Lack of Sight Doesn’t Mean Lack of Vision Text Version

On November 12th of this year we posted an audio version of a keynote speech I gave at the Mid-Atlantic ACB Conference on our Serotalk blog and podcast. While many folks heard it and gave some great feedback, it was still about an hour long and who wants to hear me talk for that long? For those of you that would rather read the speech without my trips down memory lane, I have posted it here.

I hope that it will inspire you as much as meeting and interacting with many of you readers, customers, and friends has inspired me.

Mike

Lack of Sight Doesn’t Mean Lack of Vision
By Mike Calvo

I’m going to tell you some of the highlights and lowlights of my life story, tonight. Not all of them – just a few to give you a sense of how it’s possible for a blind kid, a trouble-maker, pretty much written off by his teachers, can be standing here as CEO of a company that is changing the adaptive technology paradigm. It’s a story that didn’t start well and which isn’t over yet, I hope. But it’s a story of how blindness has very little to do with vision. And while this is my story, it’s also a story that any blind person can live if they can dream.
School was not a great experience for me. Every day teachers and guidance counselors would tell me to set my sights low – to find some mind-numbing work I could be trained to do, because what else was there for me? After all “I was born with a strike against me and I would have to work twice as hard as a normal person.” I didn’t begin with a great deal of sight, and I gradually lost what little I did have. By the time I was 18 years of age, I had lost the last traces of my eyesight. I was blind and tired of beating my head against an establishment that didn’t have my best interest at hart. This resulted in me dropping out of high school and taking to the Miami streets and club seen.

I mean, I was handicapped. My goal should be to not be too big a burden on my family and society. Right? A wife? Kids? Success? No way! Maybe you’ve heard this too: “No big, impossible dreams please.”
With inspiration like that, many kids would just give up. But I was the ornery type and I got angry. I’d show them all. And I got mean. I did whatever I needed to do to prove to myself and to the world that I was a person you had to pay attention to. I was going to dream big and fulfill those dreams and I didn’t much care who got hurt or what laws might get broken in the process. I wouldn’t want anyone to emulate that early part of my life. Unfortunately, some of those early big dreams were pretty selfish and caused me to hurt many of those closest to me. Fortunately, somewhere along in there Jesus came into my life!
What? Relax. I’m not going to preach at you. I’m just telling you how it was for me. I’m a firm believer that when you’re ready to accept the Lord in your life, he’ll be there. You don’t need me selling him to you.
What God did was teach me to forgive both those that hurt me and myself, to redirect the energy I was putting into anger, bitterness, and rejection into doing something productive. He helped me cage my impatience. He helped me see that it wasn’t “me against them.” It was me, finding a way to love “them” and get “them” to work with me to accomplish something together. It was me accepting that whether or not I liked society and its ignorance, I was getting an education from every challenge I experienced and every person I met and if I paid attention, I would discover how together we could do more than any of us could do separately. In other words, thanks to this divine intervention, I could see the world in a different light. Since then, life has been a great deal more exciting! But, I digress.

When I was twenty one, I became a dad. “No more streets or clubs for Mikey.” I had to be responsible. I began working in a bank, and as part of my job I needed to learn to use the computer. Due to the encouragement of Greg Luther of the Florida Division of Blind Services I quickly realized I was a pretty good teacher. So I took on the job of teaching how to use the computer to other blind people at the bank, and later, for that vary same agency. I ultimately ended up opening my own training business. At the same time I was indulging my love of music by doing audio production. And in the process an idea was niggling in the back of my mind. At that time we were just getting sophisticated with tools to help blind people be productive at work and school. There was very little to help “these people” enjoy the fullness of life. Sure there were books on tape – a truly wonderful innovation; and there were news reading services by telephone. But TV, movies, the emerging Internet were all pretty much beyond reach.
There was this huge barrier called accessibility. And those people who were working at reducing the barriers were focused on what might make a blind person productive or educated and didn’t pay much attention to the things the blind person might enjoy after work or school.
But man! I wanted my piece of that Internet pie! So, I joined forces with my best friend from high school and we created a product called Radio Webcaster. I even wrote my own website for the first time. It had moderate success in the mainstream community. Surprisingly, at least to me, blind people bought the product as well. It was an eye-opening experience, no pun intended, to realize that blind people everywhere were just like me. They had money to spend and they liked to be entertained just as much as the next person. They just didn’t have a product that they could buy for themselves without having to mortgage everything they had.

