What Accessibility means to me.
I don't view accessibility as a layer added at the end; I view it as the starting point. Rather than starting with an app idea and then ask how to make it accessible, I begin with a barrier. I start with something real and specific to address, and build the app for it. Accessibility is one of the values I build on.
SpeechPath — the first step.
SpeechPath was the first project I built on accessibility. It started with something personal. When I moved from Korea to Canada, everything was unfamiliar; and the different language was the biggest gap to close. The moment I started to feel comfortable wasn't when I understood what people were saying. It was when I was able to say things.
That made me wonder: what if learning how to say is impossible? Not because you don't study, but because you can't? Individuals with hearing disabilities can't rely on audio to learn audio. How can you learn to speak when you can't hear?
SpeechPath was my answer to that. Instead of sound, it uses visual feedback.
And in March 2025, Apple recognised SpeechPath as one of 350 winning submissions in the Swift Student Challenge 2025.
That's how accessibility became one of my Values. A personal story led to a question, and my answer proved that it is worth building on.
Accessibility became one of my values because I saw a barrier that shouldn't exist. When I find another one worth removing, I will build a tool for it.
