The nonprofit for accessible education is recognized following a year of building accessible learning infrastructure and advancing responsible AI in education
PALO ALTO, CA / ACCESS Newswire / May 19, 2026 / Benetech, a global nonprofit working to make learning and content accessible, has again been named to the Forbes Accessibility 200. This comes one year after appearing on the inaugural 100-organization list. Listees this year represent 23 countries across six continents. They work in fields ranging from mobility and software to sports, travel, and education.
The recognition follows the beta launch of Bookshare+, Benetech's AI-powered platform that quickly converts PDFs, scans, images, and photos into accessible formats. Bookshare+ significantly reduces the time and effort required for teachers to adapt educational materials for students with disabilities. Previously, teachers may have spent over 7 hours per week modifying materials, while more than 70 percent of classroom content falls outside traditional textbooks. With Bookshare+, this adaptation process takes minutes instead of weeks, allowing teachers to dedicate more time to instruction. As a result, more students gain timely access to accessible learning materials. Pilots ran last fall in classrooms, and a full launch is scheduled for the 2026-27 school year.
"Every reader deserves accessible materials. While we help move the ecosystem, the technology to make that immediately possible now exists," said Ayan Kishore, CEO of Benetech. "This recognition reflects a broader shift happening across education, where accessibility, responsible AI, and inclusive learning are becoming part of the foundation, not an afterthought."
Bookshare+ excels with complex STEM content, overcoming long-standing challenges with equations, charts, and diagrams. The Bookshare Reader now converts math expressions into MathML, preserving structural relationships for assistive technology. In late 2025, DAISY Consortium testing showed that the reader passed all MathML readability checks across web and mobile. STEM is now the fastest-growing area in Bookshare, set to reach 1.5 million titles in 2026. Cumulative downloads across Benetech platforms have surpassed 35 million.
Benetech is expanding systems-change work through Accessibility Services for Education (BASE), which guides K-12 districts and universities on ADA Title II readiness and uses the W3C Accessibility Maturity Model developed with Benetech's input. The Benetech Approved EdTech Tool (BAET) initiative provides independent accessibility reviews of digital learning platforms used in K-12 classrooms.
On the publishing side, Benetech's Global Certified Accessible (GCA) program, the first independent third-party certification for accessible eBooks, now includes more than 80 publishers worldwide. In 2025, Amazon began displaying GCA accessibility metadata for certified titles, making accessible books easier for readers with print disabilities to discover at the point of purchase.
"Accessibility has evolved from a legal mandate to a bustling frontier of innovation, impact and profit," said Alan Schwarz, Forbes Assistant Managing Editor. "From juggernaut companies to lone entrepreneurs, Accessibility innovation inspires new features, products and services that transform how people with disabilities, and often the wider world, communicate, travel, learn, work, play sports, and so much more. It's now beyond 'the right thing to do.' It's integral to a smart business."
See the complete Forbes Accessibility 200 list at www.forbes.com/lists/accessibility
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Benetech is a nonprofit advancing access to information for people with disabilities who face barriers to reading and learning. Its flagship program, Bookshare, is the world's largest online library of accessible reading materials, serving people with print disabilities in schools, workplaces, and communities worldwide. A Forbes Accessibility 200 honoree. For more information, visit www.benetech.org.
Press Contact: George Mastoras
georgem@benetech.org
(914) 489-5282
SOURCE: Benetech
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire:
https://www.accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/business-and-professional-services/benetech-named-to-forbes-2026-accessibility-list-for-second-cons-1168101