While Radio Webcaster was a great idea for its time, I knew I wanted to do something more. My vision was firmly placed on the Internet and tools to make it more accessible. With full access to the Internet blind folks could enjoy pretty much everything sighted folks could enjoy.
Greg had told me that “behind the computer I am an equal.” There is a cartoon, I think from the New Yorker, that shows a dog sitting at a computer and he’s saying to another dog, “The cool thing is that on the Internet no one knows that you’re a dog.”
And the cool thing is that with the right tools, over the Internet, no one would know you were blind. You are judged by the people you interact with by what you know, what you can do, by who you really are – not by whether or not you are sighted. So the challenge was to create those tools. Because in my mind I could see that accessibility meant equality. This was a place where the barriers had to come down and could, with a little creative thought, tumble quickly.
What were those barriers?
First was the computer itself. Most folks weren’t necessarily skilled computer users. In fact, one survey shows a scant five percent of blind folks use computers. The greatest possible liberating and enabling tool and not even five percent of the blind population had access because of cost and training.

The whys were:
· Cost. Accessibility tools were prohibitively expensive and without government aid there was little chance for most blind people to have them.
· Complexity. Accessibility tools added a whole layer of complexity to computer use – which was, in the early days, pretty complex in itself. A typical blind person needed more than thirty hours of class room time to become moderately competent in using these tools. Proficiency was many, many more hours of training away.
· Availability. Because of the expense, the only path to computer use for a blind person was through vocational rehab training. That’s a pretty narrow channel and only reaches a small number of people and mostly people of employable age.
Let me share a bit of frustration. Henter-Joyce and others who did the pioneer work to bring computer access to the blind were wonderful. They opened a world that had been completely closed to us. But many of the people that followed them and took control of the companies making accessibility tools had a different philosophy. They wanted to milk the status quo for every dollar they could make. They stopped innovating and focused on locking up the vocational rehab channel, doing everything they could to push small, upstart innovators out of business. That would have been okay if they were actually serving the majority of the blind population. But, as I mentioned earlier, they were reaching a tiny percentage. And as for the other blind people they didn’t reach? Well they just didn’t care.
We came into this business thinking differently. Because we were effectively locked out of the traditional blind services channels, we focused on taking our product direct to blind folks. Our goal was to overcome the myth that blind people were not a market – because that myth is very destructive. It keeps venture money out of the blind consumer market and stifles innovation.
We believe that in fact blind folks do have money and do buy stuff but they are a highly fragmented market and getting to them is not easy. We set out to prove that with products that were fun, highly functional, intuitive and easy to use, and inexpensive that leveraged the power of the latest off the shelf hardware and software, we could get ordinary blind folks of all ages to be part of the digital age even if they had to spend their own money.
I will tell you that we are succeeding, although at a much slower pace than I would like. Over the last 9 years Serotek has changed the direction of access to computers and the Internet for the blind by lowering the cost of a screen reader from over $1000 to as little as $9.95 per month. Thanks to one of the most dedicated group of people I have ever met!
This was my vision from the beginning. Here I was, a blind Cuban kid from Miami, lugging a thirty-pound computer, wandering from place to place looking for someone who would believe. The first guy who believed was a lawyer, Av Gordon. He steered me to a consulting company, Matrix Associates and its leader Michael Fox. Matrix had just finished a strategic self-examination and determined under no circumstances would they invest time and effort in another start-up. But as a favor to Av, they listened.
The product was dismal. It had more bugs than a New York hotel room. But those Matrix guys could hear the truth behind the faltering message. And they dumped their new “no start up” policy and have worked with Serotek ever since, Michael Fox taking on the role of COO and mentoring me in the art of management. Sometimes it took a lot of mentoring – and a two-by-four. But I learned.
Our vision, and we articulated it in our very first business plan, was to treat blind people as a market; provide them with the tools and services they need; and migrate them and the industry towards universal design. From the very beginning we believed accessibility was a right, not a privilege. We’ve stayed true to that mission ever since.
From the start we went against the industry trends. We adapted our software to run with the very latest OS releases. We created products that could be used right out of the box with very little training and we delivered functionality that fully served blind people’s lifestyle and did a very good job with their common business needs.
We focused on mobile – smart-drive based software that could be plugged in anywhere and then Internet-based software available anywhere, anytime from the cloud – for free. We charged a simple, low price and gave away updates. We created unique ways for peer to peer communication using the Internet. We were roundly hated by the industry leaders.
And we developed a bit of a cult following which served us in good stead when we got served a cease and desist-order for using a name vaguely related to the industry leader’s name. It was the best thing that ever happened to us. Here was the industry giant beating up on this tiny company whose only crime was that it created better, cheaper products. The community was up in arms and name recognition was no longer a problem. We were essentially liberated from using the old name (a legacy that really no longer fit us) and everyone knew who we were. I’d love to claim that I planned that, but I suspect it was, yet again, truly a case of divine intervention.

