PerennialA11y - Digital Accessibility & Responsible AI Engineering

Mission

TL;DR (too long, didn't read):
PerennialA11y LLC's mission is to help humans find and be what they are using digital accessibility and responsible AI as the vehicle, strategy, and indicator.

The real question for ourselves

What is the most important cause or mission?
Psych. I think this is a potentially dangerous (or at least, incomplete) question. It presumes an absolute, universal, and static hierarchy or prioritization that all humans should follow.

Nature has the answer to the question

We can start off with what I consider the earlier question to ask. Fortunately, for us, we can learn by simply looking at what nature already figured out naturally, effortlessly, and perfectly. Honeybees are among the most important species on the planet because of their role as pollinators and the impact they have on ecosystems worldwide. And yet, forcing animals (even if they could be forced somehow) to do the honeybee's job would be a terrible idea. Elephants, vultures, wasps (actually they do, but not to the degree of bees), for example, are not designed or suited to pollinate. It is not in their nature, instinct, or practical capabilities. Even if we could reprogram the elephants, vultures, and wasps to start being pollinators, who then would serve the unique niches they fulfilled? Elephants disperse seeds and modify their environment, benefiting all the other species in their habitat. Vultures recycle dead animals and sanitize the environment without violence. Wasps kill many of the insects that would otherwise wreck plants or organisms if left unchecked. The most important role for any organism or being is to carry out its unique role/niche for which it is adapted.

The same law within species

Now, complications may seem to arise within the same species, but the same law applies there, too. For example, an older human sibling might have a role as the future-oriented, responsible child, while the younger human sibling may be better suited to be the more fun, present-oriented child. In a herd of horses, one horse may be the watcher while the others sleep, and then they rotate so the role could be temporary.

We are each a species

While humans could do one or the other or multiple things, any one being has finite capabilities, resources, and attention, so there will be tradeoffs at one point. We humans, have the greatest advantage of all species with our multi-faceted potential, plasticity, and adaptivity. One can be both a poet and a soldier. Or a poet turned general, or a gangster turned poet. There have been blind people who developed extraordinary perceptions like echolocation. I see the differences between each and every person to be closer to the differences between species of animals.

The taboo of knowing yourself

Long story short is that one of the most important things we can (rather than should) do, for the benefit of ourselves and others, is to find out what we are aligned to do. And that is only possible if we know who and what we are and who and what we aren't, in this very moment. And I find the world or society as it generally has and is to be pretty bad at helping us find out or accept what we are - it would much rather tell us what we should or shouldn't be or what we should or shouldn't do. Most of us die never even knowing of the divine spark each and every one of us has, and that is an even deeper layer than the one I'm speaking of. At the very least, you owe it to yourself to find and be yourself in this world, however the universe has manifested you. It doesn't mean one can't or shouldn't improve, but it's like a baby. Sure, he/she can learn to jump and run faster, but it's still perfect the way it is.

Where digital accessibility comes in

PerennialA11y LLC is an external extension of the drive to help both myself and others to find and be more of who we are. Digital accessibility is a great heuristic, strategy, and process that can help us know if we really are respecting the diversity of other humans and actually help build a more inclusive world. A more accessible world means a world that isn't just suitable for the statistically average person or those who lucked into the kind of race that society values, or the kind of world that incentivizes people to try to change their DNA. An accessible world is a better world because it means that people who have differences from the norm (which includes someone who has a disability statistically) can not only survive, but thrive as they are, which would be good for both themselves and the world of living beings. There is truly a place for everyone, and even those who don't have one can create their own. A honey bee is not broken in a wasp's nest, nor is a wasp broken in a honey bee hive. And in the case of humans, one can be a honeybee at one point in their life, a wasp at a later point, or perhaps some beautiful Frankenstein monster of a wasp, honeybee, and a butterfly (which is probably what I am).

AI as the force multiplier, not the end in itself

The recent emergence and popularity of generative AI threw an interesting curveball. Excluding the power, wealth, and status seekers, the few visionaries behind the race to AGI (artificial general intelligence) had their hearts in the right place. The idea is that if we can solve AGI, we can then accelerate and solve every other industry. As of 2026, AI can be used to help do work in many industries. And yet, there are definitely many potential catastrophes, dangers, risks, and consequences of AI literally similar to having nuclear warheads and probably even worse, but what is undeniable is AI is not going away, and there are more or less responsible and ethical ways to build, use, and deploy AI. Even if AI can solve every material and societal problem in the world, would it be worth having boiled the oceans, destroyed our human and cognitive sovereignty, or corrupted our hearts and souls to get there? Material utopia wouldn't even address the insatiable nature of the human mind anyway (see Gold Medal Syndrome). AI is a force multiplier, but that vector can be positive or negative. AI is also an assistive technology for many of us, so it's also a part of accessibility, and AI can also help us further the field of accessibility. AI is a tool that humanity can use for something greater, which includes digital accessibility, which itself is also a tool that humanity can use for something greater.

The mission

If I should say so, PerennialA11y LLC's mission fundamentally is to help humans find and be who we are using digital accessibility and responsible AI as the vehicle, strategy, and indicator.

Principles (WIP)