Santiago Velasquez Hurtado – 2025 Ambassador

Yes, I'm blind, so what?

I love listening to music, cooking,

trying new, unusual things.

I flew a plane last weekend, like an actual real plane.

That's not a joke.

Hi, my name is Santiago.

Everything that I always wanted to do,

I have always given it a go.

And now I'm a blind electrical engineer

and I am an ambassador for

International Day of People with Disability 2025.

My big question is 'for somebody with your disability,

how has the technology revolution been, good or bad?'

I run a company called Hailo, and I started it

because I was frustrated by buses leaving me behind.

And if I fix that or if I fix the problem

of being dropped off at the incorrect stop, in a way

that benefits me but benefits everybody else,

we can improve public transport for everybody.

(Maree Jenner) For me personally, I think

Siri and Alexa is fantastic.

For light switches and things,

I can turn lights on with it.

(Olivia Sidhu) Technology is good

because it helps us to travel,

to use transport.

(Isabella Choate) The creative solutions that tech

or tech companies are coming up with, I think a lot

of them are coming from people with disability.

When the people who need it the most

are either developing it

or right there from the beginning,

technology is brilliant.

But it's when people

that are designing it have no lived experience,

getting to this mindset of technology is

going to fix my life,

that we get into trouble.

The more we can break down the perception that people

with disabilities need to be fixed,

the more we can move forward as a society.

Everybody has to play an equal part

for getting rid of this idea that we are a burden.

I'm not a second class citizen

and I'll be damned if somebody's going to tell me otherwise.

Yes, I'm blind, but some people are tall,

some people are short, some people are

different ethnicities.

We're just another mix

in this massive pot we call the world.