Hello and welcome to Curb Cuts! This website is owned and operated by literally a single person—me, Steven Aquino. I’m a lifelong disabled person and freelance technology journalist based in San Francisco, California.

I’ve worked nearly 11 years essentially running a newsroom of precisely one, covering accessibility and assistive technologies. I write about disability matters in technology, whether the usual hardware or software or other areas such as how disability and tech intersects with Hollywood, healthcare, politics, and several others. In a Journalism 101 sense, my coverage strives to hold truth to power by holding accountable those who create things that light up and make noise to keep making their product(s) accessible to everyone. In a social justice context, disability coverage in mainstream media is woefully inadequate despite the societal push for greater inclusiveness. My work is but one small attempt at moving the needle.

You can read more about me and my career on my portfolio site.

My byline has appeared in several leading publications over the years; they include TechCrunch, The Verge, Macworld, and numerous others. I’ve spent the last few years writing a regular column for Forbes as part of the outlet’s invite-only contributor network. Since April 2020, I’ve posted interviews to my column with Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, Arthur creator Marc Brown, Gallaudet University president Roberta Cordano, and countless more.

My goal with Curb Cuts is to bring more of my reporting “in house” so that I have full editorial independence on what (and why) something gets covered. As to what a “curb cut” is, it’s the cut-out in sidewalks so wheelchair users can cross the street. Colloquially, the so-called “curb cut effect” references how accessibility aids like curb cuts not only help disabled people, but they also help an abled person more easily push a stroller across the street.

For my purposes on this website, the curb cut effect is a double entendre. For me and my reporting, the “curb cuts” phrase is meant to show people that covering accessibility and assistive technologies deserves a permanent and utterly relevant place in mainstream tech news coverage.