Bold Blind Beauty On A.I.R.

Advocacy in Action: Transforming Accessibility with RightHear's Idan Meir

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Episode title and number:
Advocacy in Action: Transforming Accessibility with RightHear's Idan Meir 5-#2

Summary of the show:
Bold Blind Beauty On A.I.R. hosts a talk with RightHear CEO Idan Meir about accessible audio wayfinding and advocacy for inclusion. The discussion covers RightHear's origins, the power of community input, and the importance of universal design.

Supporting Our Advocacy Work:
⦁ Be a part of the change! Support our advocacy efforts. 

Bullet points of key topics & timestamps:
00:00 | Introduction and Hosts
00:44 | Introducing Idan Meir and RightHear
02:22 | The Story Behind RightHear
05:47 | RightHear's Technology and Impact
10:54 | Empowering Blind Advocates
17:10 | Partnerships and Global Change
23:27 | Community Engagement and Advocacy
27:30 | Conclusion and Contact Information

Idan Meir's Bio:
Idan Meir is a mission-driven entrepreneur and the Co-founder & CEO of RightHear, an award-winning accessibility startup empowering people with orientation challenges to navigate public spaces independently. Based in Rockville, Maryland, Idan has been featured in Forbes, FastCompany, and HackerNews, and is a member of the exclusive CEO network, MindShare. He previously led Hubanana, a thriving startup hub, and co-founded Zikit. A veteran of an elite IDF unit and holder of an M.A. in Psychology and Management, Idan brings a rare blend of vision, leadership, and passion for impact—always fueled by strong espresso and a good plate of hummus.

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Music Credit: "Ambient Uplifting Harmonic Happy" By Panda-x-music https://audiojungle.net/item/ambient-uplifting-harmonic-happy/46309958

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Introduction and Hosts

Steph: Welcome back to another edition of Bold Blind Beauty On A.I.R. the show that's clearing the air for more A.I.R. (Access, Inclusion, and Representation). My name is Stephanae McCoy, and with me are my co-hosts. 

Dana: I'm Dana Hinnant, 

Nasreen: I'm Nasreen Bhutta, 

Sylvia: and this is Sylvia Stinson Perez. 

When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. You have to say something; you have to do something." ~John Lewis. 

Introducing Idan Meir and RightHear

Steph: Advocacy in action is the topic for today's conversation, and we're thrilled to welcome Idan Meir, co-founder, and CEO of RightHear, a groundbreaking company transforming public spaces into accessible environments for the blind and visually impaired.

RightHear's innovative audio wayfinding technology is empowering individuals worldwide while reshaping how businesses approach inclusivity. In this episode, we'll go deep into the story behind RightHear's development, the inspiration that fueled its mission, and how it continues to center the needs of the blind community.

Sylvia will explore how Idan's vision translated into action. While Nasreen will discuss how advocacy has been pivotal in adopting RightHear's indoor orientation technology.

Dana will highlight the empowerment of blind advocates through RightHear's initiatives and their broader impact. Later we'll examine how partnerships with global brands like Microsoft and McDonald's promote accessibility and inspire other businesses to follow suit.

Finally, we'll address critical issues such as bridging the gap between braille mandates and actual usage with audio technology and ensuring advocacy strategies remain informed by the blind community's voices. 

Stay tuned for an enlightening conversation that underscores the importance of advocacy in creating a more inclusive world. Let's get started. 

The Story Behind RightHear

Sylvia: Hi Idan, welcome to Bold Blind Beauty on A.I.R. we are so excited to talk with you about RightHear. 

Idan: Same here. I'm very excited and thank you for having me. 

Steph: You are welcome. I'm going to hand a mic over to Sylvia for our first question. 

Sylvia: I'm thrilled to have you here we've met before and I've seen a little bit about RightHear. But share with us what inspired RightHear's development and how you center the blind community's needs. 

Idan: Yes. Yes. So, well, you know, our story begins almost eight years ago.

You know, I have horrible orientation skills. I am sighted but I have a lot of stories of how I got lost in different places in life. And the frustration of not knowing where I am and where to go came over and over to me during my life in different situations. 

