“Hang on, who’s Robert again?” It is a familiar moment for readers with ADHD, says French entrepreneur Noé Cabannes Michel. Forty or fifty pages in, a character slips from memory and the thread of the story is lost.

For over a year, he has been running a new non-profit dedicated to inclusive publishing. The word “commitment” makes him think of joining the army: you sign up for a term of service. He sees a parallel with his own work, which he has thrown himself into so wholeheartedly that “there’s no turning back”. He believes there are still no books adapted specifically for readers with attention disorders anywhere in the world, and feels a certain responsibility. “If I don’t do it, I feel as though no one will.” His first adaptation will be Stefan Zweig’s Chess.

The 20-year-old has the support of around ten volunteers and an ADHD specialist, and now also of Ashoka, the international network of social entrepreneurs, through its Impact’Ers programme. This selective, three-year programme supports twenty entrepreneurs aged 18 to 29. He is the youngest in his cohort.

A calling rooted in childhood

“As a child, I always wanted to change the world. I had this idea for a device that would capture lightning and supply the whole of Paris with electricity. It was a bit of a pipe dream, but it was going to revolutionise the world.” In real life, he has found, “it’s much harder than building things with my LEGO”.

He remembers himself in his early secondary school years as “a very creative kid, a bit of a daydreamer”. Then came the difficulties: paying attention, managing time and concentrating well enough to read “only once in a blue moon”. His mother, a keen reader, tried in vain to pass on her love of literature. At 16, he was diagnosed. He finally had a name for what he was experiencing: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which can present with or without hyperactivity.

“ADHD means doing everything, having energy for everything, except the one thing you need to focus on,” he says.

Today, the former reluctant reader says he reads around forty books a year, some supplied for his contributions to the French magazine Lecture Jeunesse. The experience has left him convinced that “falling in love with just one book is enough to open the door to reading (…) and for me, that book was Gibran’s The Prophet”.

His mother, a special education teacher, had made him aware of disability long before that. “After school, over dinner, while she was working from home during the pandemic, we would hear about her work with children with multiple disabilities, deaf and hard-of-hearing children, autistic children and children with ADHD.”

There is a spontaneous streak to his story, too. While at school in the Paris region, he found the cold unbearable. Partway through the school year, he decided to go on his own to live with his grandmother in Guadeloupe, in the Caribbean. Two weeks later, he was on a plane. “She’d invited me the summer before, almost as a joke. Taking her up on it turned out to be the best decision of my life,” says Cabannes Michel.

Getting started

He founded the non-profit Art x Science International at 18. He soon enlisted consultants working pro bono, recruited volunteers and met academic Steve Ollington, who would advise him on incorporating multisensory elements. He also secured his first partnerships with organisations that had approached him about European grants, and applied to Ashoka France’s programme. That process took longer than expected.

“Altogether, the process took a year: two video interviews, two in-person interviews and an afternoon of group exercises with the other candidates,” he says. The twenty participants meet for at least one day a month. Some, including Cabannes Michel, are driven by a desire to bring about lasting change. “I wanted to be part of a community of motivated young entrepreneurs where we could learn from one another.”

What does a book adapted for readers with ADHD look like?

“It isn’t a book about ADHD,” explains Cabannes Michel. “It’s a classic, in this case one in the public domain, adapted to make reading both easier, through reworded text or a built-in guide, and more enjoyable, through illustrations or multisensory elements.” He insists that it is “neither a children’s book nor a summary”, describing those options as “not engaging enough” and “a long way from what readers are looking for”.

On that last point, the organisation surveyed 80 professionals who work with children, most of them teachers. Around 30% said they had never recommended an alternative to a child with attention difficulties, despite wanting to, because no suitable options were available.

