Executive Director, Art Schreiber's Speech Announcing The Launch Of The AIR Foundation

Thank you Mike.

 

I am honored and privileged to be asked to head up The AIR Foundation. It is not every day you are given the opportunity to change the world and at my age, I have to take every opportunity offered.

 

The AIR Foundation is a not for profit organization. Our mission is to advocate, teach, and deliver tools promoting accessibility to information as a fundamental human right.

 

We are unique because, beginning immediately, Serotek Corporation, a founding member of The AIR Foundation, is making System Access To Go available to every human being on the planet, with access to the Internet and a compatible Windows-based computer, for no charge, any time and every time they are connected to the Internet.

That is correct. SAToGo is free to all through auspices of The AIR Foundation, thanks to a generous grant of a license in perpetuity, by Serotek Corporation. There are no strings attached. Connect to the Internet; enter the address: www.SAToGo.com . The site begins talking to you immediately and within seconds you have full use of System Access to Go for as long as you are connected to the Internet. You can use SAToGo to browse the Net; read or create Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents; send and receive e-mail; use online services like Skype; read PDF documents and fill out PDF forms – anything you can do with Serotek’s System Access you can do with System Access to Go from The AIR Foundation. In other words, you have accessibility anywhere, any time at no cost to you. When you disconnect from the Internet, SAToGo vanishes from your computer. However, if you register, and receive a code and pin number, SAToGo will remember your speed, language, pitch and other preferences and use them the next time you connect. That information is on the server. There are no hidden files, programs, or applets left on your host system to in any way cause problems or interfere with other applications.

We formed The AIR Foundation because we believe we are entering a new era in accessibility. An era where accessibility is a right, not a privilege; an era where no person has to pay a premium for access. Not only is accessibility a right, but “no cost” accessibility is right – morally and fiscally. Accessibility delivers independence and helps people continue to be productive members of society.

We are likely on the cusp of a huge increase in the number of people who are blind or have low-vision problems. The reason is simply age. As we get older, and I can personally attest to this, we are more vulnerable to losing our vision. And no one would challenge that this country and much of the world is getting older. With the baby boomers reaching retirement age, a serious graying of America is taking place. And that means more demand for accessibility products.

But look at us. Our blind and low-vision service people and trainers throughout the country are working day and night to serve today’s blind and low vision community and still many are being left behind. In 2003 Microsoft Corporation engaged Forester Research to investigate the opportunity in accessibility. The reports are available to anyone at the Microsoft Web site. When Forester measured the percentage of people it qualified as “able to benefit from accessibility technology” who were in fact using screen readers, the result was 1%. Even today, there is 99% of the blind and low vision community we need to reach and provide the right of accessibility. And this demand is only going to grow.

You may quibble with Forester’s definitions but the only reasonable conclusion is that the need far outstrips our current ability to serve. The AIR Foundation is a precedent-setting step towards reaching that other 99% who, because of cost, complexity, or lack of resources, have missed the independence that accessibility brings. Our job is to make accessibility accessible and that is what The AIR Foundation is doing, beginning today.

As of today, SAToGo is available in its English-language version, worldwide. The AIR Foundation will seek financial support to open this accessibility tool to other languages and cultures.

One of the important strengths of our flagship offering is that SAToGo is highly intuitive and people can become very skilled in its use without hours and hours of training. The SAToGo help file is sufficient for many people, but we encourage lighthouses and other blind and low-vision resource centers to work with us to create more educational tools geared to various ages and lifestyles. One of our concerns is that many of our newly-blind and low-vision seniors are not in any way prepared to use conventional screen readers. The AIR Foundation and SAToGo provide an easy way for these people to continue to participate in the digital lifestyle and maintain their independence.

That is the essence of our announcement, my friends. The AIR Foundation is leveling the playing field. We welcome participation from other AT companies who wish to make accessibility tools available at no charge; we welcome mainstream hardware and software companies who see the value in making their products inherently accessible; and of course, we welcome grants and donations of any size from any person or corporation that believes in our mission. We have taken a huge first step but we are fully aware that getting the word out and helping the nations of the world support their blind and low-vision population has just begun. There is much work yet to be done.

I will now entertain questions. Then, Mike Calvo, CEO of Serotek, will offer a demonstration of how easy it is to access and use SAToGo.

 

Thank you.