When we started RightHear, we were trying basically to scratch our itches and solve my problem with orientation. And we thought if we'll be able to solve this challenge for those that have the most severe challenge. We thought about the blind, visually impaired community, you ultimately will be able to solve it for everyone, including myself. At the time, we didn't know much about that community. We started with individuals and members of the community to learn more about it. And as we got to learn more and more about it, we fell in love with the impact that it could create for a lot of people with the gap that we're closing with it.

And it was very, soon for us to realize that we have to have the community very much interact with everything that we do. We even call our name RightHear it's 'hear,' like hearing as a self-reminder that the right thing to do is to hear or actually to listen to the end users they know best what's what is needed. 

Fast forward to today, over almost eight years since we started, the app now is helping a lot of, more people than the blind and visually impaired community. Many different types of orientation, challenge individuals but we remain the accessibility piece of it very much at the core of everything we do.

Sylvia: That's super interesting that it's really kind of a universal design and exactly like other interesting technologies for people who are blind, you didn't start on that path. You started for yourself and that's super interesting. 

Idan: Exactly. Exactly. And we're probably gonna talk more about it later, but you know, I think that's a universal design thinking mindset. It's really what leads our development and our strategy. It's, accessibility by design, but it doesn't mean that it's a solution only for the blind and visually impaired. Yeah. Solution for everyone, including the blind, and visually impaired from the get-go. 

Sylvia: I like that it's called RightHear too, versus over there.

Idan: Yeah. Well, I'm sure some of the listeners, know that a lot of times when a blind person asks for help or where is the information, "it's over there." 

Sylvia: RightHear is a different answer. 

Idan: Exactly. So yeah. Another thing we learned from the community early on.

Sylvia: Nasreen, I think you have some questions.

Nasreen: Yes, I do. Sylvia, thank you so much, Idan, for being here today. As Sylvia said, I love the name RightHear and I didn't know it's been eight years since you guys have been doing this, but I also love the fact that it's very inclusive for everyone, so that's important.

RightHear's Technology and Impact

Nasreen: So how does RightHear's indoor orientation help the blind community, and how does advocacy drive its adoption? 

Idan: Yes. So first of all, you know, we've been almost eight years, but here in the US, we're about two, almost three years. So we are pretty new to the American market having our offices here in Maryland.

Our indoor orientation solution, you know, the easiest way to think about it is like an audio signage system or talking signs system. It's an app that speaks to you and gives you audio descriptions of the space around you, in your language. By the way, we support 35 different languages.

Many of our users use it with a higher speed or slower speed. Privately there's no sign into the app, we don't ask for your name, email, or anything like that. So we're completely private and anonymous. But basically, once you get to a RightHear, enable location you can hear all your descriptions of the space around you.

So for example, you are at the main entrance you know, the reception is in this direction for 30 feet or another direction where you point with your phone? I would say we have a whole outdoor experience as well with GPS. But yeah, I think the main value of the app, comes in indoor environments.

I shared in the pre-call we had, there are over a hundred million braille signs in the US. Wherever you go, you can find them in elevators people usually notice them. I'm sure a lot of our users notice them in many other places, but they're all around us. From small restaurants to the biggest airports, hospitals, and you name it. Although you know the reality that over 90% of the blind community cannot read braille. You know about five to 10% who can read Braille having a hard time we learned to find these signs. And in the past four or five years since Covid, even if you know, how to read Braille and you've been lucky to find a sign, you don't necessarily want to touch it anymore.

So that's, that's where the concept of talking signs or audio format of these signs comes in. And RightHear is very proud I would say leading that category with more and more locations. We're currently at over 2,500 locations worldwide. Some of the great brands of the world, but also small businesses as well, and ultimately the goal is to provide people with a higher level of independence. 

Nasreen: Absolutely. And it sounds like you thought, like of everything and I agree with you about, a lot of people that don't do braille, and I happen to be one of those. And you're right after Covid, I don't wanna swipe my hand over a Braille sign. So these are very great points.