Since then we have released new and exciting products in to the marketplace at an accelerated rate: social networking tools – why shouldn’t blind people have FaceBook and Twitter and Linked In and all of that? Music; I phone applications, tools for making meetings and events accessible both locally and over the Internet. We have cheered others in the industry as they moved into our space and we have roared our approval for mainstream players like Apple, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft for making their tools universally accessible. We are for anything that promotes universal accessibility.
Blind as I am, I saw this coming more than a decade ago and now my vision is coming to pass. Serotek is still not a huge company, but it is growing. And we remain the only company in the industry with a blind CEO – the only company that looks to a blind person for its vision. Not only that, sighted people are the minority at Serotek. Not because I don’t like sighted people, it’s just that we have been able to find so much great talent in our own community. Our lead programmer Matt Campbell is visually impaired and is one of the most amazing software engineers I have ever met!
So far the vision has been 20/20. Today I am blessed with a beautiful wife that is here with me tonight and five, yes five, wonderful children!
The lesson of this story is that the biggest barrier to success is not lack of eyesight but lack of insight – knowing and believing in yourself. If you believe in yourself and open your heart to a little divine guidance when you need it, anything is possible. After all if our creator gave us the ability to dream HE would be awfully cruel if HE didn’t give us a way to achieve that dream. So, what’s your dream?

Thank you.

What is the Future of Screen Readers anyway?

A week or so ago, the American Council of the Blind held a Future of Screen Readers panel as part of the Information Access Committee seminar at the ACB annual convention. Serotek was one of the companies invited to attend remotely via Skype. Other remote participants were GW Micro and NVDA. Unfortunately technology failed (through no fault of Skype) and we remote participants did not get to contribute. But I thought the panel questions were extremely pertinent to all blind people and that it was important we add our voice to the conversation. So this blog post is Serotek’s way of making sure our voice, and the voice of many who share our view, is also heard.
I’d like to begin with Question 6, because it separates us from most panel participants. I’ll come back and address each of the ten questions – which are included in their entirety at the end of this post.
Question 6 said: “Imagine that you are participating on a panel five years from now. What do you hope you can tell us about the screen reader space and the role of your screen reader in it?”
Serotek hopes wholeheartedly that in 2015 we can say the screen reader space has vanished. This change will be brought about through our efforts as a company, and through advocacy by consumers, to encourage universal accessibility in all mainstream products. When screen readers were invented in the early 1980’s they were essential tools to make an inaccessible digital world accessible. They were never meant to be a business, only a means to an end. They were developed by private companies aided by government funding to correct an inequity and make it possible for blind people to use digital tools to become economically viable again. They were for vocational rehab, helping us get off the dole and back to work as contributing members of society. Unfortunately this wonderful leg up soon became a barrier for blind people. Digital technology raced ahead but without universal accessibility built in. Screen readers lagged behind and rather than leveling the playing field, they tended to add extra cost and training while restricting access to the most advanced mainstream software features. Companies producing screen readers were more concerned with preserving the government funding cash cow than with helping the blind community achieve total equality. Fortunately that business model is finally disintegrating. We’ve been a part of the push to change the model from day one of our existence, but truthfully it didn’t really start to shift until mainstream companies like Apple embraced universal accessibility in their core product design.
So you know where we’re coming from. Let’s move back to the original order of the questions.


