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Tech

A Disabilities Tech Company Is Raising Money on Kickstarter

Furenexo is developing three prototype accessibility products with the hope of serving a large market.
Image: Furenexo

Nearly one in seven people worldwide has a disability, according to the World Health Organization. In the United States alone, over seven million people are blind or have low vision, 10 million are deaf or hard of hearing, and tens of millions have ADHD, memory loss, and other challenges.

Yet, while the market for people with disabilities is quite large, Brian Goral and Eric Skiff saw an absence of innovation in disabilities-assistive technology. They founded Furenexo, a disabilities-assistive tech startup that launched a Kickstarter campaign last week to help fund the production of the company's first inventions.

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"The space between the skyrocketing technology curve and the flat assistive technology line is opportunity," Goral said. "There are entire communities of people who are ready for the next offering that may make their daily challenges a little easier."

Furenexo's three main products, which are still in the prototype phase, aim to assist people with deafness, blindness, ADHD, and autism spectrum disorder.

The sound-sense system, intended to cost around $30, picks up sounds from the environment, such as an ambulance siren, a smoke alarm, or even a friend calling out from across a room, and signals them to a deaf person through vibrations from the device.

A similar technology existed about 20 years ago, but in a larger and more expensive form, Goral said. When that company shut down, people who used the products had no way of getting replacements.

While the sound-sense system is based off a device that used to exist, Furenexo's two other products are based on novel technology.

The haptic sleeve, the cost of which is yet to be determined, works similarly: Signaling through different patterned series of vibrations when something in the physical environment looks different, it lets a blind person know when something such as a person or a car is coming towards them. Goral and Skiff are partnering with Helen Keller Services to test Furenexo's products and get feedback from the deaf community. Once a prototype of the haptic sleeve is complete, Helen Keller Services can help make sure it's useful in the real world for people with disabilities.

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"The space between the skyrocketing technology curve and the flat assistive technology line is opportunity."

The alternative timer's watch helps students with learning disabilities such as ADHD or autism pay attention in class. At regular intervals, the watch buzzes to corral the student's attention if they have been zoning out or otherwise not focusing on what's happening in the classroom. Through a Bluetooth connection, the teacher can also give the student a subtle alert if it appears they have lost focus. The watch can help out at home, too, alerting kids to voice commands or periodic tasks, like turning off the TV or brushing their teeth, that they may not ordinarily respond to.

Similar to Durr, a $120 faceless novelty watch that buzzes at five minute intervals, the alternative timer's watch does not yet have a price. Goral hopes to keep it comparable to the sound-sense system: "Something reasonable for the technology and affordable enough that you wouldn't mind a small child wearing it," he said.

Assistive technology is not generally prominent on Kickstarter, Goral said. However, the company decided to ask for $80,000 in donations via Kickstarter to finish developing its products and bring them to market. As of this writing, the campaign had raised $5,180. On its Kickstarter page, the company notes that it must transition from prototype to production. As with most Kickstarters, delays or other unanticipated issues could arise.

Goral and Skiff have some personal experience with disability. Goral's 25-year-old cousin has a variety of health problems in addition to a disability, and a good friend of Skiff's is on the autism spectrum.

However, the two realize that they don't know what it's like to live with a disability the way their potential customers do.

"We are working with individuals and partners who are aware of these issues, so that we can gain insight into how we can best apply technology toward effective and affordable solutions," Goral said. "Eric and I are not of these communities living with the same daily challenges, and we know that some with differing viewpoints may not agree with our approach. We are introducing Furenexo with sincere intentions, and we are listening."