Makes it more intriguing about the app and wanting to get involved in this universal design thinking. I think it's amazing stuff that you guys came out with to help us. We're always wanting to know where things are when we first enter a space that we've never visited before. So I feel like that's also very important that you guys address that easily through the app seamless for the end user. Excellent. 

Idan: Yeah, and you know, what we found since I started working on this, while it's very helpful for the blind, visually impaired community, it's also very helpful for a lot of other audiences, right?

Think about, for example, a cognitive disability, like, you know, hard dyslexia. Sometimes you might see the sign, there's a lot of text in it. You cannot necessarily consume the information out of it, or even language barriers. You might see the sign you speak, the language you can read well, but you cannot speak that language specifically at that destination.

So again, this universal design thinking is really what leads to that. And to your point of not wanting to touch it, we especially hear that around, public restrooms, environments. Right. We all use that. It's a, you know, it's a human need wherever we go. Being able to understand how that layout that's the male, that's the female. And what's inside, again, in your language, privately. It's, as one of our users calls it, a sense of freedom. 

Nasreen: Yes, it is giving independence to travel in spaces that maybe you are afraid to explore, or even if you were left alone by your loved ones while they go off and do something else. You can be independent within your space. And everybody, like you said, it's a human need to go to the bathroom. So it's like, Hey, I can go to the bathroom by myself now. You know? 

Idan: That piece of by myself, that independence, you wanna do it completely by yourself, not with no human in the loop. Not nearby and not far away. Like especially for places like restaurants. You wanna enter by yourself. But I can give other examples. By the way, nobody needs to come with me to wherever I go. I want to be able to, just like everyone else. 

Sylvia: I think, the thing he said about just like everyone else, that's right.

Idan: It's not just about practically getting from point A to point B. It's about feeling and doing it equally to everyone else. I believe it's a whole different sense of feeling. I know it's a whole different sense of feeling for myself. And maybe one more point here. This is, in my mind, it is not the interest only of the blind or visually impaired community to have it. I think it's the overall society's interest that everyone will have that feeling. 

Because that's what inclusion is really, is all about. It's self-esteem is part of it as well. Yeah. Yes, absolutely.

Nasreen: Awesome. I love that. 

Empowering Blind Advocates

Nasreen: Over to you, Dana. 

Dana: I love when products keep everybody in mind, and [00:11:00] it's not just for one specific group. So my question to you is, how has RightHear, empowered blind advocates and what impact has it had? 

Idan: Wow. That's, fantastic, I think that's part of today's main topics around advocacy. So thank you, for asking this. I mentioned we're almost three years here in the US market and in the first or two years we were reaching out to different facilities. 

So obviously we have two audiences here, right? We're serving the blind, visually impaired community, and many other audiences through the free app. You can download it on Android or iPhone. The other audience is the facilities, right? Businesses, and organizations that have different public spaces. These are our customers. They're paying for the RightHear service to have their environment more accessible just like they're paying for other different accessibility services.

We were trying different ways, of reaching out to them and it always sounded like: "Hi dear hotel manager or customer experience manager, in whatever facility. People who are blind or visually impaired and people with other orientation challenges, have a hard time finding their room in your hotel the gate at the airport, or the department in the hospital. But hey, don't go anywhere we have a solution for you. This is how it works. Da, da da, da." 

What we got back was always like, "Yeah, I don't think I have this problem. I don't think people who are blind coming here, like, what? I don't think they're coming here. I don't think I have this problem. So don't call us we'll call you," kind of thing. And we were frustrated, to be honest, because we know people are going there, but they just know, not noticing it or I don't know, ignoring it or not understanding that it's a problem. 

So what we've done is went back to our community. We're meeting every week, by the way, also we just had one our meet, our meetups this week every Friday, at 1:00 PM you're all invited. It's a Google Meet with people from all around the world to talk with our community. And we shared a point with them and they told us, "Hey, why are you reaching out to these facilities? Let us do it." Are you sure? Really, will you do that? Like, sure, it's all right. We wanna be independent it's our, civil right. We wanna be able to go places by ourself, and if they don't understand that we're coming and that they have a problem by not serving us we'll let them know. Really? I've never thought about this way, although it eventually makes a lot of sense to me.