Question 1 asked us to describe how our business model will impact the overall market for screen readers.
Serotek is a blindness products and technology company. Our sole purpose is to help our blind community fully enjoy the digital lifestyle. For us, screen readers are a necessary bridge until native operating systems have full accessibility for the blind built in. To that end we have made the screen reader very affordable – even free in the web-based SAToGo version. We believe accessibility is a fundamental human right and blind folks should not be penalized financially to achieve access. We think the blind community is short-changed when huge resources have to be focused on fundamental accessibility. Funds and teaching time should zero in on the applications not the access. Vocational rehab should be more like a driving school. Bring your own car and we’ll teach you how to drive. Where government subsidies are necessary they should shift from accessibility to the real applications people need in all facets of their lives – work, socializing, and play. The economy is driving this change whether we like it or not. Serotek is working hard to deliver the kind of services and training tools that make it affordable and easy.
Question 2 asked what is our strategy in the emerging remote computing, cloud computing, and virtual machine world.
We were, of course, first among adaptive technology vendors in all these areas. We were first in remote computing with products that used the web to allow users to connect to their home machines; first in developing accessible remote training solutions; and first in cloud-resident, downloadable AT applications. We are first in releasing AT products that can be accessed from the whole range of digital devices – phones, computers, I-pads, netbooks. Serotek is committed to being on the leading edge, assuring the blind community access to the power of the newest and best technology.
Question 3 asks how we can improve support for Braille.
System Access is the only Windows screen reader with true plug-and-play braille support, but we believe it's possible to do better still. Serotek took the lead in supporting the HID standard for Braille and refused to create interfaces for any Braille display product not using the HID standard. Now, all but one Braille device manufacturer (Freedom Scientific) supports HID. Why is that important? Interface standards are fundamental to universal accessibility. How can it be better? While the USB HID standard facilitates plug-and-play operation, even HID-capable displays use proprietary interfaces to communicate with the screen reader on the host computer or smart device. And while most braille display manufacturers are quite willing to help screen reader developers in adding support for their displays, we believe that interface standards are fundamental to universal accessibility. As devices and applications proliferate interface standards make it possible for mainstream developers to include accessibility in their core design. If we want universal accessibility and we include the deaf/blind in our goal, Braille is essential. Serotek is actively collaborating with both Braille manufacturers and software developers to develop and promote a standard interface between braille displays and the increasing variety of devices that can use them. There is no room for proprietary solutions in this arena.

