AXSChat Podcast

AXSChat Podcast with Jose Rubinger (founder) & Esha Khurshid from Key2enable Assistive Technology

June 13, 2022 Antonio Santos, Debra Ruh, Neil Milliken talk with Jose Rubinger & Esha Khurshid
AXSChat Podcast
AXSChat Podcast with Jose Rubinger (founder) & Esha Khurshid from Key2enable Assistive Technology
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Show Notes Transcript

 

Jose Rubinger is a mission-driven serial entrepreneur that creates sustainable businesses that have benefited the Social, Education, and Health sectors for the past 15 years. His love for technology led him to conceptualize Key2enable Assistive Technology in the past years, together with his business partners in Brazil , filling a gap in the EdTech industry for Special Education.

With K2E, he was highly awarded: Singularity University, GSVC BerkeleyHaas, Kryptolabs, Gitex, are some of the recognitions our CCO received, among many others. Jose envisions innovation in the digital accessibility field, empowering people with motor, physical and intellectual disabilities to develop their skills using exponential technologies.

Esha Khurshid is a Psychologist, behavioral therapist and Social entrepreneur. She started her education in dental surgery and soon moved on to pursue her degree in psychology. She completed various certifications in ABA (applied behavioral analysis) in teaching speech and independent skills for people with learning and social interaction difficulties. She also completed certifications in CLM (competent learner model) for people with learning difficulties. 

In 2022 she joined Key2enable, an innovative educational assistive technology for POD. Key2enable is a 35 times international award winning startup. Esha joined in the capacity of chief visionary officer and advisor to CEO. Her role is to grow the company’s vision through curating special projects and collaborations. 



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>> Hello everyone, this is Deborah Rew and today is axschat and Neil is out digging holes again because he just moved in that new house and Antonio was traveling. So. So it's just me today, but I have two amazing guests. So we're going to have a great conversation. And then Neal and Antonio can join us on next us chat when a key to key to enable joins us. So today our guest for joining us from the UAE and Jose is joining from Abu Dhabi and Esha is joining us from Dubai. And and what I'm going to do, instead of butchering their name, since I'm so famous for that, like calling Jose, Jose is I'm going to let Jose actually introduce himself. So, Jose, tell us who you are and a little bit about what you're doing and then let's turn it over to each.>> Okay. Thank you so much. So my name is Jose. I'm from Brazil and I graduated in Electronic Arts and in Business Administration. But I always like to sell. And that's what I'm doing here. But. But before that, that, of course, you. You understand a little bit better. Uh, I decided to start together with some other friends. A company that would enable, you know, people with disabilities, children with disabilities, students with disabilities, and learning difficulties to have a better way to access technology to learn more. So I came to Abu Dhabi, but this is another study let's get about insurance.>> But you're from Brazil and now you're Abu Dhabi and yeah, so yeah, I'm looking forward to that part. So, Esha, let's hear from you.>> Well, hello, everyone. My name is Aesha. I'm originally from India, but I was raised in the UAE. I did my education here as well, so my qualifications lie in psychology. I'm a behavioral therapist and I practiced ABA for about 12 years. And four years ago I stepped into entrepreneurship and that's how I met Jose. And then we joined forces and we're here together for KI to enable.>> Yeah.>> And so let's do this because I forgot to do this, but let's do a quick visual description of ourselves for anyone that might be listening to this and can't see us. So I am a Caucasian woman, a white woman with gray and purple hair, and I have on red and black today and red glasses. And Jose, let's.>> Give us this is very difficult, you know, for a president to describe himself in English. But I would do it so I have gray hair. I am very white. I have beard. I'm using blue glass and I'm using also phones. I phone phones and I'm using a black t shirt.>> Very good description. Good job, Isha.>> So for everyone out there, I am I have dusky dark skin and I have black hair and I've kind of styled it to the left side with one side hanging to the front of my shoulders. I'm wearing a black color t shirt and I think I'm the most zoomed in. Out of the other two on the screen today.>> And I would add that she's very beautiful, but she's two women. Women. So. All right. So I will say we are very proud at Million Strong that you are one of our global partners. And I know we're really proud at Global Impact to be working with your team. But what is key to enable? Well, let's talk about that. What would you know is key to enable just in the UAE? Is it in Brazil? Is it in India? So who was.>> That to you first with and through that?