Then we started to realize how this advocacy is so critical because what we found with the first volunteers reaching out, I can talk more about how we help 'em with that, those facilities got back to us and say, Hey, I got this blind guest or visitor talking about this, and I want to be able to help them tell me more. That's completely changed the whole dynamic and helped us get a lot more facilities to have it. We call it the unlock approach. That's our way to unlock more and more facilities and spaces and opportunities for a lot of people through the community.

So it's kind of built by the community, for the community. And yeah, happy to elaborate even more about it, but that's, how advocacy is so critical in our work. 

Sylvia: We need more people who are visually impaired to get out and do that though. We need people to go out and ask for those accommodations and get out and do stuff and request that. 

Dana: The more it's done, the more effective if we do it, it's more effective than somebody coming in and saying, Hey, how about, we see the need. If they don't really see consumers coming into their businesses or facilities asking for it, they won't pay attention to it.

Idan: That's spot on. That's exactly it and realizing this helped us to build some training and some materials making it easier. So for anyone who wants, do this advocacy, we've made it super simple. You don't need to look for the emails we already have that. You don't need to craft the whole message from the beginning, we already have a lot of templates for you to use. So there's a lot of things we've already done. You can find 'em also on a website (we can share that in the footnotes), but it's under the community page on a website.

So we put all these tools, which collaterals, references also to the ADA I mean, we might wanna talk about that as well soon. But we've made it even easier than ever for the community too. I don't have to call it ask or demand or require, but it's people's right, and I think it's about building the awareness that's where it is.  

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And that is key. Toss it back to you, Steph. 

Steph: Thank you, Dana. I am over the moon about this conversation 'cause advocacy is what we're all about here. And, Idan, I think what you and RightHear are doing speaks to it. I saw a quote not too long ago that spoke about advocacy being about empathy and compassion. And what I love about what you guys are doing is the collaboration with the blind community. 

Partnerships and Global Change

Steph: I think it's just beautiful and I think that this discussion is a nice transition to my question which is how do RightHear's partnerships with major brands promote accessibility and what message do they send to other businesses?

Idan: Yes. So, it's as I said before, it starts with the individual whether it is blind or visually impaired or with other orientation challenges who asks for this from these brands. And then they, and then guess what, they're listening because it's a customer asking something. Not, a vendor who's asking for this, but a customer asking for this. And once they listen and do. Yes, others take notes, especially if it's big brands like, major brands. We're working, with Microsoft right now at McDonald's for a few years. And others do take notes and start to kind of, Hey, if that's becoming the new standard, maybe we should do it as well.

I think, one of our current challenges I would say is raising the bar of the standard. Today, if you go places, you'll find braille signs almost everywhere you go. So it's not surprising to find an elevator with braille, right? Or a restroom sign with braille, it's mandated as well, right? So you can find that anywhere. We believe it's definitely about time to have an audio format of it. And, those major brands that do it first lead the way with the more awareness, the more references, more requests, the more advocacy, the more podcasts like the one you do right now. The sooner I believe we'll get to that point. And that's exciting that's a that's a higher level of independence and a high level of inclusion. 

Sylvia: Your comments lead right into my question. I'm a Braille reader, but I have to tell you that it's often hard to find braille signs. They end up in weird places. I also know that not everyone's a braille reader, lots of people are not. Right. So recognizing the disparity between braille mandates and actual usage among people who are blind. How does, RightHear's audio technology bridge the gap and what advocacy is needed for global change? 

Idan: That's great, thank you. A great, great question. So we're almost three years in the US market. So we had to learn a lot right about the market. One of the very first things we've learned deeply is the ADA, right?

So the reason we find Braille signs everywhere is because as everyone probably guessed the ADA. When reading the ADA, you find that the thesis behind the ADA was always about providing people with independence. That's what accessibility is all about. Right. And under the ADA, two things got our attention.

