When I look at Toyosi Badejo-Okusanya’s journey, I do not see a story about limitation. I see a systems problem, identified early and confronted head-on.
Diagnosed with hearing loss at four, she learned quickly how institutions misread difference. Schools labelled her stubborn, adults mistook silence for defiance and that early friction impacted how she reads the world today.
However, her work does not dwell on emotion. It focuses on structure. Through Adaptive Atelier, she challenges a global digital economy that still excludes most disabled users.
Only a fraction of the internet meets accessibility standards. Nonetheless, the disabled community controls trillions in purchasing power. That gap is commercial.
Toyosi Badejo-Okusanya operates between Lagos and London, where regulation, culture and enforcement differ. As a result, she builds with both compliance and opportunity in mind. She has advised global beauty brands, mobilised a network of over 10,000 disabled consultants, and launched tools that measure accessibility in revenue terms.
I see a founder who understands data, infrastructure and market behaviour, not just advocacy.
In this conversation, she explains why accessibility must move from charity to core design. She speaks about technology, economic power and cultural perception. Above all, she argues that inclusion works best when it becomes standard practice rather than special intervention.
TE: Having been diagnosed with hearing loss at age four, how did that early experience affect your perspective on accessibility, and what inspired you to turn that perspective into a global platform like Adaptive Atelier?
Toyosi Badejo-Okusanya (TB): It changed the trajectory of my life before I was old enough to understand it. Before my diagnosis, I was labelled stubborn. I was punished for “ignoring” instructions I simply could not hear. That experience stayed with me. It taught me, very early, that when systems are not designed for you, the world interprets your difference as defiance.
When I eventually received hearing aids, I experienced technology as liberation. I could participate more fully. I could respond faster. I could exist without constantly overcompensating. But I also saw how inaccessible that liberation was. In Nigeria, hearing aids had to be shipped from abroad. The wait times were long. Support was inconsistent. Accessibility felt like privilege – not infrastructure.
As I grew older, I realised the issue was far bigger than assistive devices. Digital platforms, classrooms, offices, and public systems, they were not designed with people like me in mind. And yet we were expected to adapt. Adaptive Atelier was born from that tension.
As a female African tech founder, I am deeply aware of what it means to navigate systems not originally built for you. I didn’t want accessibility to depend on sympathy, geography, or external aid. I wanted to build infrastructure that made inclusion standard, embedded into technology, scalable across markets, and economically viable. For me, accessibility is not charity. It is systems design.
TE: You’ve worked with big brands like Estée Lauder, Sephora, and MAC Cosmetics. At what point did you notice that companies genuinely want to be accessible, but don’t know how? Can you give an example of a common misconception brands have about accessibility?
TB: While working at Estée Lauder in the Global E-Commerce team, I saw firsthand that brands weren’t intentionally excluding people, they simply didn’t have structured processes. Something as basic as adding alt text required manual backend work in the CMS. It was time-consuming, inconsistent and often deprioritised when deadlines hit.
That’s when I realised the issue wasn’t always willingness, it was infrastructure and knowledge gaps. time-consuming and deprioritised because it felt like an “extra task” rather than core infrastructure. The intention was there, but there was no scalable system behind it.
A common misconception is that accessibility is expensive and serves a “small” audience. In reality, accessibility improves user experience for everyone. Clearer navigation, better contrast, captions, simplified checkout flows – these increase conversion rates and reduce bounce. The disabled community controls trillions in global purchasing power. Accessibility is not a cost centre; it’s a growth strategy.
The issue isn’t willingness, it’s education and execution. Brands want to do better. They just need structured solutions that integrate into existing systems without disrupting operations.
TE: Adaptive Atelier is powered by a network of over 10,000 disabled consultants. How did you go about building that network, and what challenges did you face in ensuring experiences became needed solutions for brands?
TB: The network started organically through storytelling. Through Sound Through My Lens, I built a community of over 15,000 people sharing their lived experiences. Over time, I realised these weren’t just stories, they were insights. Patterns emerged about checkout barriers, navigation issues, audio-only instructions and inaccessible customer service.
The challenge was translating emotion into execution. Brands don’t buy stories; they buy solutions.
So we structured the community into a professional network i.e. disabled testers, consultants and accessibility reviewers who set their own rates and provide structured feedback.
That shift from advocacy to economic infrastructure was critical. It allowed disabled professionals to be paid for expertise, and it allowed brands to receive actionable recommendations rather than generalised feedback. The network grew organically from my community.
Through “Sound Through My Lens,” I had already built trust with thousands of people navigating disabilities across hearing loss, epilepsy, neurodivergence and mobility impairments. When I began consulting brands, I realised lived experience needed to move from storytelling into paid expertise. AdaptiveTest formalised that.
The challenge was reframing disabled people from “case studies” to professionals. Many brands were comfortable listening to stories but hesitant to allocate budget. We had to prove that lived experience is a technical asset. We structured testing frameworks, reporting templates and measurable outputs so brands could translate feedback into product improvements. Once businesses saw the clarity of insights and direct UX improvements, the value became undeniable.
Today, disabled consultants will be able to set their own rates and contribute directly to digital product development which is a structural shift.
TE: You’ve launched tools like AdaptiveWiz and AdaptiveTest. How do these products work to make digital spaces more inclusive, and what kind of feedback have you received from users and clients so far?
TB: AdaptiveWiz is a personalisation layer that allows users to tailor their digital experience in real time through adjusting elements like readability, navigation, contrast and sensory settings based on their needs.