>> Okay. Thank you. So it all started in Brazil. We have a friend. His name is. He was born in cerebral palsy and his brain was very, very stimulated because his mother believed that he could learn together with other peers. He could go to the school. He could he could do whatever he wanted. And that what happened. So he graduated in computer science using at that time I had Pointer. And it took him almost eight years to graduate. But he did it. And the final document, the final report that he did was about a solution that he created his nonverbal. And he wanted that solution to be like everywhere. So together with him, we developed the first part of the solution that we call Key X, that is a keyboard in the mouse in a different way. It has like nine colors, light colored buttons, and it works with combination. And after that, we created many other accessories. We created an educational platform. And we have been seeing and witnessing many success stories because children with physical and mental disabilities are now able to express themselves to use technology. And if you can use a computer, you can do whatever you want. And of course, it didn't finish there because with this technology, we met so many unbelievable people like you, Deborah, like Isha. And now let's talk because it's her part when she met us here in Abu Dhabi.>> Yes. So Jose and I met almost about three years ago. And at that time I had I was running actively my own startup. And it was one of the first platforms created globally for people with disabilities to find equal job opportunities. And that was quite a success. And we were Jose and I were both in the same cohort of the first ever social impact incubator that was actually launched in the Middle East up sorry, in the UAE from Abu Dhabi. So that was really, really a fun start because, you know, passionate individuals like us and who've been working for so many years, you know, serving these individuals, not out serving them, but particularly helping them find a different technique and becoming more independent and acquiring other skills. I was very concerned personally that where do these individuals go after that? You know, where are those inclusive and equal opportunities where they can practice all the skills that I've been able to teach them? And that's what inspired me to get into entrepreneurship. So once my startup was a little more established and you know, we wanted to prove the concept, so we hired a person with disabilities in the position of a director, and now she's running the show and she's the best advocate for it. And the founders then decided to go and find other challenges. And that's when just saying, I would see each other from the other side, and you'd keep waving at me and be like, Okay, it's time now for you to come and join us. And I didn't hesitate because I believed in the solution so much that to enable, you know, brings to the table. So with our solution as well, although we first, you know, it was conceptualized by somebody who understood the pain from within. And you can only imagine how using a head pointer to access, you know, a classic keyboard or sorry, a rubber laptop, how difficult that would be. I mean, if you can just imagine, how do you usually type the app symbol? You need to press two keys, right? You need to press the shift button and then the number to rise. So that was really difficult for people who had, you know, restrictive or had limitations to do that. So when we first designed it, it was purely for people with motor and physical difficulties. And when we actually introduced it into the rehabilitation centers, what we started to notice was a lot of people with cognitive differences, which is drawn to it because like Jesse is showing you on the screen right now, he's holding up the keyboard, which has a lot of symbols and colors. And that was something that was an engagement factor and a curiosity factor for these lovely individuals to actually engage with the keyboard. And that allowed them to, you know, be curious and see what these functions did. And, you know, it motivated motivated them to start learning. And that's when we started creating. That's when we created the educational platform. But primarily, yes, that's how our journey began. And I realized that have started with my personal life and I've gotten into all about key to enable, but that's how it always starts.>> And I think that is what it is. Because what's interesting about our industry is people are always curious why you joined our industry. Are you like me? Are you a mother with my daughter is 35 with Down's syndrome? Are you why or why did you join our industry? Are you? Maybe you have no a disability lived experiences, but you know that the world should work for everyone. So I think it's fascinating to learn why we come into this industry and once again, how we support each other, because we're we have to help each other. So I am fascinated that you all did it in the UAE, that you're located in the UAE. I know you're not doing it just in the UAE, because I know we're talking to you about other parts of the world as well. And you already mentioned Brazil, but how is the UAE really accepted this? I know that they're very focused right now on people of determination. That is the language that they're choosing to use. But how or how is it being accepted?>> I think that was the. I'm so sorry. Just say, you know how passionate I am. I'm going to just see all the questions. But you know what? But just. Just to since started already. UAE, I think, has been one of the best platforms or the epicenter for that catalyst of change for the MENA region. They've made it look like it's been there forever and being such a young country especially ripe and it's beautiful to see how the the Department of Community Development has been pushing so strong for it, putting out strategic plans, initiatives, you know, reaching out to private sectors to come together to do something more. And the people, the community has been waiting for this change and especially, I would say, since 2018, after UAE hosted the Special Olympics, it changed everything. And we're so happy that happened.