{"id":4430,"date":"2016-12-07T14:41:57","date_gmt":"2016-12-07T19:41:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=4430"},"modified":"2025-10-10T10:36:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T14:36:15","slug":"reable-empowering-people-with-disabilities","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/reable-empowering-people-with-disabilities\/","title":{"rendered":"Empowering People with Disabilities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Empowering People with Disabilities\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

In Grade 4, Paul Safi was the best goalie on the soccer pitch at school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Grade 7, he would drop a pencil at his desk and not be able to find it on the floor.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Safi has retinitis pigmentosa, a hereditary degenerative eye disease that has rendered him legally blind.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

A Lebanese-Canadian born and raised in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Safi choose to attend Carleton because the university\u2019s culture of accessibility and support for students with disabilities offered an opportunity to live independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now the 20-year-old third-year psychology student has sprung out of Carleton\u2019s entrepreneurial ecosystem to start a company that promises financial independence for people with cognitive challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wanted to launch a business that was not built around one product but a whole ideology of empowerment,\u201d says Safi, whose start up, ReAble<\/a>, has graduated from the Barclays-backed Techstars accelerator in Cape Town and is getting ready to roll out an app that will help people conduct banking transactions safely and simply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause of my disability, I\u2019m motivated to help others. Having a social aspect to the company is very important. We identified a need and have a market to serve, but we\u2019re not just doing this to make money.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ideology of Empowerment<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Before his eyesight deteriorated, Safi wanted to be a doctor. He shifted his focus to psychology because it\u2019s also a healing profession, but his plan to proceed straight to grad studies has been put on hold by the success of ReAble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Third-year
Third-year psychology student Paul Safi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The idea behind the company arose in the summer of 2015, when Safi was visiting family in Lebanon. His parents are both from there but emigrated to Canada and lived in Montreal for a decade before moving to the UAE for work, giving their son dual citizenship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Lebanon, Safi met a friend\u2019s cousin, Emile Sawaya, who has a background in computer science. They went to an entrepreneurial ideation event where attendees were encouraged to think about problems for which no solutions exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sawaya has a brother who is autistic and has trouble handling money. Safi had turned to technology when diminishing eyesight left him unable to read text on paper \u2014 he could still read large white text on black tablet screens or listen to audio lessons to study. Maybe technology, he wondered, could help Sawaya\u2019s brother manage his finances?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People with conditions such as autism may not understand the difference between a $1 bill and a $100 bill. They can see the two additional zeros but might not comprehend the difference in value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When buying something at a store with cash, they might not know what change to expect, or even that they should wait for change. If using a credit card, they may not be able to relate the cost of their purchases to the money in their bank account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe banking industry caters to the general population,\u201d says Safi.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s very little consideration for marginalized people.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Safi and Sawaya, ReAble\u2019s head of research and CEO respectively, came up with a plan to develop an app that could walk people with autism through financial transactions \u2014 for instance, by keeping track of the amount of cash in your wallet and recommending the best combination of bills and coins required to make a purchase, and letting you know what change you should receive. Voiceovers and illustrations could also help users conceptualize numbers and money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe app is adaptable to each individual user, and different elements are gamified at the beginning of the user experience to help set up the app,\u201d explains Safi. \u201cThese elements test and help develop factors such as financial literacy and manual dexterity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

