Investing In Accessibility
We aren't waiting for change, we are investing in it. Investing in Accessibility is dedicated to exploring the intersection of accessibility, entrepreneurship, and impact investing. Join hosts Kelvin Crosby and Chris Maher as they speak with entrepreneurs and thought leaders who are focused on empowering people with disabilities and creating a more accessible world. Kelvin Crosby is CEO of Smart Guider Inc., which develops navigation technology enabling deafblind individuals to travel independently. Known as The DeafBlind Potter, he funded his first invention, the See Me Cane, through pottery sales. Kelvin lives with Usher Syndrome type 2 and is a staunch advocate for accessibility. Chris Maher is the Founder & General Partner at Samaritan Partners, a public benefit venture fund that invests in the disability sector. Chris founded Samaritan after spending 25 years as an operator and multi-time CEO at a variety of venture capital-backed companies, and 20 years raising two daughters with disabilities.
Episodes
In this episode of Investing in Accessibility, co-hosts Kelvin Crosby and Chris Maher sit down with Matt Eldridge, Executive Director of Realize Impact, for a fascinating conversation about unlocking philanthropic capital to fuel for-profit innovation and social impact.
Matt shares his unique career journey—from nonprofit leadership and startup entrepreneurship to leading an organization that helps move charitable dollars into missi...
In this episode of Investing in Accessibility, co-hosts Kelvin Crosby and Chris Maher sit down with Alan Schwarz, Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist and managing editor at Forbes, for a behind-the-scenes look at The Accessibility 200 — Forbes’ growing list recognizing the innovators, entrepreneurs, investors, and impact-makers shaping the future of accessibility.
Alan shares the unexpected origin story behind the list, from his ear...
In this episode of Investing in Accessibility, co-hosts Kelvin Crosby and Chris Maher close out the Accelerator Series with Aarti Sahgal, founder and CEO of Synergies Work and the Synergy Seed Fund, for a powerful conversation about entrepreneurship, disability, and closing the disability wealth gap.
Aarti shares the personal journey that led her into the disability world—from navigating IEP meetings as an immigrant mother raising a...
In this latest installment of our Accelerator Series, hosts Kelvin Crosby and Chris Maher sit down with Keevin O’Rourke, CEO of Multiple, a startup accelerator dedicated to advancing innovation in autism and neurodiversity tech.
Keevin shares his journey from early entrepreneurship—building college startups and navigating the highs and lows of the accelerator ecosystem—to leading Multiple, where he now supports founders tackling som...
In this installment of our Accelerator Series, hosts Kelvin Crosby and Chris Maher sit down with Molly Lazarus, Director of the U.S. accelerator at Remarkable—a global nonprofit funding and supporting startups building innovative solutions for the disability community.
Molly’s path to Remarkable is anything but conventional. From growing up alongside family members navigating ALS, to running summer camps for children with disabiliti...
In this installment of our Accelerator Series, Kelvin Crosby and Chris Maher sit down with Diego Mariscal, Founder and CEO of 2Gether-International—the largest accelerator supporting entrepreneurs with disabilities.
Diego shares his remarkable journey from growing up in Monterrey, Mexico, to launching a global organization that has supported over 700 founders. Born prematurely and living with cerebral palsy, Diego’s lived experience...
In this episode of Investing in Accessibility, co-hosts Kelvin Crosby and Chris Maher launch the first installment of their new Accelerator Series, highlighting organizations that help disability-focused startups grow and scale their impact.
Their first guest is Varun Chandak, founder and executive director of Access to Success (ATS), a Toronto-based nonprofit accelerator supporting accessibility startups around the world. Varun sha...
In this episode of Investing in Accessibility, co-hosts Kelvin Crosby and Chris Maher take you behind the scenes at CES in Las Vegas—where accessibility took a major step forward with the first-ever dedicated Accessibility Stage.
After navigating the chaos of 150,000 attendees (and a few unforgettable “grab the backpack and go!” moments), Kelvin and Chris bring you a live recording of Chris’s CES panel: “Investing in Accessibility.”...
In this episode of Investing in Accessibility, hosts Kelvin Crosby and Chris Maher sit down with Lauren Lobrano, Head of Accessibility and Global Disability Inclusion at Amazon’s Inclusive Experiences and Technology (IXT) group. Lauren shares her powerful journey from public service and humanitarian work with the American Red Cross and Wounded Warrior Project to leading accessibility efforts at one of the world’s largest companies.