>> In my case, it happened so fast because we were in Brazil doing our job and going to schools and rehabilitation centers. The learning with teachers, the learning with the professionals, because I think that a solution will never be ready. We always have to build more features. We have to learn with the mistakes and things like this. So I applied to a competition that was happening here in the UAE in 2018. It was the first time that I was actually trying to to go to to this part of the world. I have only explored, you know, Latin America like the USA and Canada, but then we applied for this competition and we won and amongst 800 startups. And it was really an eye opener. And I was really wondering if I could stay here. And then in 2019, we were selected again for the first social impact incubator, and that's when we met. And because of that, I am here since 2019, because actually in the UAE, we have been experiencing many things that we were not in Brazil. Things in Brazil continued going very well. So I just moved and then stopped. Now we have a team there and they are building and executing and doing whatever they need to to make it happen.>> Well, that's exciting. That's exciting. I have found that the people of the MENA region, the Middle Eastern, Northern Africa, they are really, really, really focused on true inclusion. They are working really hard. We see some I think they're doing some of the hardest work in the world. So I'm very impressed with what we see in that those regions. So it's not a surprise. But I know yesterday I was talking to Isha and she mentioned something real. We're going to totally embarrass you now, Jose, but she just mentioned something that I thought was really cool, that when you you have some kind of golden ticket or something. I know I'm saying it wrong is you remember what you saw is not going to work does.>> Absolutely.>> I want a golden visa. Why would a golden visa interesting visa.>> Today I received an email because usually what happens is other parts of the world, for example, for Brazilians and for other nationalities, we we cannot just go and work. It's very difficult. So what the UAE is doing is they are trying to bring this, you know, experts here to the region. And the way that they they are trying to do this is okay, if you are an engineer and you have a very interesting story to tell and you can aggregate something, you know, true to our country. So come and we will do everything that it's possible for you to stay here. So it's a golden visa.>> He's being humble.>> I know he.>> Is. The golden visa is given to a very select few people who make an actual difference in the community or for the economy of the country. I mean, right now they've not made it that accessible, but laws are changing for more individuals to have it. But the first few individuals to receive it is because they're making a tremendous impact in the community. So, yeah, yes. It's a big deal.>> Isn't it?>> All right. I want a golden visa, so that's cool. But and I love your sense of humor, too. We may as well have fun if we're going to do this work, you know?>> So ask me again why all we started this.>> So why did you start this?>> Well, because of the music and. Which is why we actually have to bring this story started. I used to sell computers. I would just sell technology. I used to sell, like, everything to the government to do to companies, private sector. And it was like buy and sell, buy and sell. You know, nothing was happening there instead of that. And a friend invited me to create something that would change the world. And I said, Oh, let's go, let's change the world. How can we put this together? And then he said, Well, we can change the world by teaching children the theory of music. And I said, Okay, I like music. I used to be a pianist, not a pianist, but actually a keyboard player, you know? And I. I wanted to understand a little bit more than he. He taught me a lot of things that if you really have this. The possibility in early childhood to ditch theory of music theory to a child. You can change his brain. You can change that so you can change everything. Actually, there are a lot of studies about that I didn't know. And then we created what we call. At that time, it was in 2007, 2007. It was very ahead of our time. But we created the first solution to just connect a keyboard, a piano keyboard to the computer. It is still alive today. And we were teaching children music. And we discovered many beautiful stories behind this. And what happened was they invited me to go to an orphanage and there was like 300 children with disabilities inside this orphanage. And when we put this solution, working with those children, I can't believe until today it was like something that I remember. And then I decided, hey, I need to do something. It was around 2008. We started and then we met Glaser that had that beautiful story, and this is how it started. So I gave up doing what I was doing. Should do a kitchen table.