ForHumanity Fellow – Disability Inclusion & Accessibility

Bill Curtis-Davidson is a Principal Research Scientist and the Executive Director, Center for Inclusive Design & Innovation at Georgia Tech, where he leads a highly talented team focused on making technology broadly accessible and enabling inclusive innovation through research, service, and education.Bill employs unique research methods working across academic, corporate, community-based, and project-driven environments. His practical approach bridges theory and application, addressing accessibility challenges from multiple perspectives while working directly with affected communities using participatory design. He supports numerous public and private sector efforts to develop accessibility standards, guidelines, and best practices, and serves as an appointed member of the Georgia Technology Authority’s AI Advisory Council.In his previous roles at IBM, Level Access, Magic Leap, he bridged accessibility research into the design of accessible products, including air travel kiosks, streaming/gaming devices, printer hardware, and augmented reality. His research also includes a patent for automated accessible wayfinding. In recent years, he has helped develop communities of practice and resources to advance inclusive design and responsible innovation in technologies that integrate extended reality (XR) and artificial intelligence (AI).Bill is a ForHumanity Certified Auditor who helped ForHumanity develop its first version of the Disability Inclusion & Accessibility Certification Scheme and co-taught the inaugural course in ForHumanity University to train FHCAs on the same scheme.He is also a Certified AI Governance Professional (AIGP) and has contributed award-winning responsible AI research and policy work with leading organizations, including OECD, NIST, Partnership on AI, and OECD, including co-authoring the AI & Inclusive Hiring Framework. He has been recognized with awards, including Service to the Citizen “Champion of Change”, Thinkers360 Top 50 Global Thinker on Diversity & Inclusion, and two Zero Project Awards.