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In this in-person episode of Investing in Accessibility, Kelvin Crosby and Chris Maher are joined by returning guest Joe Devon—accessibility pioneer, GAAD co-founder, and longtime technologist—for a deep dive into one of the most urgent questions of our time: Is artificial intelligence being built accessibly?
Joe introduces AIMAC (AI Model Accessibility Checker), a new benchmark designed to measure how accessible AI-generated code r...
In this “CES All-Stars” episode, co-hosts Kelvin Crosby and Chris Maher team up as they track down the most exciting accessibility innovations on the CES Expo floor. From the company that helped spark this very podcast, to products that could redefine mobility, gaming, shopping, indoor navigation, and even how Deaf individuals experience music—this episode is a rapid-fire tour of the people and companies pushing accessibility into ...
In this special year-end episode of Investing in Accessibility, hosts Kelvin Crosby and Chris Maher take a moment to reflect, celebrate, and look ahead.
As 2025 comes to a close, Kelvin and Chris revisit highlights from the podcast’s first full year—25 episodes featuring entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and innovators who are shaping a more accessible and inclusive world. From memorable guest conversations and shared laughs to meanin...
In this episode of Investing in Accessibility, co-hosts Kelvin Crosby and Chris Maher sit down with Angela Lean, Senior Accessibility Program Lead at Microsoft, for a powerful conversation about turning disability into a true competitive advantage. Angela shares her lived experience of having a stroke at age 12, how her perspective shifted from “succeeding despite disability” to “succeeding because of it,” and why she now sees disa...
In this episode of Investing in Accessibility, co-hosts Kelvin Crosby and Chris Maher kick off the holiday season with something special: a recorded panel from the RALLY Innovation Conference in Indianapolis.
Moderated by Jennison Asuncion (Head of Accessibility Engineering Evangelism at LinkedIn and co-founder of Global Accessibility Awareness Day), this conversation brings together four leaders shaping the future of disability tec...
In this episode, co-hosts Kelvin Crosby and Chris Maher welcome a very special guest: Chris’s oldest daughter, Charlotte Maher—an EMT-turned-emergency management professional whose life with spastic hemiplegia has forged extraordinary resilience. Charlotte shares early memories (and family stories) of therapies, leg and back braces, and the infamous “constraint camp,” then traces how those experiences shaped her confidence, leaders...
Join hosts Kelvin Crosby and Chris Maher for an inspiring conversation with Cara Yar Khan, founder & CEO of The Purple Practice, former UNICEF humanitarian, filmmaker, and fierce disability advocate. Cara traces her multicultural roots and early activism, the winding journey to a rare diagnosis of hereditary inclusion body myopathy, and how she learned to lead, pitch, and live with radical authenticity.
This episode dives into C...
In this episode of Investing in Accessibility, hosts Kelvin Crosby and Chris Maher explore how The Accessibility Lab at The Schoolhouse Hotel in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia is transforming the travel and hospitality industry for people with disabilities.
Chris shares how this innovative partnership between Samaritan Partners, The Schoolhouse Hotel, and TravelAbility is turning a boutique hotel into a living lab for testing ...
In this inspiring episode of Investing in Accessibility, hosts Kelvin Crosby and Chris Maher sit down with Chris Soukup, CEO of Communication Service for the Deaf (CSD), for a powerful conversation about advocacy, innovation, and the future of accessibility.
Chris shares his family’s remarkable legacy—from his grandfather’s struggles with discrimination as a deaf farmer in South Dakota to his father founding CSD with a $15,000 grant...
In this episode of Investing in Accessibility, hosts Kelvin Crosby and Chris Maher welcome Mike May—entrepreneur, Paralympic athlete, navigation technology pioneer, and, as Chris calls him, “the most interesting man in the world.”
Mike shares his remarkable journey, from losing his sight at age three to regaining partial vision decades later, working for the CIA, competing on the world stage in skiing, and founding companies like Se...
In this episode of Investing in Accessibility, hosts Kelvin Crosby and Chris Maher dive into the evolution of accessibility tech with Josh Miller, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of 3Play Media—a leading media accessibility company that started at MIT and grew into an industry trailblazer.
Together, they unpack how 3Play Media emerged from a real-world need to caption complex academic videos into a scalable tech-driven company that combines A...
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