>> Yeah. So in other words, you followed your path because we're here to make a difference, and I'm winning. But my chief accessibility officer, Rosemary MUZIO, who's so talented, she was born with cerebral palsy and she's non-verbal. And so she uses a head pointer and she's really good at it because she's been using it so long. But she also supplements it with a whole lot of other things, including different keyboards. But to be honest, what she uses the most, which we hate, is she has just a manual board. And so she goes to is she if she gets in trouble, she has to go to the hospital. And they don't remember to take that board. But she's been used it a long time. Right. So, I mean, there are devices. But I think that the one thing that we're so fascinated about, what you all have done is it just seems like it has so much more functionality. So it's not just for it is not just to replace somebody's voice. It is not. I mean, there are things that does. But the I know that when Richard, my partner, was looking at it, he's like, oh, wow, this could help corporations so much. This is really, really ingenuous. Okay, that's the wrong word. I could say the word. Thank you. Me and my dyslexia. Yeah, we would always say the words, but. So tell us more really about what it is. Because I think what people will think if they're from maybe the States or the UK, we've seen devices like we've seen device tools like this. And so what we'll probably do is we'll think it's what we've already seen and I don't believe that's true. I think it's much, much, much more robust and I know we're really excited about it. And I also love how you've also dabbled into the metaverse with what you're doing. So, I mean, there's so many ways that we love what you're doing. I think you're well, I really look forward to introduce you to so many people because we need you really need you on these conversations. So. Let all decide how you want to handle that. Who wants to take this?>> Just take.>> Line. It is shot.>> All right. Okay. So. So our keyboard that we've developed. Okay. So now, again, I'm going to take you back to your classic keyboard that's in front of you. All right. So for the viewers, look at your keyboard really quickly. You have 144 keys. All right. So now just imagine somebody with, you know, motor disabilities, right. Or people who have quadriplegia or paraplegia, it's very difficult for them to access the keyboard at all. But what about those individuals who may have suffered from stroke or have had seizures or may have stimming with people? A lot of people with cognitive differences may have associated issues with fine motor difficulties, so for them to be able to manipulate the keyboard is really, really hard. Yes, I guess Jose's bringing up Calabria, which is my favorite as well. We'll come to that. So the keyboard that we've kind of designed is so that you can access the computer just like you would any other time using a classic keyboard. And it also has a mouse function. So like we had mentioned, it's particularly for people with motor difficulties. Now for more restrictive motor and physical difficulties, we developed like you can see on the screen right now, what you see is wearing eyeglasses and he's connected this little device with the frame of the eyeglasses which actually detects motion. So, for instance, if there was a person who was who had paralysis neck down and had head movement or neck movement and could, you know, blink their eye, they would also be able to now use the laptop or the computer. Again, when we talk about digital digital devices, we're even talking about your everyday phone for even talking about your smart TVs. So we're really bringing accessibility to these individuals, right? And more than accessibility, something that is really close to my heart is the independence having autonomy right now. One of my favorite stories is when we enabled an individual with this device. One of the first things he actually said to us is finally, my mom is not going to put the Titanic for me again. I can go to Netflix myself and pick a movie of my choice that was so endearing. And then there was another case who actually told us that I really like this girl, but I don't want to ask my mom to tell her that I'm thinking of her. You know, and do you actually imagine how important your privacy, autonomy, independence is? You know, and then the pandemic. That's when it was really highlighted that how much, you know for granted. We do take the Internet connecting with people. Our laptops, our mobile phones and all of that. Can you imagine how disconnected these individuals felt? Know because they were not able to go to their schools or classrooms or those places where they actually felt like they could connect with individuals. Now they're at home. How do you do that? So it it really brought to light how important it is. And then, of course, when you think ahead and how classrooms are changing completely digitally, do you I mean, these individuals be left out because they are using their iPads for homework. They're using their laptops for research. How do you help those individuals? Do they want to feel left out? What about all the cool, fun games online right now? It's also for gaming. So again, the device that Jessie was wearing, the eyeglasses, it's called Slippery. Oh, yes. I love the visual cues.>> I'm constantly getting it as well.>> So now you can explain why this is happening.>> Okay.>> All right. So. Okay, so I think we've covered modern physical difficulties and now we're going to talk about cognitive differences. Right. So our keyboard, like I mentioned when I first took it there, we had a lot of interest from these beautifully gifted individuals, people with autism or Down's syndrome, ADHD and so on. But if you remove the mask for a second, just say, I just want to, you know, tell the audience that for for some individuals with cognitive differences, that can be overstimulating. There's too many little numbers, digits, letters. So again, what we did was we developed the mask and you see how easy it is to just put the mask back on there. You take away all the stimulation so that you're kind of preparing this individual to get used to it. And slowly and steadily, when they're ready, you can start putting half of it or full of, you know, remove