Turning Uncertainty into Confidence: Richard Jenkins’ Journey

Meet Richard Jenkins, Touchpulse’s Strategic Advisor. Visually impaired himself, Richard brings lived experience into every part of how Tiera is built. In this interview, he shares his story and how that insight helps shape the future of accessible navigation. 

Can you tell us a bit about your background and what led you into your current career?

Richard Jenkins' interview traces a journey shaped by resilience, reinvention and leadership. After joining the Royal Navy straight from school, he lost his sight early in service as a result of a degenerative optic nerve condition, was medically discharged and registered blind. Through rehabilitation and determination, he rebuilt his confidence, developed new technical skills and went on to build an international career in technology. Over the years, he has worked with major global organisations and high-growth ventures across areas including data, smart buildings, AI and digital transformation, becoming known not simply for commercial leadership, but for helping ambitious businesses turn emerging technology into practical, high-impact solutions.

Today, Richard combines that professional experience with his lived experience of sight loss to influence a wider shift towards a more inclusive world. His perspective sits at the intersection of technology, accessibility and real-world independence: he understands both the opportunities innovation creates and the daily barriers people with disabilities still face when navigating work, travel and public life. Through advocacy, strategic support and public engagement, he contributes to the pressure on public sector bodies, commercial organisations and society more broadly to design services, environments and technologies that are more accessible, adaptive and responsive to people with additional support needs.

He is particularly positive about Tiera because it reflects a more meaningful approach to accessible innovation. Rather than being designed at a distance, it has been shaped around the practical realities of navigating with sight loss and informed by continuous input from visually impaired users. That gives it a credibility and usefulness that many assistive technologies struggle to achieve. Richard sees in Tiera the kind of progress that can come when strong technical ambition is combined with genuine community insight and fast, responsive development. As he puts it: "What has impressed me most about Tiera is that this is not innovation for its own sake. As a user, I have experienced how much more confident and informed a journey can feel when technology is designed around real needs. I have also seen a team that listens, learns quickly and is building with real purpose. That combination gives me genuine confidence that Tiera, and technologies like it, can make a substantial difference to the everyday lives of people with additional support needs."