One is effective communication. There's a whole clause around effective communications and signage is part of communications. The recommendation, almost 37, I think years ago since the ADA was written, the recommendation was to make your signage accessible for all and effectively communicating put braille on it. That recommendation became the standard, which is a great step in the right direction. We're talking about almost 40 years. So it's great it's there and people are using it and we're not like, we're far from asking to take them out, like keep them there. They're already there that's wonderful. 

But there's room to make these signs more effective for all. So, you know, Sylvia, you could probably say, when you find these braille signs, we've heard from the community a lot of times that sometimes, the information is just inaccurate.

The person who puts the braille on knows what is written on it. So, that's one. And secondly, it's very limited it's one word, two words that's it. You cannot necessarily understand the environment from that in many cases. So to get to a point to your question of what you call this gap, it's a lot around the advocacy, a lot around references.

I believe the other part of the ADA called reasonable accommodations, that since, in our case, at least, a very reasonable accommodation for a business to have. We're talking about depends on the scope of a project, but very, very affordable, I would say the price to this.

The more references to that, the higher the standard will go and the more obvious it will be for the regulators, and the law to follow. The good news is that there's no lobby needed or anything like that the ADA already requires the signage to be effective for all. Now it's just a matter of whether are they effective with braille or not. 

So I guess for some the answer would be yes, but for probably the majority, the answer is not really, 

Sylvia: It's the minimal. 

Idan: Exactly. It's the floor, not the ceiling. Right? 

Sylvia: It is very much so. I mean, I could tell you hilarious stories about finding, one time I was in a hotel and the braille numbers were literally over the door. Like 

Idan: Wow. 

Sylvia: And then I was in another one where all the numbers were the same. 

Idan: Sylvia, you bring me a good point. Think about it, like every door of every room in every hotel in the country. What do you find in the back of the door? The evacuation plan? 

Sylvia: Mm-hmm. 

Idan: Is that accessible? 

Sylvia: No. 

Idan: So what, so in case of emergency, good luck? 

Sylvia: You know, when I go to a hotel, I usually try to figure out where the closest exits are. Right? It's usually by the stairwell. 

Idan: Exactly. 

Sylvia: But you can't always bind them either. 

Idan: So, I think, it's just something that is overlooked and, it's a matter of awareness and demand. I think that we have a wonderful community that keeps on growing, and invite everyone who's listening to join us on our meetups and our different channels. Who bring this new standard in 2025? Right? It's  2025. Yeah. I would say most people have smartphones in their, in their pockets. It's free it's anonymous, it's private, and it's reasonable accommodation for the facility. It's about time and this is not a feature of the hotel it's people's, right? That's how I see it. 

Sylvia: Yeah. Awesome. 

Idan: Yeah,

Nasreen: Those are some great points. 

Community Engagement and Advocacy

Nasreen: I need to ask you, how do RightHear's weekly discussions inform your advocacy strategy and what measures ensure that the blind community's voices are prioritized.

Idan: Yes. So we've started our meetups I wanna say like almost half a year ago online meetups. We do it through Google Meet, and we're inviting everyone really to join. We have people from actually all around the world, not just from the US joining it. It's 30 minutes every Friday, 1:00 PM Eastern.

And it's usually like five, to 10 minutes for someone talk about a subject or topic that matters to him and the community. Not necessarily wayfinding and accessibility it could be other topics. Then 20 minutes the communities talk about whatever discussions and we take notes and ask questions.

Some of the questions we're asking are like, where would you like to have this independent experience? Where do you think we should reach out to? Who do you think we should reach out to? Here are some ideas of what we had in mind for the app. What do you think about it? So that, we work closely with the community.

Ongoing, and learn from them what's needed. One other thing I've learned very early on is, you know, from a good friend at Dee, hopefully, will listen to that is a software engineer happened to be blind from birth. So he has a good understanding of the need as a blind person, but also as a developer behind the scenes of, how to make it happen.

