The team

The Team Behind Comfort Commons

How This All Started

Hey, I’m Lalitha! I kicked off Comfort Commons because I wanted to build something that felt just right. It started with me trying to create a site that was ✨visually sleek✨—you know, the kind with smooth animations that just wow you. I thought that was the secret sauce to great web design.

Then, someone pointed out that I was missing something huge: alternative formats for people who couldn’t access certain content types. That simple comment completely changed my perspective. It was a lightbulb moment—how easy it is to forget that not everyone experiences the web the same way.

I went down a rabbit hole after that, asking myself:

Can we build a web that lets users feel comfortable and in control of what they need?

That’s when Comfort Commons was born.

Who We Actually Are Right Now

I’m just a university student who got really obsessed with this question, and I dragged a few friends along for the ride. We’re a mix of:

Computer science and design students who are learning that technical skills alone just create fancier problems, not better solutions.
People from different backgrounds who are learning that diversity in experience is key when you want to make something that works for everyone.
Building this as we go—because if one curious mind can ask these questions, imagine what happens when a bunch of us with different experiences come together to make the web more kind, inclusive, and human.

Where We Are Now

The honest truth? We’re just getting started. A handful of university friends, some passionate volunteers, and a lot of ideas floating around.

Here’s where the magic happens: when people point out what we missed. Like that time someone on Reddit pointed out how high contrast (which we thought was a universally good thing) can actually trigger vestibular disorders. That one comment totally flipped our research in a new direction, and suddenly, we’re learning something totally unexpected: accessibility is complex—and sometimes, beautifully contradictory.

We’re always looking for people with lived experience of disability, neurodivergence, and other accessibility challenges—not just for feedback, but to help guide what we’re building from the very start.

How We Stay Real

Nothing About Us, Without Us – We’re not interested in building tools for people, we’re interested in building them with people.

Every tool we create gets tested by those who actually need the features
People with lived experience help lead research and shape the process
We’ve got anonymous feedback channels where people can call us out if we mess up
We try to compensate research participants when we can
We regularly ask ourselves, “Are we actually helping, or just making ourselves feel good?”

The Honest Truth About Resources

Right now? We’re a bunch of students running this project on pure passion and volunteer energy. Everything is free, open-source, and built on free platforms.

Our promise? If we ever get any funding, here’s where it goes:

Fair compensation for research participants
Supporting contributors who need accessibility tools
Keeping everything free and open-source forever
Never: Fancy offices or paying investors

Why This Matters

Most accessibility work feels heavy—full of rules, technical standards, and this underlying guilt about leaving people out. It’s easy for people to burn out and miss the point entirely.

We’re doing things a little differently. What if accessibility could feel like play? What if it was about learning to be kinder to ourselves while thinking about everyone else’s needs too?

Turns out, when people feel safe and curious rather than judged and overwhelmed, they build way better solutions.

Want to Play, Build, and Create Sandcastles with Us?

We’re not a company, and we’re not a nonprofit. We’re just a group of people who believe the web should feel good to use—not just meet technical standards.

If that sounds like something you want to be a part of, come play with us! There’s always room in the sandbox for more builders.

Questions? Think we’re missing something? Great! We want to hear it. Open an issue, start a discussion, or come hang out with us in our community spaces. Your feedback helps us get better.

This page gets updated as we grow and learn. Last updated: 21 Aug 2025.