Assistive Technology Timeline

This timeline chronicles events in the history of assistive technology for people who are blind or visually impaired. Events listed include: product releases and updates, the founding of companies, company mergers and acquisitions, publication of books and magazines and more. Suggestions for additions are welcome.

Learn more about sources of information for this timeline.

1970

Four members of Stanford University's electrical engineering department, led by Professor John Linvill, developed the technology that was to become the Optacon, a portable electronic print-reading device.

Telesensory Systems, Inc. was founded by John Linvill and Jim Bliss to develop, manufacture, and market products for blind people.

Apollo Lasers, a company in Los Angeles, CA, developed and marketed the first closed circuit television (CCTV) for people who are visually impaired.

1971

Visualtek (later renamed VTEK), a company in Santa Monica, Ca., was formed to develop, manufacture, and market products to people who are visually impaired or blind.

1975

Kurzweil Computer Products, in Peabody, Massachusetts, was founded by renowned inventor Raymond Kurzweil.

July 1975

Duxbury Systems was founded as a partnership called "Gildea, Simpson and Sullivan" in the town of Duxbury, MA. The company began to work on a braille translator product and to seek customers. In March 1976, the company was incorporated as a regular "for-profit" Massachusetts Corporation with its present name. The first installation of the Duxbury Braille Translator took place at the Canadian National Institute for the Blind in Toronto, Canada, on a Data General minicomputer in July 1976.

1976

Deane Blazie, an electrical engineer with an advanced degree in computer science, formed Maryland Computer Services.

Telesensory Systems, Inc. introduced the Speech Plus calculator. It was the first talking calculator, and appeared years ahead of the Texas Instruments Speak and Spell toy. It featured a twenty-four word vocabulary, a built-in rechargeable battery pack, a sub-mini earphone jack, a touch tone rather than calculator keypad layout, and sold for $395.00. It had one memory, standard functions, percent, square root, a key to change the sign of a number and a key to swap the display between the current result or entry and memory contents. It measured 7.1" x 4.5" x 1.4".

Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs formed Apple Computer.

1977

Apple introduced the Apple II, the first pre-assembled personal computer.

1978

Kurzweil Educational Products introduced the Kurzweil Reading Machine. Originally priced at $50,000, the machine converted books and other printed material into synthetic speech.

Maryland Computer Services introduced TotalTalk, the first full speech talking terminal. TotalTalk cost about $7,000.

1979

Telesensory Systems, Inc. introduced the VersaBraille, a computer with a braille keyboard and a braille display, that stored data on cassette tapes.

1980

Wormald International of Australia, which had previously established Wormald International Sensory Aids to market Sonic Glasses, electronic mobility aids, in the United States, formed Sensory Aids Corporation in Illinois.

Triformation Systems, Inc., in Stuart, Florida, developed the Plate Embossing Device (PED) Model 30. It read computer files and stamped braille dots into heavy zinc. Previously, the plates from which braille books were pressed were prepared by hand.

1981

IBM introduced the IBM PC with an MS-DOS operating system.

Automated Functions, run by Ron Morford, introduced Vert 6000, a speech system that had a 4 MHz processor, 48K of PROM and 16K of RAM and weighed about 30 pounds. The price was $5,895.

December 1981

Raised Dot Computing released BRAILLE-EDIT, a word processor and two-way braille translation program using voice, print, and braille on the Apple II computer.

1982

Maryland Computer Services introduced TotalTalk II and Information Through Speech (ITS), which were essentially talking personal computers. Both products cost about $12,000.

1983

Maryland Computer Services introduced the Cranmer Modified Perkins Brailler, the first low-cost braille printer available. The price was $2,750.

IBM launched the PC-XT, the first computer with a built-in hard drive, and also introduced the PCjr.

Boston Information Technology Corp. introduced the Talkman, a small, portable four-track recorder.

February 1983

VersaNews, a quarterly magazine that provided a forum for users around the world to exchange tips, VersaBraille applications, and information on braille and braille technology, began publication. David Goldstein of Stamford, Connecticut was the editor.

