Darwin Belt
Co-founder & Manager
Main Content
See beyond the limits of a visual world.
We’re on a mission to make the world totally natural and welcoming for people with blindness and vision loss.
No two people see the world in quite the same way, and for us, that’s a good thing! Our founders Darwin and Armand each experienced vision loss. This fueled their passion to provide better information about the world, non-visually. For people with blindness, getting information—like directions, instructions, or product descriptions—often means relying on people with better eyesight.
Our first-of-its-kind smart assistant gives better information, faster for people who are blind. Beginning in 2018, get WayAround for home and office, but we won't stop there. Future releases let you scan for information in public spaces, so you can get around and get things done with more independence and confidence.
Succeeding Together
WayAround was started with a can-do practicality and a lofty purpose: to provide limitless opportunities for people with vision loss.
Employment
At every level of business—from communications to customer service, accounting to assembly—WayAround is committed to employing people with vision loss. 70% of working-age adults who are blind currently remain unemployed. We seek out employees and contractors who are blind or vision impaired, and we partner with organizations that employee those with low vision.
Building Bridges
We design our products to meet the specific needs of people with vision impairment, and inclusive design benefits people with good eyesight, too. Plus, the more that people with blindness are visible in their communities, the more everyone will understand that vision loss doesn’t need to hold anyone back.
Giving Back
We donate at least 10% of our profits to organizations focused on blindness, like Lighthouses for the Blind, American Foundation for the Blind, National Federation of the Blind, and American Council of the Blind.
Meet the leadership of WayAround.
After a thirty-year career as an architect, software developer, and entrepreneur, Darwin now uses his expertise to change how people with blindness or low vision get information about the world around them.
Darwin Belt is the co-founder and manager of WayAround, the smart app that provides on-demand details about everyday things for people with blindness or vision loss. Darwin created WayAround after retiring from a thirty-year career as an architect and software developer. Working with top national homebuilders, Darwin built an award-winning company that specialized in Building Information Modeling (BIM) software, which creates interactive representations of every aspect of a building. In 2007, that company was purchased by a Fortune 175 company, ITW. Through WayAround, Darwin now uses his expertise to change how people with blindness or low vision get information about objects in the world around them.
A passionate devotee of innovation, Darwin has pursued leading medical advancements to correct a number of his own vision-related and other complications of Type 1 diabetes. Darwin first lost his vision at age thirty, and successfully underwent a vitrectomy to restore his sight. Since then, he has been diagnosed with wet macular degeneration, significant peripheral vision loss, and nyctalopia (night blindness). He was the recipient of a kidney transplant from his brother, Craig, in the mid-1980s, and in 2007, he received a pancreas transplant, curing his diabetes of forty years.
Using his personal experiences in business and with his family, Darwin gives back to his community through financial contributions and volunteerism. He is actively involved in his local church and works with Family Grace Group and Good Mood Foundation, non-profit organizations dedicated to supporting people and families with mental health and mood challenges. Darwin and his wife, Kathy, live in Plano, Texas and enjoy spending time with their four children and three grandchildren.
Armand Fisher
Co-founder
An architect for more than three decades, Armand Fisher uses his personal experience with vision loss to provide direction and strategic advice for product development, user experience, and accessibility standards.
As a co-founder of WayAround, Armand provides direction and strategic advice for product development, user experience, and accessibility standards. Over the course of his three-decade career as an architect, Armand worked in firms and was self-employed, focusing on governmental contracts.
In 2005, Armand developed idiopathic ischemic optic neuritis and lost his vision over only a few weeks. Learning to adapt to the new challenges evoked feelings from fear to frustration as Armand became more comfortable using a cane. Armand created WayAround because of his personal experience with vision loss and a passion for creating more efficient and accessible spaces. Armand and his wife, Diana, live in Euless, Texas, where they spend lots of quality time with their three children and seven grandchildren.
Jessica Hipp
Marketing Director
As marketing director, Jessica Hipp works to build connections with people who are blind or have experienced vision loss and the organizations that work with them.
Jessica Hipp is marketing director of WayAround, overseeing marketing, communications, and community and partner relations. She loves innovative technologies that make the world a better place, and she caught the WayAround vision early on.
Jessica brings fifteen years of marketing and public relations experience that spans non-profit, public, and corporate sectors, including several Fortune 500 companies. She has worked both in-house and with agencies, and she specializes in the technology and education verticals. Jessica lives with her husband and son in southern New Hampshire.