InnoYouth is a youth-led initiative raising awareness of eye diseases and expanding access to inclusive educational resources through bilingual education, community partnerships, and student-led action.
InnoYouth is a student-led community initiative based in Orange County, California, connecting Braille and tactile learning materials to students and schools who need them, and raising awareness of rare eye diseases through accessible, bilingual education.
We measure what we do — tracking the reach of every donation and partnership — so we can find where the gaps are and focus our efforts where they matter most.
What can we do today to help those losing their sight?
The simple, urgent question our journey began with.
We're a youth-led team working on three fronts:
What began with a single question — watching a friend lose their sight, and asking what we could do to help — is growing into a bigger effort.
Long term, we hope to help connect rare eye disease patients and researchers through data and shared knowledge. That's still an early, aspirational goal — today, our concrete work is Braille book access, awareness content, and impact measurement.
Accessible learning materials and clear information about rare eye diseases are harder to reach than they should be.
Braille and tactile learning materials often sit unused in one place while students who need them go without.
Donors, schools, and families who could help each other often don't know the others exist.
Accurate, accessible information about rare pediatric eye diseases is hard to find, especially across languages.
These gaps mean resources go unused and families go without answers. We're here to change that — one connection, one story at a time.
Our work centers on three simple goals: raise awareness, expand access, and put students in the driver's seat.
We collaborate with eye disease organizations and professionals to create accurate, accessible, and bilingual educational content.
We help connect braille books, tactile learning materials, and inclusive educational resources with organizations that can use them.
We give students meaningful roles in research communication, storytelling, accessibility, outreach, and community service.
A closer look at the work our programs are producing right now.
InnoYouth helped put braille and tactile books — originally produced by Sensee — into the hands of students who need them. WithOn9 held these books in inventory; we made the case for donating them, then matched the donation with Orange County United Way, an organization equipped to distribute the books directly to blind and low-vision students.
What's next: We're reaching out to more publishers and organizations willing to donate braille and tactile materials, so we can match more donations with the students and schools who need them.
We're in early conversations with a rare eye disease patient advocacy group in Korea about co-developing a bilingual (English & Korean) awareness series — short videos and card-news content covering rare pediatric eye diseases, reviewed by medical professionals before publication.
What's next: Finalizing scope and agreement with our prospective partner before development begins.
Continuing the Braille Book Access Project, InnoYouth matched another batch of braille and tactile books — produced by Sensee and held in inventory by WithOn9 — with the Philippine Literacy and Technology Project, coordinated by the Rotary Club of Historic Filipinotown. The books are headed to MS Library and Learning Center in Passi City and underserved schools in the Miag-ao district of the Philippines' Visayan Region.
What's next: 32 more schools in the Miag-ao district are still waiting for library resources — we're working with the Rotary Club to plan further deliveries.
We received a handwritten thank-you card from the Rotary Club team on delivery day.
InnoYouth matched another batch of braille and tactile books — produced by Sensee and held in inventory by WithOn9 — directly with the Blind Children's Center, an Orange County organization that has served blind and visually impaired children since 1938. Ashton delivered the books in person to Scott Kasell, the Center's Director of Development and Communications.
What's next: We're following up with the Blind Children's Center on how the books reach students and families, and exploring whether further deliveries make sense.
InnoYouth matched 400 braille and tactile books — again produced by Sensee and held in inventory by WithOn9 — directly with the Blind Children's Center, an Orange County organization that has served blind and visually impaired children since 1938. At $16 per book, that's $6,400 in educational resources now in the Center's hands.
Ashton delivered all 20 boxes in person to Scott Kasell, the Center's Director of Development and Communications. This is our third completed delivery from the Braille Book Access Project — see Featured Projects for the full story, including our deliveries to Orange County United Way and the Rotary Club of Historic Filipinotown.
Scott shared the Center's 2025 Annual Report with Ashton on delivery day.
Five steps guide every project, from first idea to finished delivery.
We look for real problems and the resources needed to solve them.
We confirm accuracy and need with experts and partners.
We connect companies, organizations, students, and experts.
We carry out deliveries, campaigns, content, and events.
We record outcomes and lessons learned, transparently.
Every project brings together a different kind of partner. Here's how we group them.
Reviews the medical and educational accuracy of our content. A patient-centered precision medicine platform founded by a legally blind tech executive and a medical scientist from Seoul National University.
Logo pending permissionDonated the braille and tactile books featured in our Braille Book Access Project, making its inventory available after being approached by InnoYouth.
Logo pending permissionA rare eye disease awareness and advocacy initiative based in Korea. We're in early conversations about a potential collaboration on the Vision Awareness Series — nothing formalized yet.
Visit eyelovechild.com → Logo pending permissionPartner logos will be added once permission is granted by each organization. Partnerships marked "In Discussion" are still being finalized.
Troy High School, Fullerton, California
Ashton's connection to vision loss is personal. Woo-joo Choi, the founder of Onboarding Lab and a close acquaintance, has been losing his eyesight — and watching a friend navigate that reality up close revealed a clear problem: the people and organizations with resources to help are rarely connected to the people who actually need them.
Ashton's first step was simple — reaching out directly to ask what was needed, and who might be willing to help. That process taught a lasting lesson: the resources usually already exist. They just need someone willing to make the connection.
Ashton's goal is to grow InnoYouth into exactly that — a reliable, youth-led connector that consistently identifies real needs, verifies them with experts, and brings together the companies, schools, and professionals who can meet them.
Meet the rest of the InnoYouth team — coming soon.
We keep our impact numbers honest — here's what that looks like right now.
A few highlights from our journey so far.
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Whether by volunteering your time or partnering with us on a project — every action moves research forward.
Collaborate with us on projects that directly help patients and families — such as contributing braille books, educational materials, or other resources.
Partner With Us →Join our outreach team and help us raise awareness — through design, events, storytelling, and more.
Volunteer with Us →Help us build a youth-powered ecosystem for rare disease research. Every partner, volunteer, and story moves us forward.
InnoYouth is a youth-led initiative connecting Braille and tactile learning materials to students who need them, raising bilingual awareness of rare eye diseases, and measuring our impact with data.
You can join us as a volunteer, partner with us on a project — like providing braille books or educational materials — or simply spread the word. Everyone has a role to play in making an impact.