July 1983

Teachers College of Columbia University held its first summer institute "Technology in the Education and Rehabilitation of the Visually Impaired." The program was organized by Larry Gardner and Frank Irzyk. It was designed for university personnel, agency directors, and others with no or little experience with sensory aids equipment. The Institute emphasized practical applications in the use of technological aids, software applications, and computer-assisted instruction. It included hands-on experience with the following: Apollo Computer Terminal System, Viewscan Text System, BRAILLE-EDIT, Cranmer Modified Perkins Brailler, DECtalk, Echo II, Information Thru Speech, Kurzweil Reading Machine, VersaBraille, Microbrailler, and the Visualtek Large Print Computer.

September 1983

Computer Aids of Fort Wayne, Indiana, released INFO, the first talking database program for Apple computers. It was designed to work with the Echo II voice synthesizer. INFO could have up to 20 different fields per record, mixed upper and lower case, and had form letter capability. The program cost $195.

November 1983

National Braille Press in Boston, published its first Beginner's Guide to Personal Computers for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

December 1983

Raised Dot Computing announced the Super Cranmer Graphics Package. The program took high resolution images on the Apple computer screen and transferred them to the Cranmer Modified Perkins Brailler. Since there were dozens of commercial programs that helped Apple users create high-resolution images, this made it easier to create tactile charts, maps, and diagrams.

1984

Maryland Computer Services introduced TotalTalk PC, which sold for $5,000.

Telesensory Corp. entered the low vision business with the acquisition of the assets of Apollo Lasers.

Automated Functions introduced Professional Vert, a speech system for the IBM PC using the Votrax VSB synthesizer board. It sold for $3,895 and weighed nine pounds.

Apple released the Macintosh computer.

The internal prototype for the programmable DOS Screen Reader developed by Dr. James Thatcher at the IBM Watson Research Lab in Yorktown, NY, called PC/SAID, was released inside IBM. It was beta tested and used by about 50 blind IBM employees and customers.

Artic Technologies was founded in Troy, Michigan, by Art Velthoven, Dail McDaniel, Kathy Gargagliano, and Tim Gargagliano. All four were former employees of the Votrax research and development group. Their goal was to develop products using speech synthesis with an emphasis on blindness devices.

Braillo of Norway introduced the Braillo 400 braille embosser. It weighed 528 pounds, measured 39 inches by 26 inches by 49 inches, and produced braille at 400 characters per second.

April 1984

Deborah Kendrick and the Clovernook Printing House for the Blind introduced TACTIC, a magazine offering "a consumer-oriented overview of products that work for blind computer users."

May 1984

Apple Computers announced a new member of the Apple two family. It was the Apple IIc. The IIc was portable.

CiderWare announced LISTER and LISTER TALKER, file management programs for the Apple IIe or the Apple II Plus. Principal features were fast, key indexed access that does not require unique keys and flexible print formatting.

June 1984

Digital Equipment Corp. introduced DECtalk, a high-performance voice synthesizer. This device had seven built-in voices—Perfect Paul (the default, normal male voice), Beautiful Betty (normal female voice), Huge Harry (deep male voice), Rough Rita (deep female voice), Frail Frank (older male voice), Uppity Ursula (alternative female voice), and Kit the Kid (child's voice).

July 1984

Raised Dot Computing, Inc. formed by David Holladay and Caryn Navy in Pennsylvania, moved to Madison, Wisconsin.

December 1984

The Enhanced PC Talking Program, a DOS screen reader written by Ronald Hutchinson of Computer Conversations, was released. It worked with most of the software written for the IBM PC, including word processors and spreadsheets but naturally excluding programs oriented around graphics. It worked with such speech synthesizers as the Echo PC, DECtalk, Type 'n Talk, and others. Its speech worked with MS-DOS, PC-DOS and DOS 2.0 or greater (including DOS 3.0) on computers such as IBM PC, XT and AT, Compaq, Tandy 1000 and others.

1985

Maryland Computer Services introduced the VP, a talking computer, which sold for about $3,000.

America Online was founded.

Berkeley Systems, Inc. was formed by Lawrence Boyd. The company released InLARGE, a screen magnifier for the Macintosh computer.

Artic Technologies released the SynPhonix 200 internal speech synthesizer board, the company's first commercial product.

