who have a disclosed disability. So that’s a very simple measurement for the Apex program. We’ve built in quality of life. So we ask people to do a quality of life survey when they start it. When they finish it, when they get a job. And then we’ll measure that longitudinally over time.
Dr. Kirk Adams: Yeah. Human rights. Thank you. Michel. Perfect. I will put in a plug for the vocational rehabilitation system and the Rehabilitation Act, which is still the law. And if you are interested in employment of people with disabilities, it’s the best resource we have. Their budget is $4 billion. Every state has at least one vocational rehabilitation agency. We have two in our state Commission for the Blind and Department of Vocational Rehabilitation. And they can do a lot. You’re entitled person with disabilities entitled to start receiving services at age 14. You’re entitled to individual plan for employment, which include them paying for your education through your PhD. They can provide equipment and training and workplace assessments. And for employers, they can pay salaries during on the job training. They can do a lot. They often need to be. Coerced into doing what they’re supposed to do. But my working proposition is if there’s a person with a disability who wants to become employed in the United States, they should be getting every ounce of resource they’re entitled to from the vocational rehabilitation system. Well, it’s a process. And, Bill I think you and I were together at Boeing and Everett report out on a on a study that Boeing and Alaska Air and Teague did. it’s a cultural transformation. It’s creating that inclusive environment. It’s working toward getting to that tipping point of a significant number of people with disabilities. And I recommend that organizations start through self-promoting self-disclosure and really leading with accommodations and talking about accommodations, because we know that companies, when they’re asked to report, they say they have one and a half to 4% of their employees have disabilities.
Dr. Kirk Adams: And we know demographically they have 10 to 15% of their people have disabilities, 70% are non-apparent. So to start encouraging self-disclosure by. Showing the power of accommodations to the company and the employee, how an accommodation can help the person bring their whole self to work can make them more efficient, more impactful, more healthy, healthier more support their mental health by having what they need to do their work and to start doing that by giving examples. Boeing, Boeing’s a big ship to turn bill. But at some companies I say, let’s bake. Let’s bake this into the annual performance review. Let’s have the managers talk about accommodations to every employee that they do a review with and give some examples, say, you know, some people have a bigger monitor, some people have a stand up desk, some people need a flexible work schedule, and they need two, two hours between their shifts. Morning, morning and afternoon. So, so many accommodations are simple, and the most common one is flexible work schedule. So again, I think starting to get people to talk about it, starting to get people within the organization who are there who have disabilities, who haven’t asked for accommodations. They’re entitled to start talking about that. Start using it and just beginning to move things toward that more inclusive, more comfortable environment around disability and accommodation.
” Inclusion isn’t just the right thing to do — it’s a strategic advantage. “
Dr. Kirk Adams, Ph.D.
Advocate, Leader and Keynote Speaker on Disability Inclusion & Leadership
Leading the Way to Accessible Innovation
Innovative Impact, LLC Consulting
Managing Director
Impactful Workforce Inclusion Starts Here
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