Cabannes Michel has identified five stumbling blocks for readers:

1. They encounter a concept, a word or a character, turn back through the book or look something up online or in a dictionary, and end up moving on to something else instead of reading on.
2. Their eyes move across the page, but their mind does not follow. Eventually, they realise they have not really taken in or remembered what they have just read.
3. After several dozen pages, they may forget characters or key plot points.
4. Some stories can leave readers cold if they are looking for thrills and dramatic events.
5. Finally, the sheer length of a book can be daunting.

Asked how feasible such an adaptation project is, the economics student replies that he draws on the easy-to-read approach (known in French as FALC), without directly answering the original question. Developed in 2009 through a European project led by Inclusion Europe and adopted in France by Unapei, the approach calls for one idea per sentence, simple words and no metaphors, among other rules. Texts must also be reviewed with the people they are intended for.

That means substantially rewriting the original, and Cabannes Michel stands by that choice.

“We sacrifice the author to give them a new lease of life. It’s a deliberate choice (…) because you can’t have your cake and eat it.”

Noé Cabannes Michel

Three questions for Cabannes Michel

Question: As a child, you wanted to change the world. What do you want to change about it today?

N.C.M.: The world is overwhelmed by problems we create without even realising it. Like many people, I worry about children spending too much time on screens and turning away from reading, which has been the foundation of human knowledge for centuries. So first of all, I dream of a world where everyone can feel at home in a book, whoever publishes it. In a way, my project encourages our “competitors” to do the same. I also want us to place greater value on what people actually contribute. In economics, we measure a country’s performance in monetary terms, even though a significant share of the value created comes from volunteering. At school, we judge students by their grades, even though AI will render some of their qualifications obsolete. What if working for change no longer had to be an act of boldness? Jérémy Lachal of Libraries Without Borders, an Ashoka Fellow, has spent his life persuading people to set up libraries in places where they say the need is for water and blankets. In terms of social return on investment, the organisation is surely making the right choice: children have been able to get an education, improve their prospects and escape poverty for good. Ultimately, I want a career in impact investing to give human potential a chance, at a time when too many talented entrepreneurs are unfairly passed over because their profit margins are too slim.

“I dream of a world where everyone can feel at home in a book, whoever publishes it.”

Noé Cabannes Michel

Question: What public policy would you like to see introduced to make culture more accessible?

N.C.M.: One recommendation in the think tank Impact Tank’s report Penser la culture à partir des publics (“Understanding Culture Through Its Audiences”) is to give people who work with children free access to cultural activities. France already has a Culture Pass* for young people, and I think extending it to these professionals would be an excellent idea. Money is not the only barrier for young people who receive the pass. There are also differences in the cultural experiences their parents introduce them to, or simply in knowing what to do, what to read or where to go. These professionals already have the influence and the opportunity to help bridge that gap.

*The Culture Pass (Pass Culture) is a credit provided by the French government to young people aged 17 to 21. It can be used through a dedicated app to buy books, cinema and concert tickets, music lessons or video games.

Question: What was the last book you read?

N.C.M.: Contre courant (“Against the Tide”) by children’s and young adult author Florence Cadier. It is a collection of moving short stories, set in different countries and periods, about people who face violence and choose to act, to disobey. Beyond the beautiful writing, it reminded me of the often-forgotten part of France’s national motto, “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”. Fraternity means helping others even when circumstances or the law give you little encouragement to do so. The fact that France’s Constitutional Council has recognised that principle is a symbolic reminder that I have every right to keep taking the initiative.

Open pretty much any app on your phone and you’ll feel it. The glow, the little bounce when a button gives way under your thumb, that cheerful chime when you get something right.

None of it happened by accident. A good chunk of it traces back to a few square kilometres of Nevada desert.

The Strip as a Design School

Las Vegas has never done subtle. When Caesars Palace opened in 1966, it wasn’t really a building so much as a stage set. It had fountains, marble statues and a long curving driveway built to make you feel you’d arrived somewhere that mattered.

The neon signs along the Strip weren’t ads in any normal sense either. They were sculptures, all shouting to be the loudest thing on the horizon.

People noticed. Not just architects, but folks well outside the gambling world.

