Blind at 20, He Coded an App That Narrates the World

18 August 2026 • Marc Delaunay • 2 min read

140 countries where it's used

20 languages spoken by the app

50+ OCR reading languages

0 $ price of the base tier

Every developer he emailed for help ignored him. So Mark Sedky, blind since his teens, taught himself to code with YouTube tutorials. The result is ScribeMe, an AI app that narrates the world out loud.

ScribeMe, built by a blind 20-year-old coder

Sedky, a student at the American University in Cairo, lost his sight to a rare, incurable optic nerve condition. In school, his screen readers went silent whenever a physics chart or equation appeared. By 2023, he had built his own tool instead.

I always thought this would be impossible to happen, but it did and I could truly see.

Karen Morad, 16

Today, ScribeMe answers spoken questions in real time through a phone camera. The app speaks around 20 languages, Arabic included, and reads documents in more than 50 via OCR. Reuters reports thousands of users across 140 countries.

A safari narrated live through Meta glasses

The most vivid demo happened in June, in Kenya. Karen, Mark's 16-year-old sister, also blind, followed a safari through Meta smart glasses paired with the app. The AI told her which animals were nearby, how far away they were, and what they did.

That hands-free setup matters, because a white cane already occupies one hand. Back home, the app helps Karen find her classroom, identify shops and pick her outfits. Meanwhile, Apple reportedly plans camera-free glasses for 2027, proof that this market heats up fast.

ScribeMe vs Be My Eyes and Meta AI

The business model stays friendly: free on iPhone and Android, with paid tiers at 20 dollars a month or 200 dollars a year. A win at Vodafone Egypt's 2024 assistive tools hackathon brought Sedky a co-founder and real momentum.

Competition is real, from Be My Eyes volunteers to Meta AI's own detailed descriptions inside its glasses. Yet no rival handled Arabic properly, per Sedky. That precise gap carved out his spot on the market, and users clearly noticed.

Why this story matters

AI headlines usually mean benchmarks, lawsuits and billion-dollar rounds. Here, one app gives a teenager back a safari, a classroom, a wardrobe choice. Honestly, we would sign up for more news like this.