Cody Hurst
Software built with accessibility first.
Software built with accessibility first — using AI to solve problems nothing else on the market is solving.
About
Hi, I’m Cody Hurst.
I’m a technologist based in St. Louis working at the intersection of accessibility, advocacy, and problems nobody else is solving. I’m blind, I use AI to program, and the programming is a means to an end — the end being software that works the way I’d actually want to use it.
My hands-on experience is with HTML, CSS, and Python; the C# behind my flagship applications is written with AI assistance. Where I have real depth is in accessibility itself: WCAG and ARIA review, hands-on work with JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack, refreshable braille displays and embossers, and braille translation in Duxbury. I graduated in 2020 with associate degrees in network systems and computer networking, and while the CompTIA and Cisco certifications from that era have since expired, the underlying technical fluency — building my own machines in the mid-2000s, servicing my own Clevo laptops, reasoning through unfamiliar problems — still drives how I work.
Accessibility isn’t a skill I picked up — it’s been a necessity my whole life. One moment that stuck with me: in 2017 I helped a blind student model a 3D-printable iPhone stand in OpenSCAD using spatial reasoning and a few lines of syntax. Watching what companies like Orbit Research are doing to bring the cost of refreshable braille down to something ordinary people can afford is a constant reminder that the technology exists — it just has to reach the people who need it.
Outside of that, I write on blog.codyhurst.com and run a community on forum.codyhurst.com. I’m technically still on payroll at Portland Community College, but I’m not currently accepting assignments. What I am open to: accessibility reviews, WCAG audits, AT testing with a user who actually uses the technology, and collaborations where accessibility is a first-class concern rather than an afterthought. If that sounds like a fit, get in touch.
Skills & Credentials
- Using AI to ship real software. I drive Claude Code and similar tools to produce production-grade applications in languages I don’t write by hand — directing architecture, reviewing output, and keeping accessibility as the non-negotiable constraint.
- Screen readers as a daily driver. JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver (macOS / iOS), TalkBack, and Narrator — used, not just tested.
- WCAG & accessibility review. Evaluating websites and applications for WCAG compliance and real-world usability with assistive tech, and writing up findings that are actionable rather than checkbox-only.
- Assistive technology. Refreshable braille displays, braille embossers, and Duxbury Braille Translator.
- Accessibility-first software design. Building interfaces that reach parity for blind and low-vision users — keyboard-first navigation, ARIA live regions, spatial audio, and semantic narration of otherwise-visual data.
- Web development. Hands-on with HTML, CSS, and Python; comfortable in the MariaDB terminal for everyday tasks; familiar with SQL table structure and relationships.
- Technical support & problem solving. Building PCs, servicing my own hardware, and reasoning through unfamiliar problems using a broad technical background — plus research when research is what’s needed.
- Education. Associate degrees in Network Systems and Computer Networking (2020).
Featured Projects
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Accessible Trader
A keyboard- and screen-reader-native web trading platform built for blind and low-vision traders, with accessible charting and market data designed to be read by speech and audio rather than sight.
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Cody Hurst Network
A self-hosted multi-site network (main site, blog, forum, and shop) sharing a unified design system, content pipeline, and accessibility-first front end.
Applications
Desktop applications built with accessibility as a first-class concern — keyboard-first, screen-reader-native, and designed so blind and low-vision users reach parity with sighted users, not a reduced experience.
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Accessible Trade Terminal
A professional trading and analytics platform built for blind and low-vision traders. It treats market data as a soundscape — spatial panning, frequency-mapped trends, and audio textures let you feel market structure, volatility, and momentum without sight. 26 data providers across crypto, equities, forex, commodities, and macroeconomics.
- Custom 64-voice polyphonic C# DSP engine for real-time sonification — no OS MIDI overhead.
- Native screen-reader speech (NVDA, JAWS, VoiceOver, TalkBack, Narrator) via ARIA live regions.
- Keyboard-first navigation on Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS, with a built-in Help dialog (Alt+H).
- User-buildable Strategy Composer with R:R-gated setups, warmup-aware backtester, and AI Analyst review.
- OS-sandboxed Roslyn custom-indicator runtime (Windows AppContainer / macOS sandbox-exec / Android isolatedProcess) with a security-hardened plugin trust policy.
- 264 tests passing across four target frameworks.
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Accessible Weather Center
A speech- and keyboard-driven weather application with a Weatherscan-style cycling display. Every visual — including radar, normally inaccessible to screen readers — is mirrored by a semantic narration, so blind and low-vision users get life-safety weather information at the same fidelity as sighted viewers, as data and not pixels.
- Ten era-authentic TWC hardware themes (WeatherStar 3000, 4000 v1/v2, Jr, XL, Weatherscan Local/V1/V2, IntelliStar 1/2 HD).
- Accessible map navigation with four lenses over the same spatial data: Places, Alerts, Storms, and Grid Explorer.
- Live NOAA Weather Radio streaming over weatherUSA Icecast feeds, with retry, failover, and its own audio bus.
- Three-bus audio mixer (music / voice / radio) with ducking so narration never fights background music.
- NVDA / JAWS / VoiceOver via ARIA live regions by default; optional built-in Web Speech TTS for users without a screen reader.
- Honors
prefers-reduced-motionand offers a high-contrast overlay on top of any theme.
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OpenFPS
An audio-first, fully customizable multiplayer game framework for blind and visually impaired players. There are no graphics — gameplay is carried entirely by a binaural soundscape and spatial awareness, so blind players aren’t adapting to a sighted game, they’re playing a game built for them from the ground up.
- HRTF binaural rendering via FMOD Studio with Google Resonance Audio, plus dynamic atmospheric absorption and diffraction so geometry and materials actually sound different.
- Direct NVDA speech bridge through Tolk, with SAPI fallback for users without a screen reader installed.
- Authoritative server with client-side prediction and server reconciliation over reliable UDP — no movement jitter, deterministic physics parity between client and server.
- Zero-allocation hot paths (
ArrayPool<T>,ReadOnlySpan<T>) and a uniform-grid spatial partition for O(1) collision and acoustic queries. - Lock-free, high-priority audio thread for glitch-free binaural rendering independent of game-loop timing.
- Behavior-tree NPC AI and a data-oriented ECS designed so creators can build maps, items, and NPCs end-to-end.
Latest Writing
Community
Discussion, accessibility shop-talk, and project coordination happens on the forum.
Support This Work
If my work is useful to you and you’d like to support it, crypto donations are welcome at any of the addresses below. Copy carefully — double-check before sending.
- Ethereum / Arbitrum / Base
0x23b99484A369F718F371c8BFCa5F3FFc53B14F47- BNB Smart Chain
0x23b99484A369F718F371c8BFCa5F3FFc53B14F47- Bitcoin
bc1qp20rjw6vlddmt808v0h8gdrdcmx8n83pmzlaww- Kaspa
kaspa:qypxfclrz0eyw4rn736mwr3ndyfk6c474py9l9mf6n9x9qhpchy6w3cr340mgzy- XRP
rLAaVmjsofxnFJ6o6ZYF3hn6FddKtJnu8q- Solana
HG5BvLsfAgyHGxJe8cfKBzf4qArAmb7LEc5TDe45zwEe- Bittensor (via Tangem)
5GhBmEmMzD92j1rAPMjLbdTmCHQPBZNvyVS2q4RLraEk14jt