Think about the old David Jones stores, the way the entrance halls were lit and the sightlines kept tugging you further inside. Or Dreamworld on the Gold Coast, where the entry plaza uses colour and sound to shift your mood before you’ve spent a single dollar. Same family tree as the casino floor. They all treat a physical space like a story you walk through.

Casinos worked out a handful of tricks that now feel like common sense:

• Light that steers your eye without a single sign
• Sound as a reward, with short, pleasant cues for small wins
• Colour as mood, where warm golds and deep reds whisper “plenty”
• Controlled sightlines, so there’s always something interesting just ahead

Neon Goes Pixel

When entertainment moved onto screens, designers didn’t invent a new language. They borrowed the one that already worked. Arcade cabinets in the late 70s and 80s were flashing and beeping their way through the same vocabulary. Streaming services picked it up later, with autoplay countdowns and punchy thumbnails that behave a lot like a lit-up marquee.

I notice it most in the tiny moments:

• A fitness tracker that explodes into confetti when you close your rings
• A language app that cheers wildly after your tenth day in a row
• Duolingo’s owl, which is charming, sure, but is basically a doorman with better manners

Is that manipulative? Sometimes, honestly, yeah. The line between delightful and pushy gets blurry fast and I tend to trust the products that celebrate you without trying to trap you.

Still, that whole look, reward wrapped in colour and motion, came straight off the casino floor.

Online Casinos and the Same Visual Language

So it’s no surprise that online casinos kept the source material close. A pokies lobby on your phone is a pocket-sized Vegas gaming floor, with themed artwork, spinning reels and sound design that echoes the real thing. The catch is that the designer has about six centimetres of screen to play with instead of a hotel ballroom.

That squeeze has forced some smart choices. Menus get stripped back, thumbnails do the heavy lifting and themes run everywhere from ancient Egypt to retro fruit machines to Aussie outback scenes.

When I’ve talked to people who review these platforms, the same point keeps coming up: first impressions hinge on polish. As Sun Vegas Casino chief editor Maddison
Dwyer might tell you, a site that looks cluttered or dated tends to lose trust before anyone reads the fine print.

What I find interesting is the move away from pure flash. Newer casino interfaces borrow calmer cues from mainstream apps:

• Cleaner typography
• Softer gradients
• Account tools that are easy to find

A wave of redesigns around 2023 leaned hard into dark mode, partly because it looks sleek and partly because it’s kinder to tired eyes at night, which is when plenty of people do their scrolling.

What Players and Designers Can Take From This

If you enjoy online entertainment, it helps to know the toolkit. Bright bursts of colour, rising sound effects and near-miss animations all exist to hold your attention. Knowing that doesn’t ruin the fun. It just keeps you in the driver’s seat.

Setting a time limit or stepping away when the screen starts feeling a bit too persuasive, is simply good sense.

For designers, the lesson runs the other way. Spectacle gets people through the door, but restraint is what makes them stay. The casinos that last on the Strip and the apps that last on your home screen are the ones that make people feel looked after instead of herded.

Looking ahead, I’d bet the next chapter is quieter. As augmented reality and voice interfaces grow up, the neon will probably fade into subtler, more personal cues. That Vegas instinct for theatre isn’t going anywhere, though. It’s just learning to whisper.

International dating has produced millions of genuine long-term relationships and marriages. Pew Research found that one in six adults in the United States has used a dating app or site — and a growing proportion actively seek partners from other countries, drawn by cultural connection, shared values, or simply a wider pool of compatible people. But the same openness that makes international dating appealing creates opportunities for poorly run or deliberately deceptive services to operate. That’s why independent online dating site reviews matter — and why RBB (Rich Bad Boy) — a team of dating industry experts who have personally tested over 100 platforms — exists specifically to help serious men invest their time and money in services that have actually been verified to work. Before you trust any international matchmaking service with your emotions or your finances, here’s what to check. 

