At just 18 years old, Hugo Mouffok embodies a new generation of committed entrepreneurs who transform their personal challenges into solutions for society. Visually impaired and passionate about computers, he founded with his friends theEyeLevel association, initially a high school project. Two years later, this initiative has transformed into a promising collective adventure, mobilizing around ten visually impaired developers across France.
Faced with the alarming observation of 40% visually impaired people without jobs and the expected increase in the number of visually impaired people by 2050, Hugo and his team are developing innovative and accessible technological solutions. Between awareness-raising in schools, development of assistance robots and creation of adapted educational materials, EyeLevel perfectly illustrates how young people can use technology to promote inclusion.
Meeting with this young association president who, between his engineering studies and the management of his projects, maintains a clear objective: to make digital technology accessible to all.
Hello Hugo, can you introduce yourself in a few words?
My name is Hugo Mouffok, I am 18 years old. To quickly go back over my career, I followed a ULIS course in middle school, before joining theNational Institute for Young Blind People Louis Braille where I obtained my baccalaureate specializing in Mathematics and Digital and Computer Sciences with honors. I am currently in computer engineering school at the engineering school Efrei and I am co-founder and president of the EyeLevel association since January 2024.
Can you introduce the EyeLevel association?
EyeLevel has existed since January 2024 as an association, even though the project has existed since 2022. We are a team of ten members, including visually impaired coders from all over France. The association's mission is to promote the use of digital technology for all, raise awareness of accessibility, publish suitable materials, provide support, and design suitable tools.
What actions do you put in place to accomplish the association’s missions?
The EyeLevel Association therefore has 5 main missions:
- Promote the use of digital technology for all.
We have joined the Maison des associations in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, which will allow us to go to primary schools to raise awareness among students about computers and disabilities. We want to show that, regardless of the profile, computers are accessible to everyone.
- Raise awareness of the importance of accessibility.
This mission is realized through publications on our social networks and visits to companies or contacts to illustrate how a visually impaired person can work and how companies can adapt their tools and platforms to be accessible to all.
- Publish suitable learning materials.
On our site, we offer online courses in mathematics and in the Digital and Computer Science (NSI) specialty. We are also considering developing content in programming and office automation.
- Provide support to people who want to learn more about inclusion or disability.
Teachers, professionals and families regularly contact us to find out how to adapt their documents or courses for visually impaired people. When we don't have all the answers, we refer them to experts in our network.
- Design suitable tools.
In this context, we are developing a robot and a drone capable of accompanying a visually impaired person in many everyday tasks. For example, the drone can follow a person, recognize texts, voices, faces, gestures and objects, and then locate them. We are gradually integrating this solution into robots to take advantage of their greater autonomy and their advanced sensors, such as a gripper that can manipulate objects.
Thanks to funding from theSee Together association, we were able to acquire two additional robots to advance our developments and bring our projects to fruition.
If you had to describe EyeLevel and the team in three words, which would you choose?
The three words that describe us are: Ambition, Collaboration and Innovative.
How did the Eyelevel project come about?
The project was born in 2022, during our digital specialty in first year which requires the realization of a project. We shared a passion for drones and started to think about how a drone could meet our daily needs. The idea of "coding our own needs" became our common thread.
So, we worked so that this drone could really assist us in concrete tasks, and we really liked this project. In the final year, our project even obtained the third place at the NSI Trophy, which rewards the best projects in the specialty.
At that time, we felt the need to give continuity to this initiative, which led to the creation of the EyeLevel association.
Why the name Eyelevel?
At first, we had a hard time finding a name that we really liked. Then, during a discussion, our teacher – who is now the treasurer of the association – mentioned the idea of reaching the “high level”. Someone then joked: “High, how do you spell it? EYE?” And that’s how the name EyeLevel was born.
What initiatives are underway at EyeLevel that motivate you the most?
Currently, several projects excite me a lot. First, we are preparing awareness-raising actions for primary school pupils to show them that digital technology is accessible to everyone, regardless of their profile or background. We are working with teachers to launch these workshops soon.
We are also working on developing robots. We recently received a second robot and are starting to integrate our applications into it: after getting familiar with Scratch, we are now moving on to Python to go further in the functionalities.
Additionally, we're soon launching a new social media series, called EyeTech, to make complex computer science concepts more accessible to the general public, while raising awareness about the importance of accessibility.
Finally, people have contacted us to assess the accessibility of their sites and suggest improvements. At the same time, we continue to add online courses to our site to enrich the available resources.
How do you plan to integrate new technologies and programming to improve accessibility?