Microsoft developed Windows 1.0 for the IBM PC. Bill Gates and Apple CEO John Sculley signed a confidential agreement granting Microsoft the right to use parts of Apple's graphical interface in its software, while acknowledging the Macintosh operating system as the inspiration for Microsoft Windows.

Algorithmic Implementations, Inc. (the future Ai Squared) was founded in Atlanta, Georgia, by Ben Weiss. At the time, the company consisted of one employee and specialized in contract programming.

January 1985

Raised Dot Computing introduced BETTE (BRAILLE-EDIT Textbook Transcribing Edition.) BETTE was the enhanced version of BRAILLE-EDIT, capable of producing textbook format braille on Apple computers.

September 1985

Raised Dot Computing released BEX, a major upgrade to BRAILLE-EDIT, its word processor and two-way braille translation program for the Apple II computer.

October 1985

The first Technology and Persons with Disabilities conference, hosted by the California State University at Northridge Center on Disability, was held on the Northridge campus. In contrast with future conferences, only a few hundred people attended.

November 1985

Raised Dot Computing, Inc. announced Hot Dots, a two-way braille translation program for the IBM PC. Hot Dots was made up of six different programs tied together with a menu-oriented interface.

1986

The assets of Maryland Computer Services was sold to Enabling Technologies in Stuart, Florida.

Deane Blazie founded Blazie Engineering in Forest Hill, Maryland.

Dolphin Systems for People with Disabilities was formed in the United Kingdom. That same year, the company released Hal version 1 for DOS, their DOS screen reader.

Robotron introduced the Eureka A4 braille computer and personal organizer. The Eureka had a braille keyboard, voice output, in-built modem, word processor, educational and personal organizer functions, ROM-based operating system, and a music composer.

Telesensory Systems, Inc. introduced the VersaPoint braille embosser.

Telesensory Systems, Inc. introduced Vantage, a black and white closed-circuit television system.

January 1986

Telesensory Systems, Inc. introduced two new software packages for the VersaBraille II: The Duxbury two-way Grade II braille translator, and BRAT (Braille Terminal) which gave full screen access to IBM PCs and compatibles.

The American Foundation for the Blind's National Technology Center, established to help blind and visually impaired people participate fully in the computer age, opened at AFB's New York headquarters. A press release said that the Center would focus on high-technology research and development, evaluation, and database services to enable blind people to work with and have access to the same information as their sighted peers on the job, at school, and at leisure. Elliot Schreier, director of the National Technology Center, said that the facility would serve as a resource center for blind and visually impaired people as well as professionals in the blindness field, employers, researchers, and companies developing and manufacturing special aids and devices.

National Braille Press published Add-Ons, The Ultimate Guide to Peripherals for the Blind User.

1987

Sensory Aids Corp. of Illinois relocated to California and changed its name to HumanWare Corp.

Canon and Telesensory Systems, Inc. co-develop the Optacon II, the second generation of Telesensory's founding product.

IBM released version 1.0 of the IBM Screen Reader for DOS.

Artic Technologies released Artic Business Vision, its DOS screen reader.

Computer Aids Corp. released FILE-TALK, a database program that ran on Apple IIe, Apple IIc, and Apple IIgs computers equipped with a minimum of 128K of memory. It was compatible with a wide variety of voice synthesizers.

July 1987

Blazie Engineering introduced the Braille 'n Speak, a portable notetaker with a braille keyboard, a speech synthesizer, a serial interface and 180 kilobytes of memory. It cost about $900.

Fall 1987

Ted Henter founded Henter-Joyce, Inc. in St. Petersburg, Florida. The company's main products would include the DOS screen reader JAWS (Job Access with Speech) and JAWS for Windows. Bill Joyce, a blind entrepreneur from Chicago, financed the company.

1988

Omnichron of Berkeley, California, released Flipper, a DOS-based screen reader. Flipper was originally designed by John Stephen Smith and Cynthia Lowe, for Smith's wife, who was blind.

Ai Squared released its first product, ZoomText, a screen magnifier for DOS.

July 1988

Henter-Joyce released JAWS, its DOS screen reader. JAWS included dual cursors, (the PC cursor and the JAWS cursor) and macros.