[wide-image image=”4480″]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Empowering People with Disabilities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the fall of 2015, Safi spent some time at Hatch<\/a>, the Carleton University Students\u2019 Association entrepreneurial organization. Then he applied for and, on his first attempt, was admitted into Carleton\u2019s Lead To Win<\/a> business incubator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was incredibly impressed when I met Paul,\u201d says Tony Bailetti<\/a>, the executive director of Lead To Win and director of Carleton\u2019s Technology Innovation Management<\/a> master\u2019s program. \u201cHe has a solid heart, a lot of passion, and he\u2019s got it right in building a global market from the start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"TIM
TIM director and executive director of Lead To Win, Tony Bailetti (Photo: Chris Roussakis)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI always tell my students: look at the things that are problematic in your own life and try to address them. Paul identified a problem and came up with a solution. With a personal connection, you\u2019ll understand more and be driven more to get things done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Safi\u2019s success also speaks to the potential for people with disabilities to become entrepreneurs, which can be a challenging path to pursue, but no more difficult than overcoming the barriers to conventional employment.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cCarleton provides tremendous support and accommodations for students with disabilities,\u201d says Bailetti.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s important. But I want to integrate and not segregate our support for entrepreneurship. It can be easier to start a business than to get a job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lead To Win Offers
\nMentorship and More<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As a member of Lead To Win, which offers professional work space and meeting rooms in the St. Patrick\u2019s Building, Safi benefited from mentorship, sales and marketing advice, and networking events. He also received $8,000 in funding through a Nicol Internship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI got to meet and learn from very practical people,\u201d he says about Lead To Win\u2019s suite of programs and services, which helped his idea evolve into a functional business model. \u201cThey understand the dream of being an entrepreneur, and also the reality. They have so much expertise, but it\u2019s still your company and your decisions. It\u2019s still you taking the risks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Safi\u2019s
Safi\u2019s success also speaks to the potential for people with disabilities to become entrepreneurs, which can be a challenging path to pursue, but no more difficult than overcoming the barriers to conventional employment.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This experience helped propel Safi and Sawaya to the BDL Accelerate\u2019s Early Stage Startup Competition in Beirut in December 2015, when they beat 21 competitors to win the top prize<\/a>: $10,000 in support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buoyed by that success, they applied for entrance to the prestigious Techstars accelerator<\/a> and were one of 10 companies selected from 400 applications. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the most powerful business networks on the planet,\u201d says Safi. \u201cWhat they teach you, it\u2019s madness!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the 13-week Techstars program in Cape Town, Safi met and sought feedback from bankers, CEOs and high-powered investors. They saw that he was addressing a legitimate niche market and were receptive to his ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This past spring, Safi and Sawaya incorporated ReAble in Delaware. Their next step, before the end of 2016, will be to launch a virtual reality game (ReAble Chef) that will teach basic cooking skills to the cognitively challenged.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cIt is the first of many skills development games we are building to increase the autonomy of those with cognitive challenges,\u201d says Safi.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In mid-February, supported by a US $50,000 loan from Barclays, they plan to release the ReAble Pay platform, allowing users to try their financial app for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n

[wide-image image=”4485″]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis will increase the independence of adults or children with intellectual or cognitive challenges without having to be a member of one particular bank,\u201d says Safi. \u201cIn the future, we will continue developing solutions to make banks more accessible, but with the product so close to completion there is no reason to delay.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After that, the platform could be adapted to meet the needs of people with other disabilities, including visual impairment. But first Safi and Sawaya know they need to satisfy their core market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cReAble has the potential to change people\u2019s lives,\u201d says Safi, who has scaled back his studies to part-time, but is still thinking about a PhD in clinical psychology down the road. \u201cRight now, when somebody with autism wants to buy something, they usually have to rely on somebody else: a brother, parent or friend. That doesn\u2019t give them much independence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur aim is that this app becomes a symbol of empowerment, much like the white cane for the blind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"empowering_people_1200x680_7\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Grade 4, Paul Safi was the best goalie on the soccer pitch at school. By Grade 7, he would drop a pencil at his desk and not be able to find it on the floor. Safi has retinitis pigmentosa, a hereditary degenerative eye disease that has rendered him legally blind. A Lebanese-Canadian born and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[25,19],"cu_story_tag":[1930],"class_list":["post-4430","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","hentry","cu_story_type-student-experience","cu_story_type-technology-innovation","cu_story_tag-equity-diversity-and-inclusion"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/4430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/4430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97996,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/4430\/revisions\/97996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=4430"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=4430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}