And he told me very early on, Idan, you're doing something amazing that you'll never understand what it is. Like, well, okay, so I get it I'm not blind. I get it. What, should I do? Well, the only way you could go about it is to work closely with the community, not just myself, but with, as many people who are blind or visually impaired from as many places so you can understand and tune in your strategy and plans. And that's what we do, we try to stick to that wonderful advice. 

I invite everyone who's listening to us to join this community, to help us with our advocacy strategy. Crafting the right messages to the right people to listen as well as some from the development standpoint, how, what to put into the app, what to take out, and how to build something that everyone can use freely.

The inside, outside, out of space, underwater without giving up on, I mean, there no, there's no letter there. It's completely free. It's always been free. It'll always be free, and you don't need to exchange your privacy or anything like that in return. So yeah. 

Nasreen: Possibilities are endless here. And I've been to a couple of those Friday 30-minute sessions. I think they're hosted by Darren Gladstone if I'm not mistaken. Right. Yeah. So I've been to those. 

Idan: Darren is doing an incredible work. Thank you. Absolutely. That Yeah, 

Nasreen: He definitely is he's keeping the community group going. And he is also, bringing in some great guests each week that are sharing their insights on the blindness spectrum and what they're involved in as well too. So it's really great community that's growing there. And I love the fact that you're bringing in people from internationally as well. Because you have to remember that, how we navigate here in North America somebody, overseas or in a different country navigates differently or there are no disability programs or laws in place right now to help them.

So some of this information that you're sharing may be very new and raw to them so that they can help bring the system of RightHear into their ecosystem. Especially when they're international and they don't have these kind of measures in place that we have here in North America ADA and other yes legal provisions in place, they don't. 

Idan: Exactly. Thank you, you know, for mentioning that. I must say, you know, that's, to be honest, it's part of the part that I love in my work where accessibility is crossing any border right. The challenge is the same challenge no matter where you are in the world.

You, and the Sikh to independence is equal to all us, all of us humans, right? So, we do have great stories from all around, from Africa to Iraq to Egypt to, you name it. And, invite you all to join this growing community is all about making that change and new reality.

Nasreen: Oh, that's awesome. 

Conclusion and Contact Information

Nasreen: That was such great information you shared with us today. I just love what you all are doing the areas and spaces are more accessible and easy to navigate. And to travel and the freedom that you're providing through the app and the technology that you guys have provided through RightHear. And I wanna thank you for sharing that information today. It's been a joy having you here on our podcast. 

Idan: Absolutely it was a great pleasure for me as well. I'm available, I'm accessible. My email is Idan, IDAN@Right-Hear.com. I hope it'll be in the footnotes. We're looking to hear from you all who've been listening to this episode to reach out to us and help us make that change by stronger advocacy and shared work. 

Sylvia: And what's the app? How do you find the app? 

Idan: So in the, yeah, right. You go to your app store or Google Play. And you search for RightHear, right? Is R-I-G-H-T-H-E-A-R. Like hearing, RightHear. So you hear, you are so R-I-G-H-T-H-E-A-R.

Nasreen: Thanks for sharing your socials and your contact information. If anybody wants to get in touch with Idan or know more about RightHear please join the weekly meetups that they do have and also we visit their website, as you mentioned. And thank again so much. 

Idan: Yes. All right. The link to our meetups every week, you can find it on our website, but if not, just reach out to me and I'll send it to you. 

Nasreen: Thank you.

Thanks for tuning in to Bold Blind Beauty on A.I.R. today. We hope this episode has left you inspired and empowered. Remember, our journey continues beyond this podcast. Don't miss out on future episodes. Hit that subscribe button and stay up to date on all of our latest discussions. Also, join our vibrant community on Instagram for behind-the-scenes content stories, and doses of motivation.

Your support means the world to us as we strive to amplify the diverse voices and stories Together, let's keep advocating for Access, Inclusion, and Representation. Until next time, stay bold and beautiful.




People on this episode

Contributor

Nasreen Bhutta

Co-host
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Stephanae (Steph) McCoy

Co-host
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Sylvia Stinson-Perez

Co-host