October 1988

HumanWare introduced a hardware braille translation system called the Ransley braille interface. The box measured 5 inches by 9 inches by 3/4 inch and could be connected by cable to a computer and a braille printer. The Ransley provided braille translation and formatting.

1989

Telesensory Systems, Inc. introduced the Navigator, a 40-cell braille display.

Telesensory Systems, Inc. acquired Visualtek, forming the largest company in the world devoted exclusively to the manufacture of high-technology assistive devices for people who are blind or visually impaired.

February 1989

Arkenstone, Inc. was founded by Jim Fruchterman as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit to create affordable reading machines for blind people based on the Calera TrueScan OCR card and Hewlett-Packard ScanJet scanners. A reading system soon cost less than $5,000 to add to a talking computer.

September 1989

Kansys Inc. introduced Turbo Braille, a low-cost braille translation program for MS-DOS. It could handle files from WordPerfect and WordStar as well as ASCII text.

October 1989

Berkeley Systems introduced outSPOKEN, the first screen reader for the Apple Macintosh computer. OutSPOKEN used Macintalk, the built-in synthesizer in the Macintosh. OutSPOKEN converted the Macintosh's graphical user interface into words for text drawn on the screen and for icons.

HumanWare Corp. introduced the Mountbatten Brailler. Manufactured by Quantum Industries, the Mountbatten was a braille writer and printer with built-in memory to store text and a braille keyboard. Research and development funding came from a memorial trust fund set up after Lord Mountbatten was killed by terrorists.

November 1989

Computer Aids Corp. of Fort Wayne, Indiana, went out of business. The company produced Word-Talk, Term-Talk, File-Talk, and Braille-Talk—a suite of talking products that ran on Apple computers, as well as Screen Talk Pro, a DOS screen reader.

Computer Conversations introduced the Verbette Mark 1, an internal speech synthesizer for IBM PCs and compatibles.

Blazie Engineering introduced the Braille Blazer, a small, portable braille printer. The Braille Blazer measured 13 inches by 10 inches by 6 inches, printed on paper up to 8.5 inches wide and included an internal speech synthesizer. The unit cost less than $2,000, far less than other braille printers then on the market.

1990

Artic Technologies released Artic Magnum, its DOS screen magnifier.

Telesensory Systems, Inc. introduced OsCaR, a DOS-based optical character recognition system.

Enabling Technologies introduced the Braille BookMaker, a braille printer that produced interpoint braille, cost less than $10,000 and was small enough to fit in a home office.

The Media Access Group at WGBH in Boston launched its Descriptive Video Service to provide access to television for viewers who are blind or visually impaired. The service provides descriptive narration of key visual elements, which is then inserted within the natural pauses in dialogue to help viewers who are blind or visually impaired to better understand the story. Key visual elements include actions, costumes, gestures, facial expressions, scene changes, and onscreen text. Descriptions are accessed on TV programs via the Second Audio Program (SAP) option, which is standard on most contemporary TVs and VCRs.

January 1990

Telesensory Systems, Inc. introduced Personal Vert. This speech system combined the Soft Vert screen reading software with an internal speech card using the 263 speech chip.

February 15, 1990

Doug Geoffray and Dan Weirich formed GW Micro in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The company's early products included Vocal-Eyes—a DOS screen reader, the Sounding Board speech synthesizer, and continued support for the earlier talking products of Computer Aids.

July 1990

Enabling Technologies released the Braille Bookmaker, an 80-character per second interpoint braille embosser.

1991

IBM released Screen Reader/2 for OS/2 version 2.0.

Ai Squared released ZoomText Plus, bringing screen magnification to the Windows operating system.

Telesensory Systems, Inc. introduced BrailleMate, a braille notetaker. The BrailleMate had speech output, a braille keyboard, and a one-cell braille display.

March 1991

Enabling Technologies released the Braille Express, a 150-character-per-second interpoint braille embosser.

April 1991

Microtalk Software of Louisville, Kentucky, introduced ASAP (Automatic Screen Access Program) for DOS. ASAP used a new technique that employed artificial intelligence to decide what part of the screen caught a sighted user's eye, and announced that material automatically. It detected pop-up windows, menu bars, soft cursors, and more.

