Tech Blitz 2025: Assistive Technology Showcase Brings Together Blind, DeafBlind, and Low Vision Community for Innovation, Discovery, and Connection.
Our third annual Tech Blitz at Helen Keller National Center continues to grow beyond expectations, creating focused connections between assistive technology innovators and the blind, DeafBlind, and low vision community. This year's event featured hands-on demonstrations, student involvement in planning, and the kind of direct vendor-user exchanges that happen when accessibility is built into every detail.
May 15, 2025 marked our third annual Tech Blitz at Helen Keller National Center, and the growth continues to amaze us. What started as Bryan Ward’s vision for an inclusive, welcoming space to explore assistive technology has evolved into something that may have already outgrown our National Center campus—what an amazing problem to have! In just three iterations, Tech Blitz has established itself as a unique gathering where innovation and accessibility converge, while depth takes precedence over breadth.
Helen Keller Services Tech Blitz: What Makes It So Special
As Scott Davert, Lead Research and Training Specialist at HKNC, observed: “While I always gain value from attending large conferences, I find that Tech Blitz brings a different form of value… Depth. While larger conferences are often broad in scope in terms of the audiences they serve, Tech Blitz brings the focus back to the demographics served by HKS.”
This focused approach creates space for more in-depth demonstrations and direct contact between vendors and their customers. With communication support available throughout the event, it bridges dialogue between community members and technology providers in ways that larger conferences often cannot.
Ruth Fuller, Supervisor of the Adaptive Technology Department at HKNC noted, “Our special sauce is that we are smaller and hyper aware of all the different forms of communication and access people need.” This attention to accessibility details—from ASL and tactile interpreters to carefully planned logistics—creates an environment where genuine connections happen.
Recognition of Our Key Partners
Our event’s success depends on partners who understand our mission. This year’s top sponsors brought both innovation and accessibility expertise to our campus:
Bellman & Symfon North America showcased their 35+ years of dedication to hearing solutions, demonstrating hearing amplifiers, smart home alerting devices, and safety solutions that support the deaf and hard of hearing community.
Samsung Electronics America highlighted the accessibility features built into their consumer products, showing how mainstream technology can serve everyone when designed with inclusion in mind.
Signia brought their hearing aid expertise, demonstrating how advanced hearing technology continues to evolve to meet diverse needs.
C TECH shared their four decades of experience distributing products for individuals who are blind or have low vision, from desktop CCTVs to the latest head-mounted units and handheld electronic magnifiers.
Standout Vendor Connections
The Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library table, staffed by Assistive Tech Coordinator Chancey Fleet and her colleague, was impressive. Fleet’s expertise in accessible graphics sparked curiosity including for John Motchkavits, teacher of the Rebel Robotics team, who had never encountered tactile graphics before. Watching him examine a tactile map of a local New York City park showed how accessible design can open new perspectives for everyone.
American Printing House drew crowds to their Monarch braille display demonstrations, with attendees spending extended time exploring the device’s capabilities and asking detailed questions about implementation. They also discussed with our HKS team some exciting new products in development that promise impressive new capabilities and have us eagerly anticipating their future release.
Tatum Robotics drew significant attention with their groundbreaking T1 Fingerspelling Hand, a robotic system specifically designed for the DeafBlind community. The anthropomorphic hand translates English text into tactile American Sign Language fingerspelling, allowing DeafBlind users to receive communications through touch. Founded by Samantha Johnson, Tatum Robotics addresses a critical communication gap as the device continues to evolve through ongoing testing with DeafBlind users.
For a full list of Tech Blitz vendors visit: https://www.helenkeller.org/techblitz2025/#Tech-Blitz-Vendors
Community in Action
Ruth Fuller, Supervisor of the Adaptive Tech Department at HKNC, captured something essential about this year’s event: “This year was especially exciting because we were able to include HKNC participants in the planning of the event. Students in our Tech Blitz group class researched and collected contact information for Student Access offices at universities and colleges throughout the tri-state area and New England. They composed attendee letters, created registration forms including transportation services, and learned to use Microsoft 365 applications. On event day, they joined the Tech Blitz team, helping with setup and management.”
