How Remarkable Is Turning Disabilitytech Ideas Into Impact

An exoskeleton ‘wearable wheelchair’. Adaptive bras designed for comfort and accessibility. Distraction management apps to support neurodiversity.

All these varied innovations from Victorian founders sit within the fast-evolving space of DisabilityTech.

It’s a category that is hard to neatly define, spanning devices, digital platforms, wearables and services. It can support mobility, communication, independence or everyday routines.

And as technology evolves, growth in the sector is accelerating quickly.

Inside the thriving sector is Remarkable, an impact organisation powered by the Cerebral Palsy Alliance since 2016. Remarkable was born with a clear mission: to support sustainable startups in delivering technology that improves the lives of people with a disability.

Rather than narrowing its focus, the organisation embraces the full breadth of the space, connecting founders working across everything from fashion and beauty to cutting-edge AI.

Its pre-accelerator Launcher sits at the earliest stage of that journey.

The 12-week online program supports founders building technology solutions across disability, ageing and health to turn early ideas into validated and scalable products. 

Launcher’s Program Lead Kath Hamilton says that with around one in five people living with a disability, the scale of the challenge presents a significant opportunity for innovation. 

“There’s research showing that 63 per cent of the world’s population is touched by disability, whether that’s the individual, their family, caregivers or friends,” says Kath.

“We often find it’s people with lived experience, or those close to someone with a disability, who have some of the most powerful ideas.”

Kath is well equipped to deliver the Launcher program. She brings more than two decades of experience in digital transformation across SaaS, consumer platforms, and medtech. She also co-founded a DisabilityTech startup, Loop+, giving her firsthand insight into the founder journey.

For Kath and the broader Remarkable team, co-designing with people who have lived experience is core to how they operate. 

“By working alongside people with disability from day one, we’re able to build solutions that are more relevant, more usable and ultimately have a greater impact,” Kath says.

Having completed its third intake, Launcher is seeing strong growth in both awareness and demand.

This year, the program received 150 applications and 42 startups offered a spot. Close to a quarter of the cohort is based in Victoria.  

One example is Rampey. The Bendigo-based team that has designed automated robotic ramps to seamlessly bridge gaps and steps on public transport. After being referred by CivVic Labs, they went on to complete Remarkable’s accelerator program and, since then, have teamed up with Toyota to further develop and scale their solution.  

As DisabilityTech continues to expand, so too does its potential.

“DisabilityTech was once pretty much an unknown term, unless you were truly deep in the field of accessibility,” Kath says.

“That’s very different to what it is today. The space has evolved significantly and continues to grow in new ways.” 

It’s a field driven not just by technological advancement, but by real-world need and by founders who are closely connected to the problems they are solving.

For Remarkable, the goal is to help these founders move faster and create solutions that genuinely improve people’s lives.