Innovation for Good: Televeda and Benetech

When Mac didn’t show up for his weekly virtual painting course, the other seniors in his class grew worried. They decided to investigate and learned the solo elder had landed in the hospital following an accident. A few weeks later, he returned to class and was received with warmth by his newfound community.

“He felt seen, like there were people waiting for him,” says Shruti Gurudanti, the co-founder of online socialization hub Televëda, about Mac (whose real name is protected by the service’s privacy policy).

Providing seniors with a sense of community was the driving force behind Gurudanti’s idea for the platform, which connects seniors struggling with loneliness through activities like yoga, art, and bingo. It’s also a mission close to her heart: as a young child, Gurudanti witnessed her grandparents fall deeper into isolation as they dealt with her grandfather’s Alzheimer’s disease.

Connection as a lifeline

In 2018, Gurudanti enlisted the help of her husband, a software engineer named Mayank Mishra, to develop the technology that powers the platform—expanding upon the familial ties that led to Televëda’s inception.

The creation of the software was a step toward helping unite seniors—but only those with digital access and literacy. In 2019, to overcome this challenge, Televëda began providing door-to-door service, supplying seniors with low-cost electronic devices and Wi-Fi along with the know-how to operate them.

“If you’re lucky, you will get old—and I wanted to figure out something for a generation that inevitably gets lonely,” Gurudanti explains.

In an attempt to curb the broader loneliness epidemic, Televëda has expanded its reach to support Indigenous groups and minority veterans.

In these communities, the organization offers peer support groups and digital connectivity programs to bridge the gap to social and mental health resources. This work has enabled veterans to digitally locate relevant supports—a relief to those in need of a lifeline.

“With veterans, our goal remains to alleviate social isolation and loneliness, but with a particular focus on suicide prevention,” says Gurudanti. “We know that when a veteran is connected to the Veteran’s Association, they have lower chances of suicide and better health outcomes.”

While Gurudanti’s business was formed from a desire to serve seniors, it’s the pervasive plight of loneliness that pushes the organization forward. “What’s driving us is that we know there are still so many more people that we can help impact.”

Benetech

When Chloe Deustch was 13, she lost the ability to read. Focusing on the words now caused her bouts of vertigo and nausea—one of the many symptoms of her sudden battle with Lyme disease. While there wasn’t an immediate remedy for her illness, the discovery of a new assisted-reading platform designed by nonprofit tech organization Benetech soon served as an antidote to the loss of her passion.

“For the first time since my diagnosis, I felt like I was back in control, with the freedom to learn and to continue exploring the world through books,” says Deutsch about her experience with Bookshare, an e-book library for individuals with accessibility needs. “As someone who felt empowered by the independence of reading, I did not want to rely on my parents and teachers to read for me.”

Bookshare boasts over 1.3 million titles, all of which are compatible with text-to-audio synchronization or refreshable braille devices. The creation of this library helps support Benetech’s mission of leveraging software for inclusive and equitable education.

“If we can eliminate the barriers to accessing content, then anyone—regardless of their differences or age—will be able to read,” explains Benetech CEO Ayan Kishore. “And that’s obviously crucial for their well-being, fulfillment, and career.”

“Imagine being a student trying to learn while your peers have access to the material immediately, and you don’t get the core reading until weeks later,” says Kishore. “That delay can have a severe impact on your ability to keep up and succeed.”

To accelerate this process, Benetech has partnered with over 1,000 publishers to release born-accessible books.

Addressing intersectionality and inequities

The scarcity of accessible resources remains a widespread issue, notably for those facing the intersectionality of disability, race, and poverty. This lack of support can contribute to inequitable outcomes like the school-to-prison pipeline; a University of Pennsylvania study found that 66 per cent of the incarcerated population had a self-reported disability compared with 26 per cent of the entire US population.

“This means we failed these individuals earlier on in their lives and in school,” says Kishore.

To mitigate this issue, Benetech offers the use of Bookshare for free to students with disabilities through financial support from individuals, organizations, corporations, and the Department of Education.

Paying it forward

In her current work in higher education, Deutsch now advocates for students with disabilities, just like Benetech did for her. “Thank you for driving innovation that allows young people to thrive in traditionally inaccessible spaces,” she writes in a letter to Benetech’s donors.

This article was originally published in the March-April 2025 issue of alive magazine (US edition).