The presence of Great Neck South High School’s Rebel Robotics Team #2638 created unexpected connections. The exchange between the hearing and sighted robotics team members and our attendees—many of whom are DeafBlind, blind, or have low vision—demonstrated how technology creates common ground across different ways of navigating and communicating.
Community Support Beyond Technology
We appreciate the local businesses that stepped up to support our community gathering:
Amalfi Pizza, Crazy Cakes, Gino’s of Port Washington, Harbor Deli, and Yummy Gyro donated food items for attendees and staff. While Smusht provided ice cream for our ice cream social, scooped by our HKS executive team including our CEO. These gestures of community support reflect the collaborative spirit that makes events like Tech Blitz possible and the connections we build right here in our neighborhood.
Technology Creating Pathways to Independence
The energy at Tech Blitz 2025 reflected something fundamental: assistive technology isn’t just about devices—it’s about creating pathways to education, employment, and full participation in community life. For individuals who are blind, DeafBlind, or have low vision, these innovations provide direct access to opportunities that expand possibilities for independence and connection.
Throughout the day, attendees explored an impressive range of solutions that address real daily challenges. Advanced tactile interfaces and refreshable braille displays that can expand access to digital workplaces and vast libraries of information. Smart home technologies offering options for greater autonomy in daily living through thoughtful design. Navigation tools and mobility aids that present new approaches to independent travel, and specialized communication devices that remove barriers to interaction.
The demonstrations of artificial intelligence applications drew particularly engaged audiences. Computer vision, object recognition technology, and AI-powered navigation tools are opening doors that once seemed closed. Attendees spent time understanding how these technologies translate complex visual information into accessible formats, creating new possibilities for environmental awareness and independence.
Screen readers, video magnifiers, and hearing amplification solutions filled vendor tables with hands-on learning opportunities. The variety of braille displays—from compact 20-cell units to full 40-cell devices—showed how tactile access continues to evolve. Electronic magnifiers and desktop CCTV systems demonstrated solutions for different vision levels and task requirements.
Adding to the day’s richness, HKNC Regional Representatives who were in town for their bi-annual meetings joined the event, creating an expanded community gathering. Current and former HKNC participants mingled with the regional reps, sharing experiences and exploring technology together. This convergence created natural mentorship moments and deeper conversations about how different tools work in various living and working situations across the country.
What struck us most was watching attendees move between vendor tables, asking detailed questions, sharing their own experiences, and providing real-time feedback to developers. This direct dialogue between users and innovators drives the kind of practical improvements that make technology truly useful in daily life. But beyond the technical exchanges, there was something equally valuable happening—the laughter shared over lunch, the animated discussions about problem-solving strategies, and the quiet moments of encouragement between community members. These human connections remind us that while technology enables independence, it’s the community that sustains and inspires us to keep pushing boundaries.
Behind Tech Blitz: Leadership and Collaboration
Helen Keller Services would like to acknowledge Bryan Ward for spearheading Tech Blitz and his extraordinary leadership throughout the year. Starting the day after Tech Blitz 2024 ended, Bryan led three dedicated committees that worked tirelessly to bring this event to our community. His commitment to accessibility in every detail, from ensuring comprehensive communication support to creating meaningful connections between community members and innovators, exemplifies what makes this event so impactful.
Equally important is recognizing the many HKS staff members who give their time throughout the year, serving on planning committees and contributing countless hours to make Tech Blitz a reality. Their dedication alongside Bryan’s leadership has created something special—a gathering where real connections drive innovation and advance both technology and community.
Looking Forward
Tech Blitz 2025 demonstrated that innovation happens best when developers and users share the same space, ask questions, and learn from each other. Beyond the impressive technology demonstrations, what made this day special was watching community members light up while exploring new possibilities, vendors gaining insights from real user feedback, and connections forming that will continue long after the event ended.
What started three years ago as Bryan’s vision has become something that belongs to all of us—vendors, community members, staff, and supporters alike. The growth we’re experiencing shows how much our community values authentic connection and shared discovery. The energy and connections we witnessed remind us that when innovation meets community, extraordinary things happen. As we begin planning for 2026, we carry forward the insights gained, the relationships formed, and the renewed sense of possibility that filled our campus. Tech Blitz 2026 planning starts now.
Save the date: May 21st, 2026.
Location… TBD!