the full mask and so on to expose the rest of the features. But when you put the mask on and you connect it to our educational platform, you can actually help these individuals by creating these really super cool tasks completely. I mean, based on their curriculum, whichever level they are. So we literally had as simple as what shape is this all the way up to geography and chemistry lessons that are being put up on the platform? Exactly. So that's super, super fun as well. So it's really for everybody else and our educational platform. So you have two types of things that the educational platform does. One, like I said, learning tasks, teachers, integrated parents can do it. You can do it, you know, with the siblings. Whoever has time can actually sit and make those tasks for your loved one. And the other aspect of it is, you know, alternative communication. So people who are nonverbal, again, connected with their device. I'm just showing you everything on the screen right there so they can actually build a sentence just like your classic AC C AC augmented alternative communication devices. But what I love about Express here or our solution is, again, I don't mean to bore you, but a lot of these oh.>> This is interesting. This is very interesting. And our audience will love it. We're all a bunch of nerds about this stuff. So you've got your tribe listening.>> Right, you guys. So I was a therapist for 12 years. You know, what I've noticed is it's some of these doctors are so limited in their capacity where, for instance, if my client or my my student, you know, we want to teach them to say that I want water. And I would rather use the picture of his own water bottle, then pick one from what is available. So what you can do with EXPRESS is immediately take a picture, upload it in 2 minutes and it's done not even 2 minutes in few seconds. Also, you can pick any picture from it's integrated with Google Search, so you literally just pick up any picture you like. So those are the fun, cool features and I don't want to for anyone anymore with all of the stuff, but just say, please add if I've forgotten anything.>> And one of the things that you should just said is that one of the teachers that we were talking to in 2017, she had the idea to build this mask. And then we had to ask people from Mars because it was so difficult to imagine this, you know? So engineers come with, I don't know, spacecraft and everything, but we don't think about this simple things, right? This simple thing paper. You know, she did this with the paper, but all the the the whole is here. And then when we saw while she created actually another way of communicating because what she said was okay but for those who we still don't even know that they know what is yes or no, what if they know the colors or if they don't know the colors? Or how can we how can we have any response? And then we assign the colors or the symbols to those tasks and activities that I showed and they can answer by touching. And then when when they do it well, we can do much more because if he's answering that, let's teach this children, for example, I don't know many any subject. So that's one of the things that happened. And we are very happy with the help of the teachers and professionals.>> And I love the cool colors and I know the kids must love them too. So I love the green glasses and it that's just cool that you're making it fun and cool, which is good for the kids, you know, it's just very important to the kids. And I'm glad that you have included gaming in it because gaming is a very important part of a lot of children's lives and a lot of adults lives, and that is how we learn. Oh.>> So true children, they actually develop this ability and they are just playing with the keyboard because they they like to learn.>> Right? They like to learn it. And kids love learning in different ways. That's why I am fascinated with what you are doing. Tell Jose or ishow you can tell us. Tell the anybody that can't see the screen what's happening.>> Yes. So Jose's holding up his phone right now. And there's a video playing of two little girls probably at the age of two and three years old. And they have the white mask that we were talking about, which takes away the other stimulation that's placed over our keyboard. And the children are just having fun interacting and pressing the buttons. And the call to action is happening on their screen immediately.>> That's amazing. Why? Why do you think education for all is so important? And why should we be helping these children? I mean, right now, I mean, maybe we just forget about them and then someday they're magically going to be in the workforce. Yeah, I'm being sarcastic, but. Yeah.>> Yes. Okay. So as I mean in my perspective as well, I think before I even so actually I started my education in dental surgery and so while I was doing my rotations, I was looking for a part time job. And at that time I didn't even know what a shadow teacher was. And then I, you know, picked up the phone and I called the ad. They were looking for a shadow teacher and asked them, you know, so what is this for? And they said the job was for a small autistic little boy who is non-verbal, and he needs a teacher to just run through the tasks that he has. And I still remember so clearly. This is like 15 years ago. Guys do not calculate my age. So four years ago or more, probably when my first reaction was, oh, that poor boy, he's not can talk and oh, he has hearing difficulties. This is so such a sad story. What am I going to teach him? I go there. And I was blown away by this eight year old little boy. He's nonverbal. He had hearing