The Health Innovation Challenge at CES 2026 shines a spotlight on a population routinely overlooked by mainstream health technology: working-age adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Led by the CTA Foundation in partnership with the WITH Foundation and Ability Central, the challenge asks a simple but transformative question: how can consumer technology meaningfully expand health independence for adults with IDD?
The answer is not just “more technology.” It is better technology—designed with, not for, people with IDD; grounded in real-world barriers; and delivered through an ecosystem that includes funders, caregivers, healthcare providers, and entrepreneurs. The discussion on the CES accessibility stage offers a concise playbook for innovators who want to get this right.
Despite growing interest in digital health, adults with IDD frequently encounter systems and tools that were never built with them in mind. The roundtable underpinning the Health Innovation Challenge surfaced several recurring barriers.
On the healthcare side, providers often treat all patients as if they are the same, ignoring the specific needs, communication styles, and preferences of people with IDD. This “vanilla” approach undermines trust and discourages engagement.
As technology advances, training and support too often lag behind. New tools arrive with limited explanation, limited in-person help, and interfaces that are not accessible—especially to people who process information differently.
These barriers are not inevitable. They are the predictable outcome of building technology without the community that is expected to use it.
The most consistent theme from funders and advocates is blunt: if you are not involving adults with IDD from the very beginning, you are building the wrong product.
Too many companies develop a nearly complete solution, test it late with a narrow group, then attempt to retrofit “accessibility” after the fact. This is both expensive and ineffective. As Ryan Easterly of the WITH Foundation noted, it is cheaper and better to integrate accessibility and disability perspectives from day one.
Griffin Stapp from Ability Central underscored another common mistake: designing for a single disability, then trying to “stretch” the product to cover the entire IDD community at launch. Without broad community engagement, these products usually fail to meet real needs—and the assumption that “they’ll buy it anyway” proves false.
For founders concerned about intellectual property when engaging external testers, there are emerging solutions. Concepts like “beta day” and accessible non-disclosure agreements allow innovators to involve adults with IDD early without compromising competitive advantage.
Despite the pitfalls, several technology trends offer genuine promise when developed responsibly.
One of the most exciting areas is AI that improves communication. For people who are blind, neurodiverse, or have IDD, nonverbal cues—facial expressions, gestures, body language—are often difficult to read. Yet these cues drive the majority of human interaction, especially in high-stakes scenarios like clinical visits or job interviews.
The Health Innovation Challenge’s 2026 winner, Hapwear, exemplifies this opportunity. Their solution integrates smart glasses (currently Meta Ray-Bans) with a haptic wristband to translate nonverbal signals into tactile patterns, such as:
In testing, users have been able to learn multiple cues quickly and apply them in employment, education, and everyday social contexts. For adults with IDD and other disabilities, this can increase confidence, autonomy, and willingness to participate in healthcare and work.
At the same time, the panelists warned against letting AI become an excuse to skip real engagement. Some companies are already using AI-generated “insights” about the IDD community in place of direct consultation. This creates a false sense of understanding and bakes in oversimplifications and bias, especially given how diverse IDD needs really are.
One more lesson: technology aimed at people with IDD should be “cool.” The community does not want clunky, stigmatizing devices; they want the same sleek, aspirational products everyone else wants. When technology is both accessible and cool, adoption accelerates—not just in the IDD community, but far beyond.
Even the best-designed technologies will stall without an ecosystem that supports adoption. The panel identified several systemic shifts that could unlock wider impact.
Visibility matters. The mere presence of an accessibility stage at CES, and dedicated spaces for startups serving people with disabilities, is already shifting perceptions among venture capitalists and corporate partners. More decision-makers are realizing that people with disabilities are active consumers with significant purchasing power and unmet healthcare needs.
For innovators who say they “can’t find” people with IDD to engage, the panel was unequivocal: you are not looking hard enough. The ecosystem is rich with organizations eager to partner, including independent living centers, University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, protection and advocacy agencies, and nonprofits like Ability Central and the WITH Foundation.
For entrepreneurs, product leaders, and investors looking to enter or grow in this space, the takeaways from CES 2026 can be translated into a concrete agenda.
As healthcare becomes increasingly digital, there is a real risk that those with the most to gain—people who face daily barriers to communication and care—are left behind. The Health Innovation Challenge offers a different vision: one in which the IDD community is not an afterthought, but a catalyst for better, more human-centered technology for everyone.