Behind the scenes, it’s supported by compliance standards and real-world testing from disabled professionals. AdaptiveTest focuses on monitoring and diagnostics. It scans digital platforms for WAG and ADA compliance issues, flags violations, and provides structured reports for development teams to address gaps.
The impact is measurable: early pilots show conversion rate improvements of 15-25% among users with disabilities, and bounce rates reduced by up to 40% for users with assistive technology. When you’re losing nearly half your potential customers at the door, that’s not a compliance issue but instead, it’s a revenue problem.
In practice, companies integrate them via lightweight scripts or API connections into their existing platforms. No full rebuild is required. The feedback has been consistent: brands appreciate that it’s not just a compliance scanner, and users appreciate that it centres lived experience rather than generic overlays. Developers also value having both automated insights and human validation.
The most powerful feedback we receive is simple: “I didn’t feel excluded.” That is the benchmark.
TE: Initiatives like “Beauty in Every Language” and the Lagos Fashion Week panel are groundbreaking in Nigeria. What role do you think storytelling and cultural engagement play in shifting societal perceptions of disability?
TB: Storytelling changes perception before policy does.
Initiatives like Beauty in Every Language and our panel at Lagos Fashion Week – the first disability led Fashion Lab in Nigerian history, created cultural visibility. When disabled people are seen in fashion, beauty, and leadership spaces, society begins to detach disability from pity and reframe it as identity, talent, and contribution. In Nigeria especially, disability is often framed through religion or charity. Cultural engagement helps reposition it as identity, talent and contribution. Once perception shifts, economic inclusion follows.
“Sound Through My Lens” reaches 500,000+ impressions quarterly, proving there’s genuine appetite for these narratives. Once perception shifts, economic inclusion follows. You can’t build accessible infrastructure if society still views disabled people as charity cases rather than consumers, employees, and innovators.
Storytelling was my entry point. Technology became the scale mechanism. But culture is the foundation, it’s what makes the technology feel necessary rather than optional. And the economic argument reinforces the cultural shift: disabled people globally control $13-18 trillion in purchasing power. In Nigeria specifically, nearly one-third of people living in extreme poverty are disabled. If we’re serious about economic development, accessibility isn’t a nice-to-have-it’s foundational infrastructure.
When brands see disabled people leading conversations at Lagos Fashion Week, it becomes about market opportunity. That’s the shift we’re creating.
TE: With only 3% of the internet accessible, the disabled community still controls trillions in purchasing power. How do you communicate this business case to brands that may see accessibility as a regulatory or moral obligation rather than a growth opportunity?
TB: I remove emotion from the pitch and lead with market data. Only 3% of the internet is accessible.
That means 97% of platforms are excluding potential customers. The disabled community controls trillions in global purchasing power, and that figure increases when you factor in family networks.
And there’s risk mitigation: the average accessibility lawsuit settlement is $50,000-75,000 in Western markets, not including legal fees and reputational damage. Digital accessibility lawsuits increased 14% in 2023, and multinationals operating in Africa are increasingly exposed as their home markets hold them accountable.
Accessibility improves SEO, UX, conversion rates and brand trust. When brands understand that accessibility reduces friction and increases revenue, the conversation changes. It stops being CR and becomes a competitive advantage.
TE: Operating in both Lagos and London requires diversity, so how do differences in culture, regulation, and business approach between Nigeria and the UK influence the way you build products and work with brands?
TB: Operating between Lagos and London forces strategic duality. In London, accessibility is regulation-driven. The Equality Act, structured compliance frameworks, and public accountability shape conversations. The language is legal, measurable, procedural and brands respond to liability exposure and regulatory pressure.
Nigeria passed the Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities Act in 2018, but enforcement is nearly nonexistent. 84% of Nigeria’s deaf population remains economically underdeveloped, and unemployment among disabled adults is 62.5%-three times the national average. If policy was working, these numbers would improve. They’re not. In Nigeria, I feel the challenge is perception and awareness. Regulation is limited. Change is driven by education, economic incentive, and cultural repositioning.
This dual exposure strengthens Adaptive Atelier’s model. In the UK, we emphasise compliance, reporting, and liability mitigation. In Nigeria, we emphasise opportunity, innovation, and competitive advantage. The product remains globally viable. The narrative adapts locally. That flexibility is critical for scaling across emerging and regulated markets.
TE: What do you hope Adaptive Atelier achieves over the next five years? Beyond technology, what change do you want to see in the way businesses and societies think about accessibility globally?
TB: In the next five years, I see Adaptive Atelier becoming a leading accessibility and technology powerhouse across Africa and globally. I want AdaptiveWiz and Adaptivelest to be embedded into digital platforms from the start, not added as an afterthought, across businesses, governments, and major brands.
A core part of that vision is economic empowerment. Adaptive Atelier will continue expanding its network of disabled consultants, testers, and advisors, creating real income pathways and contributing to the reduction of unemployment rates among disabled communities in Nigeria and across Africa.
I want disabled professionals positioned as experts shaping digital infrastructure, not beneficiaries of charity. When we talk about 2.5 billion people globally needing assistive technology by 2030, I want African disabled professionals leading the solutions, not waiting for Western aid.
Beyond technology, I expect to see a fundamental mindset shift. Offices, creative spaces, and companies will move from viewing disability through a compliance lens to recognising it as a driver of innovation, leadership, and market growth. Through technology, partnerships, and advocacy, Adaptive Atelier will help normalise accessibility as a standard pillar of innovation and socioeconomic development across Africa and beyond.