Question 4 asks what are the challenges and opportunities in AJAX and HTML5.
AJAX was an evolutionary step in Web Development; HTML5 is now the media rich standard language. Serotek is always on the leading edge adopting and applying these standards as they are accepted. This is fundamental to our mission to assure the blind community has access to the latest digital tools and applications. Many developers, both mainstream and adaptive technology, look backward and struggle to protect their past investment in code and hardware. Serotek is focus forward. We bring our legacy base along by keeping them fully up-to-date with continuous improvements to our products including, from time to time, complete re-writes if necessary to fully employ the latest tools.
Question 5 asks how we can reduce the time lag between mainstream innovation and availability to the blind community.
An active collaboration with the manufacturers of mainstream products must begin during a product’s development cycle, not after it is released. In this way, AT vendors can not only ensure compatibility with the current versions of their own products, but can leverage the opportunity to educate manufacturers on accessibility and universal design, moving us ever closer to the day when AT vendors are no longer required at all. We’ve provided quality support well before the public release dates for products like Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Office 2010, and these are just a few examples of our dedication not to leave our customers behind. When mainstream development moves forward, we move forward to match it. . Our goal is no time lag – and so far we’ve met that goal.
Question 6 was answered in the introduction.
Question 7 asks what we can do to ensure our users have the best training and support?
Serotek’s products are intuitive and easy to learn. We want consumers to spend more time actively using a computer, rather than concentrating on learning a screen reader first and then moving on to the tasks they ultimately want to perform. We provide tech support by phone or online, but the best part is that our customers are able to help and learn from each other. This can be done through remote tools built in to the product, or through participation in community forums or voice chats. We produce software designed to help trainers and technical support professionals service not only our products, but any technical product one on one using the Internet. This allows trainers to reach and train more people to use their computers and other devices to their fullest potential, regardless of which assistive technology they choose to use. We produce podcasts and tech chats distributed on the serotalk.com web site, aimed at educating consumers about the available mainstream and AT solutions to improve the quality of their digital life. Rather than passive participation, our community submits reviews and other materials to be included in these presentations, and this type of community involvement benefits everyone. Our design philosophy is to continuously simplify user interfaces; to use available standards wherever possible; and to use the power of social networking among our users, trainers and technicians to assure no question goes unanswered.
Question 8 asks what our top three pieces of advice are for developers of software, websites, and interactive environments.
Simple:
1. Provide us documentation.
2. Recognize the blind community as consumers, with disposable income, ready, willing and able to spend significant funds for the latest and best technology. We are talking hundreds of millions of potential users, worldwide, who have been ignored in the past. Stop ignoring US.
3. Stick to standards. The world is too complex – too many devices and languages -- to add yet another proprietary interface. Apply universal design principles from the start so as to leave no one behind.
Question 9 asks what will have to occur for Microsoft to follow Apple in the use of integrated screen reading.
It is important to note that Microsoft has made incremental improvements to their “Ease of Access” program. In Windows Vista, Microsoft introduced Speech Recognition to their built in access options. They have refined it for Windows 7 and we have demonstrated how System Access can be used with this integrated technology on the Serotalk podcasts.
Also, in Windows 7, Microsoft has introduced enhancements to the Windows Magnifier that allows it to display in a full screen mode. This is a vast improvement over the previous thin strip of a magnified window that was found on machines in the Windows XP era. This new Windows Magnifier, when combined with other Windows effects for altering color and mouse pointers, can create a compelling argument that Low Vision users need not pay hundreds of dollars for minimal screen magnification.
Change is coming. It is happening. Microsoft is slower than we would like, but we have to remember they are hosting 90% of the computers in existence. Every change is a big deal. The last time they tried including accessibility they got a lot of grief from the community and they backed off. Now they are moving forward. We are working with them as we will any vendor looking to make its products more accessible.
Question 10 asks what we find most frustrating in the market.
It is the lack of co-opitition among screen reader manufacturers. We say this because we are blind guys first and anything that improves capability for our community should be celebrated and used. The industry needs more innovation and less litigation. We applaud companies like GW Micro and the Braille display manufacturers that have openly partnered with us and others to improve things for everyone.
We should all share the goal of making things better for the community first. Profit is important, but not at the cost of reducing accessibility.
We applaud ACB for this highly pertinent discussion. We are in a unique time in the history of our community when our paradigm is shifting under our feet – and for the better. The latest generation of mainstream technology is more accessible than ever. Standards are moving forward and finally most of the contributors are agreeing to play by the standards. Within a very short time the idea that “accessibility is a right” moved from the lunatic fringe to absolute mainstream. Serotek, as you all know, has happily waged the battle at the fringe because what is best for the blind community is best for us.
Here are the ACB panel questions:
Questions for the “Future of Desktop Screen Readers” Panel


1. Each of your company has a different business model for marketing and selling your screen reader. Based on this model, describe how your product is expected to impact the overall market for screen readers.

2. The role of computing has shifted dramatically in the past few years with much computing being done either remotely—through some kind of cloud-based virtual operating system—or virtual machines via products such as VMware. Going forward, tell us about your strategy to support remote and virtual computing with your screen reader.


3. As you know, braille is absolutely vital to many aspects of the lives that we live as people who are blind or visually impaired including education, employment, and literacy. How do you imagine support for braille can be improved in your product?

4. The future role of the World Wide Web is often described as that of a highly interactive, media-rich desktop. As we move into the era where this role becomes more and more evident with the gradual implementation of such technologies as AJAX and those collectively known as HTML5, what challenges do you foresee your screen reader facing? What opportunities do you imagine these interfaces to bring?

5. With rapid changes, often dramatic at times, in operating systems, browsers, and other technologies, screen reader users express frustration that they are unable to take advantage of the technologies used by their sighted peers for months—if not years. In addition, the interaction model for each screen reader may differ significantly. What collaborative steps can you take to reduce the lag and different interaction modalities for increased benefit to users?


6. Imagine that you are participating on a panel 5 years from now. What do you hope you can tell us about the screen reader space and the role of your screen reader in it?

7. Training and support are essential for most screen reader users. What innovative steps can you take in the future to ensure that your users have the best training and support available? What are some challenges are you likely to face?