We plan to gradually integrate artificial intelligence into our solutions. For example, the application “Be My Eyes” allows visually impaired people to contact volunteers for visual assistance, such as reading instructions on a product. Recently, they launched an option called “Be My AI” which uses ChatGPT to recognize images, which is very powerful and inspires us a lot.
For our part, we are considering integrating an AI capable of recognizing the environment, such as the position of a pedestrian crossing, the location of a bakery, a bus stop or even the contents of packaging. This type of functionality could provide valuable assistance in many areas for visually impaired people.
Do you work with other associations or institutions? If so, how do your collaborations take place?
We collaborate with the Association Voir Ensemble, which has granted us generous funding. We also work closely with theNational Institute for Young Blind People, where students from the NSI specialty, members of our association, help us code the robot.
Soon, we will join the Louis Braille Campus, a crossroads between research, training and innovation. The innovation section will be an incubator dedicated to projects for the visually impaired, founded by major institutions such as the Louis Braille National Institute for Young Blind People, theAVH association, apiDV And See Together. We want to integrate there as a startup in the long term.
What are your aspirations for the future?
Above all, we want to develop our project and find more time to develop our robot, because it takes a long time. In the long term, our goal is to create a truly useful solution for visually impaired people in their daily lives.
Our priority is to find the ideal tool to embed our solution, and an artificial intelligence, which could recognize objects, voices, faces, etc. in a more precise way, in order to offer optimal support. Once this solution is complete, we would like to launch a national survey and intensify our awareness-raising actions in schools and companies to reach even more people.
What are the main challenges EyeLevel faces in carrying out its projects?
Time management is our biggest challenge, as everyone has parallel commitments, and it is not always easy to get together.
The lack of financial resources was also a difficulty, but the financial support we received will allow us to test more tools, develop our skills and act with more freedom.
How do you see EyeLevel's impact on society, particularly in terms of raising awareness of visual impairment?
We work to raise awareness that differences are not a barrier, whether for young students or older employees.
We are already receiving very positive feedback on social networks, with people thanking us for changing their perception, for example: “I didn't know that a visually impaired person could use a computer in this way”, or: “I had doubts when I saw a CV. Now I understand better.”
Recently, we shared the top 10 apps for visually impaired people, which also generated a lot of interest and positive feedback.
This feedback pleases us and confirms that our impact is already tangible.
What does it mean on a daily basis to be president of an association at 18 years old, while being visually impaired?
It takes time and energy, that's for sure, but it's a dream come true. I never would have imagined, when I started working in IT three years ago, that I would become president of an association. But that's what I love, it's my passion, and I love it!
How do you reconcile your studies and your role within the association?
I dedicate between 4 and 5 hours a week to the association. I have managed to organize my schedule with that of the NSI specialty to support them, and I go to the institute on Tuesday afternoons for 2 hours, with the aim of increasing this time to 3 or 4 hours in the long term.
On weekends, I also take a few hours to respond to people who contact us and move forward on solutions for the robot – there is no shortage of tasks!
What skills have you developed by leading this association at such a young age?
This experience allowed me to develop three essential skills: oral fluency through conference presentations, technical mastery in programming, and efficiency in finding solutions. I also acquired skills in time management and written communication through writing publications, emails, grant applications, etc.
What is your biggest dream for the future?
My first goal would be to get my engineering degree, and then create a company to develop our projects and benefit as many people as possible.
Today, 40% of visually impaired people are unemployed, these figures are truly shocking. We would like to help them better use and master digital technology. Our solution could allow them to move around more easily on the street. We are also thinking of organizing coding workshops to help all these people better master digital tools.
In addition, studies predict that the number of visually impaired people will triple by 2050, particularly due to the aging of the population. With increasing life expectancy, more and more people will need these tools.
What do you want to do as a career later?
I want to become an entrepreneur and create my own startup in IT, specializing in the development of adapted equipment for people with disabilities.
Can you share an anecdote or a significant moment since the creation of the association?
What really touched us was the financial support we received, including a donation of €1,000, and another of €150 from the father of a visually impaired person.
It's really nice to see that people believe in our project. In a few months, we also got 3rd place in a competition, 1st place in another, and we are going to join an incubator. Everything is accelerating very quickly!
What advice would you give to other young people who want to create an association or get involved in a cause that is close to their hearts?
You really shouldn't hesitate to get started! We can often be afraid at the beginning, worry about the future, but we have to go for it. That's what makes us smile the most afterwards. When we see the project moving forward, we're super happy. As they say: nothing ventured, nothing gained!
Do you have a final word?
Thank you for this interview, it's very kind. I invite all people who would like to know more about Eyelevel, or who would like to code in their free time and get involved in the project, to contact us!
Thank you for reading this interview, don't hesitate to follow the Eyelevel association on social networks:
