Inclusive Innovation: A Startup Making Life Easier for People with Disabilities

What if going out for a coffee was not a simple everyday choice but a challenge filled with uncertainty? For millions of people with disabilities, accessibility gaps turn daily activities into constant struggles.

In our latest podcast episode, we meet Andreas Vasiliou and Symeon Stylianou, childhood friends and co-founders of Ablebook, a Cyprus-based startup transforming accessibility through technology. 

Ablebook was founded in 2019 in response to Andreas’s lived experience as a person with a disability. Everyday tasks, such as finding a parking spot, entering a public building or accessing cultural spaces, were often fraught with difficulty or simply impossible. This constant uncertainty exposed a glaring gap: information about accessibility was either inconsistent or absent altogether. Determined to change this, Andreas joined forces with Symeon to create a solution.

Today, Ablebook is more than just an app. With over 4,000 active users and 200+ business partners, the platform provides real-time data on accessible locations, parking, services and events. It empowers individuals to live independently while helping businesses embrace inclusivity.

“We had a message from a user that, for the first time, they went for a coffee… that message gave us the power to continue our effort to make an inclusive society,” shared Andreas.

But Ablebook is about more than technology. It’s about changing mindsets. Businesses are rethinking accessibility, governments are being challenged to update outdated policies and communities are becoming more inclusive step by step.

This inspiring conversation is filled with honesty, persistence and vision. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, policymaker or simply someone who cares about equality, you’ll find lessons and motivation in their story.

🎧 Listen now to hear how two friends turned barriers into breakthroughs and are leading the way to a more accessible world: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0NXaKrAj93dPCwfsQFKhjJ?si=afsuqYoGSYuIG12fnbbyFQ