8. What are the top three things you would tell developers who develop software, websites, and interactive environments?

9. By introducing a screen reader as an integral part of the operating system available for every user and at no additional cost, Apple has changed the dynamics of the screen reader industry. What changes need to occur for Microsoft to bring about a similar model for Windows? What reasons are there for not taking such a step?

10. As a developer of a screen reader, what to you is the most frustrating aspect of being in this market?

Mike Calvo Presents at the General Session of the 47th Annual ACB Convention

Mike Calvo gave a well-received talk at the July 9rd morning General Session of the 47th Annual Convention of the American Council of the Blind. Everyone is now invited to listen to an archive of this special event.

This Year's Convention Adventures

So I am now getting ready to go home after 2 long weeks on the road. Wow! What a rush it's been. From Dalis to Louisville I have had a blast hanging out with many of you and being humbled with your good wishes and encouraging support.


I had so many things to say and for several reasons just decided to speak to the people I had in front of me, from the heart, and post my actual speech here. Should I have stuck to the script? I don't know really. Quite honestly I am just way to tired to even have an opinion. But hey, here it is, you decide.



It is truly an honor to have this opportunity to address you from the podium today. …

Maybe you’ve never heard of Mike Calvo or Serotek Corp., or SA To Go or System Access.

I’ll try to bring you up to speed.

I am one of you. I grew up in the schools and streets of Miami as a blind kid. (If you want to know more details, you can read an article in AccessWorld by Deborah Kendrick, called from Street Kid to CEO. That article tells you where I came from – and where I’m definitely going.)

In the interest of time, though, I’ll tell you that I’m a blind guy who had a dream seven ears ago. I love technology. But I didn’t like the fact that we, as blind people, needed to pay more for it, use tools different from everyone else’s, and always seemed to be playing catch up with the sighted world wanting to accomplish the same tasks. My dream has grown and grown and is now spreading around the world. I used to say it’s something like AOL meets WEB-TV for blind folks – and that’s still true, but now, System Access is so much more.

Have you ever wished you could just sit down at your sighted friend’s computer and show them how to do something – but there’s no screen reader? Have you ever wished you could use the computer in the library or an internet café or your sighted child’s school? With SA To Go, you can have an instant screen reader on any computer, anytime, anywhere – and have it there in seconds. If the computer is used by sighted people who don’t like the sound of synthetic speech, you don’t have to worry, because it goes away when the computer is turned off.

System Access and the System Access Mobile Network are the flagship products we sell at Serotek. I could spend all my time just telling you about the news, entertainment, movies, music, and more you can find and find easily on the System Access Mobile Network. But I’m talking today about access for everyone, free, everywhere.

In January we partnered with a new foundation (headed up by your own Art Schreiber) called Accessibility is a Right: AIR. Because of the partnership between Serotek and AIR, any blind person anywhere in the world who has access to any computer with an internet connection can download SA To Go for FREE, and have speech and magnification on that computer to make it accessible in the way so many of us in this room have come to associate with using. Technology.

(And yes, Braille access is part of our plan as well….”
With the newest release of System Access Mobile, everything on the screen can be read with the Alva BC640 Braille display. Why is this the only display added at this time? Because it meshes with the Serotek philosophy that we, as blind people, should not have access only with limited, specialized tools that are available in limited settings.


Our intent is to do for accessibility what Google did for Web searches. That is, make the idea of accessibility fundamental to using the Web. We want to make accessibility second nature.

Why?

We believe that blind and low vision consumers have a right to be on a par with sighted consumers in enjoying the full benefits of the digital lifestyle. But we have a problem. Only a tiny portion of the blind and low-vision community is “access-enabled.”

Microsoft commissioned a study by Forester Research in 2004 to look at the opportunity in accessibility. The reports (there are two of them) are available on Microsoft’s Web site. The reports showed that only 1% of people who could benefit from screen readers were using them and only 5% of people who could benefit from screen magnification were using magnification. That means that 99% of blind and 95% of low-vision people were being excluded from access to the digital lifestyle. There are only a few hundred thousand “access-enabled” blind and low-vision consumers worldwide – and everyone here is undoubtedly counted among that elite group. But there are many millions of blind people in the world who are not “access-enabled.” And that number is growing.

