Students helping Students
Tactile Pathways began its journey in January 2026 with three high school students—Emmett Stirling, John McGinn, and Finnian Schaffer— and two teachers of students with visual impairments (TSVIs) from Wasatch County School District in Heber City, Utah. The teachers and students connected through Wasatch CAPS, a program providing real life projects, problems, and experiences to high school students.
Left to right: Emmett Stirling, Finnian Schaffer, John McGinn
Throughout the high school project, we had the opportunity to work with Perkins School for the Blind on refining our designs. In March of 2026, our founder Emmett Stirling had the opportunity to visit their campus in Boston, MA. “That is when I realized how much good we could do. Seeing the hand made tools they used made me realize that engineers paired with teachers as the guides could really make a difference in these students lives.”
Tactile Pathways did not start its journey as a business, but as a mission. The TSVIs wanted tools and toys that would help meet their students needs, designed specifically for students with Cerebral Visual Impairment (CVI), Cerebral Palsy (CP), and blindness. The tools they were using were expensive and not tailored to the needs of the students. We worked with those teachers to develop products that would help their students, and be adaptable enough to meet challenges in the future.