difficulties. He was diagnosed with autism. And he blew my mind. And I just thought to myself, all it took was a small difference in technique. And this person can do probably more than I can do. That's when I fell in love with Abby. And ever since then, I mean, then that's when I switched my fields and found my path. And I became a psychologist and a behavioral therapist, and I started working. And every individual that I have worked with and I worked with hundreds of students, I have never been disappointed. I have never been disappointed. They have I I'm having goose bumps. It's crazy like I get emotional about this because of how much they have to offer. And just one perspective of people who don't even know them and they're excluded or they're thought differently about it's unfair. And, you know, they can do absolutely what we can do and there's no difference at all.>> I agree. Not only is an unfair to this individual child in their family, but it's also unfair to society because what are we missing in society by excluding these brilliant children? What? Because we are biological beings? I mean, this is ridiculous. Sometimes our eyes stopped working. Sometimes we're born with an extra chromosome. It doesn't mean we're broken. It just means we need to be smarter in society. And let's not train all of our children in exactly the same way because we're all different. And there's beauty in that difference. There's such beauty in that difference. So I would like to ask you, I know you've worked really hard, and I know also that like most companies that are trying to do good, you have had some fun times with cash flow like everybody else in the world is ridiculous. I'm looking forward to society hearing about companies like us that are trying to really, really make the difference. So one thing I would like to know and I know that we love what you are doing and we are 100% partners, but what can the community also do to help you to enable what can we do as a global community to help you all do what you're doing? Because it is very different. And another question I want to ask, even though I'm not exactly sure how to say it is, I know that what you've done once again is bigger than a lot of the assistive technology or the augmented communications that are out there. And so one thing that I don't think I've done a good job of pulling out is how this is so much more robust than other things that we use with children today. So I know those are two really big questions, but I just wanted to say it so you could think about it for a second. But I do know that what you're doing is very different, which is why, once again, the UAE said, Oh, no, no, no, come here, come here and do this place. We want you to started in our country or really do it in our country also. So what did they see that maybe we're not seeing that. We're just thinking this is assistive technology and I don't believe it is. You know, assistive technology is wonderful, but this has so many potential. So.>> Let me start with the last question. When I joined the idea to build this, I was moved by what I was seeing in it because when I was young, I was not involved. I was not there together with children, people, friends with disabilities. Of course, we knew one year or one there, but they were not there. And I have to say that Brazil is it's it's doing a great job because 30 years ago we have this law for labor. So each 100 employees, we need to employ five people with disabilities. So in Brazil, we although we have this I was not seen, you know, this people there. So I think it starts with their because it's wrong maybe they should have been inside my classrooms, inside my school or something like that. So I didn't know anything about assistive technology. I really didn't know. But when I saw that. With my expertise, I could build together with someone that had a disability. I could help others. And if it was a business like, okay, I can sell it. I can make this social impact, I can make this life easier. I said, Why I'm selling computers. Let me focus on this. So I didn't know about what I was going to do. Actually, you just see when I started. And of course, everything is not so beautiful when we start. So what happened was when we went to the schools and the rehabilitation centers, there were people that could use the solution, but they could they couldn't even touch the keyboard. Okay, so that's how things start. Like, okay, do I give up or I only build this for those specific and niche markets? And yeah, I could do it, but actually we wanted more. So how robust is it? We created like everything that it's possible to connect. Almost 85% of all disabilities that are inside one school, so no one is left behind. Wow. When I say the one who are the other 15%. Maybe people that cannot see or people that cannot hear and they already have some other assistive technology for them. Right. That's it. So actually, they can come on board also. And we also created something that was very special that we can accept any other assistive technology that is already there in the shelf so we can connect with all of them here.>> Wow.>> So they are not going to waste and throw that other old assistive technology in the garbage. They can use it with our assistive technology. And when we came up with the idea of the educational platform, what happened was, for example, in Brazilian schools, they had almost nothing. They had like they the the old school things. I know that they work there. They worked very well, actually, because Glissant invented this an army. And he used he.>> Went through the old school thing.