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The story behind Helperbird

What started as a personal project in 2015 became a mission to make reading, learning, and the web accessible for everyone.

our story

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Hey there!

I'm Robert James Gabriel, the founder (and the one and only developer!) behind Helperbird. This project wasn't just a business - it was personal, created from my own experiences and needs.

Growing up in Ireland, school was a struggle. When I was 15, my English teacher told my parents I should drop out. That news was devastating, but my parents didn't give up on me. After testing, they discovered I had dyslexia, and with their support, I was able to turn things around.

In January 2015, during an internship at Teamwork.com, I created the first version of Helperbird to learn coding and help me study. What started as a small tool to make web browsing easier quickly grew into something much bigger. And coming up on ten years now, it's still just me here, developing and supporting Helperbird.

Helperbird's mission is simple: to make reading, learning, and navigating the web easier and more accessible for everyone. Whether you have dyslexia, low vision, ADHD, or just want tools to improve focus and productivity, Helperbird is here for you.

If Helperbird has made a positive difference for you, please consider leaving a five-star review - it helps others discover us and grow our mission.

Thank you for being part of Helperbird's story. My goal is to make a difference, and I'm honored to be part of yours.

With love,

Robert James Gabriel

Robert James Gabriel

Founder & Developer, Helperbird

from the heart

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What People Are Saying

Join over 1,000,000 people who use Helperbird every day.

Helperbird is a very useful and smartly designed tool that will most definitely make the browsing life of any user suffering from from dyslexia or is even remotely visually impaired a lot easier. It’s very easy to use, has the ability to synchronize settings on multiple devices, and is very efficient thanks to a useful set of straightforward customization options.

Vladimir Ciobica

Vladimir Ciobica

Helperbird user

Brilliant extension! Have tired it for my daughter and she has come on leaps in school. While there are plenty of free features, the paid ones are only 30 USD a year. Can't recommend this enough.

Gary O'Connor

Gary O'Connor

Helperbird user

This extension has been an absolute lifesaver. I have that fantastic combo of ADHD and Dyslexia while trying to go through college. I have difficulty keeping letters in order, seeing the gaps between words, and with ADHD on top, I lose focus A LOT. The immersive reader has been my new best friend. It drowns out the rest of the content on the page, changes the font to something I can read, and highlights the word as it reads to me. My eyes are forced to keep going in the right direction. I can slow down and pay attention to what I'm reading. I don't even have to go back and read the same paragraph 5 times to understand it! The screen overlay has been outstanding for eye strain and being able to distinguish between words and spaces. The custom font and spacing for research articles have been an enormous advantage! I can actually read the research papers now and not have this daunting 2 column fine print page to squint over.All around, this has been the best purchase I've ever had. I use this every day, with every assignment. I don't even struggle with story-based questions anymore. The immersive reader helps me read, listen, and understand the question all at once. I am still exploring what I can use this with and how it can make my academic career, and I keep getting impressed with every new way I find to use it. Seriously, try it out. You won't regret it at all. Even if you don't have dyslexia or ADHD, just try it out. You might find that it helps you understand the content you're trying to learn even better!

Mason Hunter

Mason Hunter

Helperbird user

Helperbird is an excellent extension supporting a range of learning differences. Aside from providing many evidence-based dyslexia-assistive tools, the extension also functions as an easy-to-use, feature-rich web experience customization tool suitable to support a wide range of cognitive differences (i.e., color blindness and ADHD-related focus concerns, among others). Also, the developer is a very good person who supports the various learning-different communities in many ways, including by designing the free version of Helperbird to provide enough functionality to be beneficial to people who cannot afford to subscribe to the full-function version.

Kirk Smith

Kirk Smith

Helperbird user

This chrome extension is absolutely amazing. I'm a Primary school teacher and it helps children with a broad range of needs. It's so easy to set up. I love the way it syncs across devices so set up is seamless across all the children's computers. The customizable features are a game changer for allowing children to enjoy reading and accessing the web in our school. The best application I have ever seen for school children. Looking forward to trying the iPad application soon.

Luke Mccarthy

Luke Mccarthy

Teacher

My son has dyslexia and has been struggling with parts of distant learning over the last year. We recently discovered this software and he is loving everything about it, especially with the ease of following directions and completing his assignments! We have used several other tools but this has everything a dyslexia person needs all in one bundle! The upgrade is definitely worth it to make our daily struggles, on the computer, run much smoother. I also greatly appreciate customer support (helpdesk). They went above and beyond to make sure we were all set up on the computer for my son to most successful.

Melissa Motz

Melissa Motz

Teacher

Helperbird logo: Stylized owl with large yellow eyes and a beige face, against a green background.

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