Q&A with Natalie Curran
In this video, we sit down with Natalie Curran, a pioneer in accessible mathematics. Natalie, who lost her sight at the age of eight, initially attended a mainstream school, but by her second year of secondary school, she moved to a specialist school hoping to find the right tools and support for her passion in maths.
However, to her surprise, even her specialist school lacked accessible methods for doing mathematics. Determined to find a way forward, Natalie took matters into her own hands, ultimately discovering Unicode—a versatile, accessible format for writing maths. This tool allowed her teachers to not only read her work but also collaborate, with her that typical braille maths didn’t allow.
For Natalie, this wasn’t just a solution; it was a doorway to achieving her academic goals and redefining what’s possible in accessible education.
Having recently completed her Master’s in Mathematical Finance, Natalie used computer maths to write her entire dissertation—showing that complex, high-level mathematics can indeed be accessible.
Reflecting on her journey, Natalie describes computer maths as “opening a door that has been shut to me for so long.”
Listen as Natalie shares her inspiring story, her drive for change, and her hope to make maths accessible to everyone.
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