Why International Dating Is Different

If you’ve only used local dating apps before, international dating can feel like a different world — and in many ways, it is.

The obvious difference is distance. When the person you’re getting to know lives in another country, you can’t just suggest meeting for coffee to see if the connection is real. Everything has to develop online first, which means every week of conversation represents a genuine investment of time and emotional energy. That raises the stakes considerably when it comes to profile authenticity.

Then there’s language. Even with translation tools, something always gets lost — nuance, tone, the small things that tell you whether someone is being genuine. Some platforms use this to their advantage, maintaining the appearance of a deep conversation while the reality is much more transactional.

Cultural differences add another layer. What feels natural in one country can come across very differently in another. A platform that actually understands both sides of the cultural equation is genuinely rare — and worth paying attention to when you find one.

And then there’s the legal reality. The protections available to you as a consumer depend heavily on where a platform is registered. Some international services operate in jurisdictions where those protections are minimal. That’s not automatically a problem, but it does mean you need to do more of your own due diligence before handing over payment details.

The Problems You’re Most Likely to Encounter

It’s worth being honest about what can go wrong, because some of these issues are more widespread than most people realise.

 Paid chat operators are arguably the most common problem on credit-based international platforms. These are real people — not bots — employed by the platform to keep you engaged and spending. They’re often good at it. The conversations feel warm and personal. The problem is that no matter how well things seem to be going, the conversation will never lead anywhere. Every attempt to move toward a video call or a real meeting will be deflected. If you find yourself in a conversation that’s been going on for weeks without any forward movement, ask yourself honestly what’s actually happening.

 AI-generated profiles are a growing issue in 2025. The technology has advanced to the point where profile photos of people who don’t exist are essentially indistinguishable from real photographs. Real-time deepfake tools can now replicate a face convincingly during a video call. This doesn’t mean every attractive profile is fake — but it does mean you can’t rely on appearances alone.

Hidden credit costs catch people off guard more often than you’d expect. A platform might look affordable at sign-up but charge separately for every message sent, every photo opened, every minute of video chat. On an active day across two or three conversations, that can easily add up to $50 or more — which means $1,500 in a single month without a single real-world meeting to show for it.

 Long-game financial scams are less common but more damaging. Someone invests months in building what feels like a genuine relationship before a financial emergency appears — visa costs, a medical bill, travel funds. The amount requested is usually calibrated to feel plausible given the emotional investment both people have made. It rarely is.

6 Things Worth Checking Before You Commit

1. Find Out Who Actually Runs the Service

This sounds basic, but it’s surprising how many people skip it. A well-designed website tells you nothing about the company behind it.

Look for a registered business name, a physical address you can actually verify, and contact details that go beyond a web form. Check whether the platform appears in any business registration databases. Search the company name alongside words like “complaint” or “review” to see what independent users say.

Most importantly — contact customer support before you pay anything. Ask a specific question about pricing or services. How they respond will tell you a great deal about how they’ll treat you once you’re a paying customer.

2. Work Out What You’ll Actually Be Spending

The advertised price and the real price of using an international dating platform are often very different things. Here’s what a reasonably active day can look like on a credit-based service:

Those figures aren’t extreme — they represent moderate use. Before purchasing any credits, find the actual cost per action in real currency, not platform tokens. If that information isn’t available before you register, that’s telling you something.

Also check: does the subscription renew automatically? How do you cancel? What happens to unused credits? These questions should have clear answers before you pay.

3. Understand What “Verified” Actually Means

Most platforms use the word “verified” somewhere. What it means varies enormously.

The honest reality in 2025 is that even document-based verification has limits. AI-generated photos can pass a visual check. Deepfake technology is good enough to fool a casual video call. This is why RBB’s offline events matter — because no AI profile has ever turned up in person at a dating festival.

What to look for: does the platform actually explain what it checks, or does it just display a badge? Is verification required for everyone, or is it optional? Could you register a fake account in five minutes?

