Today is Global Accessibility Awareness Day, the 15th annual. At RealSAM, we’re marking it by looking back at where this technology came from, and why it still matters today.RealSAM & GAAD 2026: a History of Accessible Technology.
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2008 — A foundation is built RealSAM & GAAD 2026: a History of Accessible Technology
RealThing AI is founded by a team of AI researchers and developers whose backgrounds are in defence, aviation, and research. The technology they’re developing is conversational AI: systems that understand complex, multi-part spoken requests and respond usefully.
Where accessibility stood: The iPhone had just launched. Screen readers existed, but were clunky. The idea that someone who couldn’t see a screen should be able to use a smartphone the same way anyone else could was not yet a serious design conversation in the mainstream tech industry.
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2012 — GAAD launches. The question gets asked. RealSAM & GAAD 2026
Global Accessibility Awareness Day is founded, born from a blog post by Los Angeles developer Joe Devon, amplified by accessibility professional Jennison Asuncion. The question they want the industry to sit with: why is technology that is meant for everyone, usable only by some?
The same year, RealThing AI begins focusing its conversational AI platform on people who need technology to work without a visual interface.
Where accessibility stood: Smartphones were becoming essential to daily life — and were becoming more complicated with every update. For blind and visually impaired people, accessibility settings existed but were buried, inconsistent, and designed for people already familiar with touchscreens.
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2018 — RealSAM Pocket launches in the UK
In partnership with RNIB and O2, the first RealSAM Pocket launches in the United Kingdom. A smartphone that replaces its entire visual interface with voice. One button. No gestures. No menus. You tap and talk.
It is initially called RNIB In Your Pocket. Nothing else on the UK market works this way.
Where accessibility stood: Apple had VoiceOver. Google had TalkBack. Both required learning entirely new interaction patterns on a device designed for sighted users. RealSAM Pocket was designed for blind users first, from the start. The distinction mattered enormously to the people who used it.
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2021–2022 — Research, V4, and the US launch
Working directly with RNIB and blind users across the UK, RealThing AI builds V4, the most substantial update yet. OCR text reading, object and scene recognition via camera, emergency assistance that simultaneously calls and texts nominated contacts with location data, guided walking navigation, and integration with the Be My Eyes volunteer network.
In January 2022, RealSAM Pocket debuts in the United States at the ATIA Conference in Florida — the largest annual gathering of assistive technology professionals in the country. The US product serves a different market structure: distributed through AT specialists and channel partners, reaching blind and visually impaired seniors primarily through Veterans Affairs programmes and funded institutional channels.
Where accessibility stood: The pandemic had made digital access a matter of essential infrastructure — and exposed how inaccessible most of it was for people with disabilities. The assistive technology market was beginning to attract serious attention. RealSAM had been in it for four years.
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2022 — Trusted by the Library of Congress
RealSAM technology is selected via competitive bid to create prototypes for the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS) — the Library of Congress’s programme serving more than 800,000 registered readers across the United States.
It is a meaningful institutional signal. The NLS does not make these selections lightly.
Where accessibility stood: “Accessible tech” was becoming a phrase that generated investment and press coverage. The gap between what was marketed and what actually worked for people with significant vision loss remained wide. Institutional endorsement from bodies like the NLS mattered because it came from people who knew the difference.
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2024–2026 — Samsung, RNIB, Virgin Media O2
The formal partnership between RealThing AI, Samsung Electronics UK, Virgin Media O2 Business, and RNIB is made public in the UK: a four-way collaboration covering the device, the connectivity, the content ecosystem, and the user expertise. A video case study is produced. It is the first time a major network operator, device manufacturer, and disability charity have publicly aligned behind a single accessible phone.
In the US, RealSAM continues to distribute through established AT channel partners, reaching users through VA programmes and state vocational rehabilitation funding. For many users, the device costs nothing out of pocket.
Where accessibility stood: Accessible technology has become commercially interesting. Large companies talk about inclusion. The important question—which ones have been doing the work before it became profitable—is worth asking.
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2026 — GAAD 15. The A17. RealSAM & GAAD 2026: a History of Accessible Technology
RealSAM Pocket moves to the Samsung Galaxy A17. Optical image stabilisation. Lighter. Gorilla Glass Victus. Six years of software support to 2031.
One button. Your voice. Unchanged.
GAAD turns 15. Accessible technology is no longer niche. The conversation that started with a blog post in 2011 has changed how the industry thinks, and products like this one are part of why.
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If you’re researching accessible technology for yourself or a family member, our financial assistance page lists funding programmes by state — including options that may mean no cost to the end user.
Learn more about RealSAM Pocket →
The American Foundation for the Blind and WebAIM both have resources for understanding accessible technology and advocating for digital inclusion.
RealSAM. Built for blind and visually impaired people. Not adapted — designed.