>> But what we wanted to do is to improve the lives of the teachers, because instead of just teaching one or two, they can teach them. So that's what we have been doing. So when you ask me about this, I would say that we try to make like this all in one holistic and amalgamated solution, that we have everything together. And it's easier for the teacher to learn from just one provider. Then like learning from many others. So this is one of the things.>> That he most important thing about the solution is that you can drop it. Nothing's going to happen there. Some individuals might have more force on the keyboard. You're not going to crack it. And then there are also some individuals.>> Who just do.>> It in trainings. Jose walks around spraying the keyboard on the floor just to make a point, and I'm like, okay, let's not risk it.>> Oh, I appreciate.>> And in this same time, you can have the lightest touch. So it's touch sensitive as well. So it really is calibrated as per the person's requirement. And I think the key point of it all is the price point, right? So assistive technology is insanely expensive. Like what's the point of creating a technology that to help someone when they can't even buy it? I mean, what is the point? And that was the first thing we did where we said, if we're going to create such an amazing solution and it's accessible and we're claiming all of these amazing things that people can buy it. It's no point. Right. So, yeah, we we really considered everything. Everything.>> Right. And I know some brands that would love to step in and buy these four schools and be able to put their, you know, their brand associated with it. That's really cool. I know that you have one more question to ask, how we can help but to answer. But I also wanted to say, as you were showing it at is Jose was trying to break it. This would also be so helpful for people like me that are getting older and that age into disabilities. I, I remember sitting next to a woman once on a plane and we started talking about what we do and she's like, Oh my, my father just had a stroke and we don't know how to help him. We want to communicate with him. And it's it I think this lends itself to so many, so many other things, including supporting. I know right now you're very focused on education for all. And and we're so grateful for that. But we also feel that there's a real opportunity for like the valuable 500, all these corporations that have come together and said, we want to include you, because actually, just because you have a severe disability, it does not mean you can't add great, great value to society, as we all know. Stephen Hawkins might Dr. Stephen Hawkins might come to mind. So I that is another thing that we want to help you do, because this tool can help so many different people all over the world. So then I guess we do come back to that other conversation. How do we help you? We have a lot of corporate brands that watch this. We have a lot of community members that are engaged in these conversations. We have NGOs, non-profits, and we really like to get behind people that are making a difference. And I love what you are doing. I just love it.>> So I'm so happy you mentioned that, Deborah, because in Armenia we're working with war veterans and we didn't forget them. So what about those amazing individuals who have served their company country and they've come back now and it's hard for them to connect again to find job opportunities, you know, and we're you handed them this device and it's life changing because you can just use Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, anything that you can imagine your your computer does for you. Right. And again, with calligraphy, it's for those individuals. And I'm glad that you mentioned senior citizens because we're working with a foundation right now. It's still in its testing phase, but we're trying to see the benefits for people with Alzheimer's and dementia associated with our device at the educational platform. Again.>> Yeah, my. My husband just passed away from dementia and. As it took things away from him. This this device could have been because what we tried to do is we walk this long, sad path, beautiful path, joyous path at times. I my number one concern was being able to communicate with my husband and understand what did he want. He deserves that for me. So I wish I had that tool for him. It would have made the journey a little bit easier. And isn't that all we want for our loved ones? We know we're going to walk tough journeys, but what are we doing to help each other? So I know that I've kept y'all longer than 30 minutes because I love, love, love what you're doing. And I'm so appreciative that you're jumped on at the last minute for us, too. But how what helped to your need know do you need and I mean, really do are you all looking for investors? Are you looking for other countries to step up? Are you looking for corporations? I want you all to get the help you want. So excuse me for talking for you, but you know, and I'm going to let you answer this issue because I know you're there, the chief visionary officer and your do their M.O. use. So Jose will let what it would as our community do to really help you all be successful because we want you all to be successful. More successful.