Eliminating Barriers

Ablr opens companies’ eyes to accessibility and inclusion.

While the U.S. is celebrating National Disability Employment Awareness Month this October with the theme Disability: Part of the Equity Equation, North Carolinians Mike Iannelli and John Samuel have taken the importance of equity a bit further by making it part of their life’s work. 

Back in 2020, the duo launched Ablr (pronounced Ay-bler), a disability inclusion and digital accessibility company based in Durham that works to level the playing field and create opportunities for those with visual impairments and other disabilities. And to say they’ve been successful is an understatement.

“John and I had the opportunity to build Ablr in about 90 days,” says Iannelli. “We built a website; we built the name; we colored it; we did everything—and we launched a business with basically no real accounts, no clients… just a few team members and a mission.” Fast-forward to today, and the company has 65 clients, a strong team and a growing brand. 

Iannelli and Samuel first crossed paths in 2019 at Bull City-based LCI, a manufacturing, distribution, wholesale and retail company—one of the largest employers of the blind in the U.S. It was a meeting Iannelli can only describe as “divine intervention.”

Iannelli, who then worked for Raleigh-based marketing agency Walk West, was asked by his boss to visit LCI. At the time, he was in a dark place in his life and could barely get out of bed. 

Samuel had been working for LCI for just over two years and took Iannelli on a tour of the facility. He had moved from DC to his home state of NC, but prior to that, he thought his career was over, as he’d been diagnosed with a degenerative eye condition in college and the private equity crowdfunding business he had been working for had folded.  

With Samuel looking to increase accessibility for the visually impaired and Iannelli yearning to do something that mattered, they soon realized that Ablr was their answer.  

Today, Ablr focuses on three things: eliminating the digital divide, changing people’s mindsets on disabilities and creating pathways
for employment. 

To help close the divide, Ablr works with companies and organizations to ensure their websites and mobile applications can be used by those with disabilities. Right now, more than 90% of online content is inaccessible to those with visual, cognitive and auditory impairments, according to Iannelli.

As for changing mindsets, Ablr provides an online Disability Inclusion Training for employers, where they learn about things like etiquette and terminology—fundamentals Iannelli says are missing in society today.

And in terms of creating job opportunities, Ablr helps companies support their current employees with disabilities, as well as prepare to onboard new hires. 

“I believe this is sort of a business transformation from the inside out,” says Iannelli. “We are saying, ‘Wait a minute. You’ve never considered an entire group of people, an entire community in your entire existence before, ever.’ Now, this opens the door for massive opportunity.”

Since its launch, Ablr has worked with businesses and organizations in the education, retail, finance, government and health care sectors, and will continue to try to add to its client base. Plus, Ablr recently received a contract with the State of North Carolina to provide a workforce development program for the Division of Services for the Blind in order to train people to become digital accessibility testers and enter the workforce.

“We really think the Ablr brand can really represent much more than just one segment,” he says. “This is just the beginning.” ablr360.com