4. Test the Communication Before Spending Seriously

This is practical advice that most people don’t follow: use whatever free tier or minimum credit option is available before committing real money.

Start a few conversations. Ask questions that would require personal knowledge to answer — not “how are you?” but something specific enough that a scripted response wouldn’t quite fit. Suggest a video call early on. Note what happens.

A useful thing to keep in mind: how often you receive messages matters much less than what those messages actually contain. Frequent, warm, generic messages are easier to produce than infrequent, specific, genuine ones.

5. Look for Evidence That Real People Actually Meet

Any platform can claim to facilitate real relationships. Fewer can point to actual evidence.

What genuine offline activity looks like in practice:

• Organised dating events or festivals with documented attendance records
• Public information about when and where events have taken place
• Participation requirements that include identity confirmation
• Independent accounts from people who attended — not just testimonials on the platform’s own website

RBB organises offline dating events and festivals specifically for this reason. Verified users meet in person, and participation requires identity confirmation. It’s the one form of authenticity check that simply cannot be replicated by technology. If someone turns up in person, they’re real.

6. Know What Happens If Something Goes Wrong

Before you pay for anything, find out what your options are if the service doesn’t deliver what it promised.

If the cancellation process requires a phone call, a specific form submission, or action taken days before a renewal date — that’s intentional design, not an oversight. A service confident in its own quality makes it easy to leave. One that isn’t tends to make it difficult.

How RBB Evaluates International Dating Platforms

RBB (Rich Bad Boy) reviews every platform against the same 7-point evaluation system — with particular attention to the factors that carry more weight in an international context:

The team creates real accounts, tests communication in real conditions, documents actual costs, and goes through the full payment and cancellation process. Cooperating with RBB doesn’t guarantee a positive rating — every platform is scored independently against the same criteria regardless of any commercial relationship.

Checklist: Before You Trust an International Service

Frequently Asked Questions

Is international dating through a matchmaking service actually safe?
It can be — if you choose a service that has been independently tested, performs meaningful identity verification, and has a real track record of facilitating in-person meetings. The risks are higher than domestic dating, but they’re manageable if you approach the process carefully and choose the right platform.

How do I know whether the profiles on an international platform are genuine?
Look for document-based verification and reviews based on real testing rather than marketing. Genuine people give specific answers, ask their own questions, and are willing to schedule a video call without repeated excuses. Paid operators and bots tend to be warm, attentive, and vague — which is a combination worth paying attention to.

How do I spot paid chat operators?
Instant responses at 3am. Messages that feel personal but somehow never quite answer what you asked. Consistent reluctance to move toward a video call or a meeting. Conversations that feel like they’re building toward something without ever actually getting there. If several of those things are happening at once, the explanation is usually straightforward.

I’ve already sent money. What now?
Stop all further payments — including anything framed as a final transfer needed to complete a previous one. Save everything: messages, transaction records, profile screenshots. Contact your bank as soon as possible. Report the incident to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov or the FBI at IC3.gov. These operations are professionally designed to feel convincing — being targeted doesn’t reflect badly on your judgment.

Should I buy a large credit bundle to start?
No. Use whatever minimum option is available to test the service first. Good conversation quality, willingness to video call, and natural progression toward meeting are things you can assess before committing significant money. If the platform doesn’t allow meaningful testing before a large purchase is required, treat that as a warning.

The Bottom Line

International dating is a genuine path to a serious relationship — but it rewards careful research in a way that domestic dating simply doesn’t require. Distance, language, cultural difference, and varying legal protections all raise the stakes of getting the platform choice wrong.

The six checks in this article won’t protect you from everything. But they’ll put you in a significantly better position than most people who sign up for an international dating service — who typically discover the problems after they’ve already paid for them.

RBB has tested and ranked over 100 platforms using real accounts, real conversations, and a structured evaluation process. No platform earns a positive rating simply by working with RBB. The ratings reflect what the team actually found — and that’s the point.