>> Yes. Thank you. First of all, it means so much for us that you're standing by us and you believe in us. And I think we were so involved in every single story and everybody's every everyone's life that we changed. We almost kind of forgot about, all right. We need to really push it out there now. Right. It's time, you know, and we're still a startup, you know, and it's it's a tough journey. Yes. And recently we built this amazing campaign called Pledge to Enable, where we said, you know what? What's missing is the teachers. Right? The teachers are unable to have the right information about what's really out there that can help my children. So we took the initiative. It's our time, our resources. It's tough. It's tough. It's painful. We would love the support for people to at least help help our team be a little more sustainable so we can actually go out and do their and get the word out. We would really love for people to be able to get an opportunity to run the pilot projects that we have. It's all about numbers. Everything we do, we make sure that we have experts putting down the right numbers, okay. That it doesn't work for someone. We're happy to hear that. And if it's helping someone, great. But yes, I think at the moment we really want to want a little more support with that so that we can run enough pilot projects in different regions to get the right data and then accelerate and scale. But just say, please add to that being our CEO.>> You must know, actually working with companies. I think it's a very interesting thing because we know that working with the governments, it takes some time. So here in the UAE, for example, they love what we are doing, but you know that they cannot like just decide in in some minutes, everything has that. They need documentation, they need everything. So sometimes it takes more time. And for a startup, it's very difficult if you need to wait for that time. In Brazil, of course, when we started it took like the first 2 to 3 years, so we were like, Oh, can I continue? Can I, can I wait?>> So I will.>> Be able to. But when we did the first time, now the government is just acquiring because there is no there, there is no possibility for them to say no to something that others have been experiencing. So we have now like more than 650 schools using.>> Wow, wow.>> Thousands of teachers saying what is happening with the children. But I love the corporate part of this because I know that they have to give back to society. And we have they have many ways to do this, you know, cleaning the ocean. But why not, you know, trying to make visible what is now almost invisible. So maybe it's a chance for them, for example, to to see more success stories. For example, like Alison, he's like 12 years old and he was invisible inside the classroom and he is publishing comics. Well, he cannot speak. He cannot use a pencil to put his ideas on paper, but he puts his ideas on paper using the key. So the municipality. Is publishing his books. Who is helping him is one of his colleagues to draw to the.>> Comics, his friends, and to draw out animation.>> And it's about a dog that helps children with disabilities. So why not have some kind of definition?>> I like it. Yeah. You know, I know that I'm going to let you all get off, but I want to say I want you to say one more thing, though, that you told me that I thought, oh, I love this. Every single time you work with somebody, you're doing case studies.>> Yes.>> Great. Great. Case studies to share. And also, will you mention the the agency in the UAE that's supporting you? The government agency. I mean. Yeah, just in case.>> Absolutely.>> Of course after the was how to connect with you as well. So go ahead.>> Of course, we recently, you know, got a lot of support and literally they said anything that you need and let us make the right connections for you. And that is the Department of Community Development who literally are, you know, the custodians of who build a strategy for people of determination in the UAE, which is a huge win for us. And we're really happy because they're going to be able to connect us with individuals where we can run the pilot projects. And like Deborah was mentioning, that, yes. So every every individual person or whether it's a large group of students, we ensure that we do a case study. So we have data regarding those individuals and how effective it was based on their primary diagnosis, based on their associated diagnosis. And then at the end of that, we kind of put together it's all anonymous. Of course, we don't use anybody's information. This is just to understand the efficacy of the solution. Again, this is not an intervention or some form of therapy. It's just to prove that this is required. This helps these individuals. It's needed. So, yes, so it's a great beginning. I mean, it's been a long time since 2018 here in the UAE and then the pandemic. And this year has been started on a good note for sure.>> So if you. Yes. I'm sorry. I also I'm just going to show you the place that we are here that is called Hub 71 inside Abu Dhabi, because they were the ones who selected us to to give us these incentives that enable us to stay here for some time, exploring the market. And also the first social incubator that the name is, man. It means togetherness.>> Now. Yes, that is so cool. That's so cool. So if somebody wants to get engaged, how do they find out more about you?>> Jose www.https://key2enable.ae/ They can also reach out to Esha and they can also reach out to our team. We have Neil, we have Carla and here in the UAE. Marcelo, that is my brother.>> That's cool.

So it's https:

//key2enable.ae/>> Yes, it can be dot com and also ae>> All right. Cool.>> Yes.>> And we'll make sure that we include that as well. So thank you both. Thank you both for everything you're doing. That's what we like to do on axschat is let our world know what's happening. So thank you all so much for being on the show today.>> Thank you, Deborah. Thank you so much for inviting us. Thank you.>> Thank you, Deborah.>> Bye.>> I take care.