When you’ve spent your life in the digital world, you become aware of how fast change happens. I’ve got some old timers in my company who remember when computers weighted tons and took up whole air conditioned buildings to deliver a few kilobytes of memory at processing speeds barely faster than a mechanical adding machine. These so-called old timers – and there are some in this room -- are only in their sixties. The time they are remembering is only about forty years ago. Computer technology has undergone nearly forty generations in that time. We are watching evolution on fast-forward. The conventional approach to access-enabling blind and low-vision users cannot come close to keeping up with the pace of technology innovation. Thus even access-enabled blind and low vision people, like you and me, are falling behind the state of the art if we are locked into current screen reader technology.

The blind community is falling further behind with each new generation of digital products and services. And as the gap increases we become less and less visible.
And there is no need for there to be a gap at all. The very nature of digital information makes it easily accessible. Whether it is presented as text, as voice, as Braille, music, graphics, or in multimedia combination is all a matter of how digital information is displayed. The intrinsic truth – the word, the note, the picture – is there, represented by 1’s and 0’s, arranged in well-known code structures. With almost no effort at all, every bit and byte of mainstream digital information could be inherently fully accessible allowing the user to choose how he or she would receive it.

But mainstream software companies and Web designers don’t recognize that they have a potential user base of millions who are being excluded. We, the blind community, are invisible to them and even as our numbers grow, we will become less rather than more visible unless we take dramatic steps to increase the percentage of us who are access enabled.

That is what System Access to Go is about. It is about enticing thirty or forty million blind and low vision people into the digital mainstream by making it possible for them to have access any time they are connected to the Internet. It’s about getting those people into the digital lifestyle, using the social networking tools, enjoying the music and entertainment, staying current with the news, and buying products in sufficient numbers for mainstream companies to take notice.

Our goal with System Access to Go is to make accessibility software obsolete. There is no reason whatsoever for accessibility not to be embedded within every software product, every Web site; every digital player and device.

SAToGo is our gift to the blind community and we ask nothing for this gift except that people make a small effort to be access-enabled. We believe an access-enabled blind community will be a vibrant market with ample opportunity for many businesses to prosper serving the community’s digital lifestyle needs. Will we achieve the ubiquitous recognition of Google? Well we could probably have chosen an easier to use name. You hardly ever hear anyone saying “SAY-TOGO that for me, will you?” Nonetheless, thousands of users are downloading SAToGo every day. We are making it possible for today’s blindness professionals to reach out to more people and meet the growing demand.

Look for Serotek to continue along this path – bringing easy, affordable access to the digital lifestyle for all blind people. Come by the Serotek booth to learn more about SAToGo and the SA Mobile Network and to enter our Summer Sizzle to win a digital lifestyle prize worth $2000. And thank you for allowing me to spend this time with you this morning.
Thank you.

Mike Calvo Presents at the General Session of the 68th Annual NFB Convention

Mike Calvo gave a well-received talk at the July 3rd morning General Session of the 68th Annual Convention of the National Federation of the Blind. Everyone is now invited to listen to an archive of this special event.

Join Serotek at ACB and NFB National Conventions

This year we are excited to be a part of the American Council of the Blind's national convention being held right here in our home city of Minneapolis, Mn. Visit us at booth 9 to check out Serotek's latest products including Braille support for System Access, System Access To Go, System Access Mobile, Remote Incident Manager and Remote Access Manager. Meet Mike Calvo, Matt Campbell, and the rest of the Serotek team. At the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Minneapolis, Minnesota, June 30 to July 7, 2007. The exhibit hall will be open Saturday through Thursday; so make sure you come on by!

Our CEO Mike Calvo has accepted a speaking invitation for the 2007 meeting of the National Federation of the Blind in Computer Science. Mike will speak about Remote Access Manager ( RAM ) for network administration, training and technical support within the enterprise, and Remote Incident Manager (RIM), for field technical support. Read the press release for additional information. The National Federation of the Blind's convention will be held in Atlanta , Georgia at the Marriott Marquis Hotel from June 30 to July 6 and Mr. Calvo will address blind and visually impaired computer technicians on July 2, 2007 . Those wanting to meet with Mike can contact the Serotek suite at the Marriott or by contacting Serotek's main office at (612) 341-3030.

Whichever convention you visit, we are sure that Serotek is going to demonstrate that you, too, can have Accessibility Anywhere.