June 1991

Microsoft released version 5.0 of its DOS operating system.

September 1991

Blazie Engineering announced the Braille 'n Speak 640. It had 640K of memory, and was smaller, had more battery life, and more capability built in than the original Braille 'n Speak.

1992

Artic Technologies released WinVision, its Windows screen reader.

Ai Squared moved from Atlanta to southern Vermont and started to increase its size.

Telesensory Systems, Inc. introduced the PowerBraille, a 40-cell braille display. There were also 65- and 80-cell models.

June 1992

Arkenstone announced OpenBook, the first talking Windows product for people who are blind. The product was made available both as a stand-alone reading machine and a Windows software product.

The first Microsoft Windows-based screen reader, Syntha-Voice Computers' SLIMWARE Window Bridge, was introduced. It worked with Windows 3.1.

August 1992

Raised Dot Computing began shipping MegaDots, a DOS-based braille translation and word-processing system for the IBM PC.

December 1992

Xerox Imaging Systems Inc. released the Reading Edge, a stand-alone OCR product. It weighed about 25 lbs, and included a DECtalk synthesizer.

1993

Ai Squared released VisAbility, a magnification product for scanning and reading printed material.

Telesensory Corp. introduced the Aladdin Classic CCTV.

July 1993

Telesensory Corp. introduced ScreenPower, its DOS screen reader.

Xerox Imaging Systems released Reading AdvantEdge, OCR software that offered recognition of pages scanned upside down, the ability to scan several documents and recognize and read them later, and multiple language recognition.

Henter-Joyce introduced FormMate, a program enabling computer users to fill out new or pre-existing forms on computers. The program worked with IBM-compatible computers and most printers.

March 1994

Arkenstone announced its First Reader program, an opportunity for computer users with visual impairments who had never owned a reading machine to do so for only $1,400. The systems offered were reconditioned machines, including a speech synthesizer, screen reader, Arkenstone OCR software, and a scanner, sold at less than market value.

March 16-19, 1994

The ninth annual Technology and Persons with Disabilities conference, sponsored by the California State University at Northridge Center on Disability, was held at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott hotel. The conference featured special sessions on the "Electronic Highway" and Virtual Reality—computer-generated interactive 3-dimensional worlds.

July 1994

Boston Information Technologies introduced the Myna, a palmtop talking computer. It was a little longer than a Braille 'n Speak, ran at 20 Megahertz, had 4 megabytes of RAM and 4 megabytes of ROM. It contained DECtalk speech. The unit had 2 PCMCIA slots for expansion modules.

1995

Ai Squared released ZoomText 5.0, a screen magnifier which provided support for Windows 95.

January 1995

Henter-Joyce introduced JAWS for Windows, its Windows-based screen reader.

Artic Technologies introduced WinVision 2.0, a major upgrade to its Windows-based screen reader. WinVision's commands used Alt-key and Control-key combinations.

January 25, 1995

Brad Silverberg, Senior Vice President, Personal Systems Division at Microsoft, sent a letter to Marca Bristo, Chairperson, National Council on Disability, and other advocates, outlining some "areas we are focusing our resources on for Windows 95." Major points included: "a new Application Program Interface (API) and hooks ... to allow vendors to develop third-party accessibility aids, especially those which allow blind individuals to use Windows by way of a screen reader" the Windows 95 visual interface including a customizable mouse pointer, high-contrast color schemes, scroll bars and Window menus.

March 1995

GW Micro introduced the Speak-out, a small, portable speech synthesizer with parallel and serial ports and a rechargeable battery.

July 1995

Telesensory Corp. introduced ScreenPower for Windows, a screen reader that provided speech and braille access to Windows applications.

October 1995

GW Micro introduced Window-Eyes, their Windows-based screen reader. The first version worked with Windows 3.1 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11.

October 19, 1995

A "Windows Speech Face-off" was held at the Closing the Gap conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in which representatives of manufacturers of Windows screen readers performed assigned tasks and answered questions about their products. The products included: Artic Technologies' WinVision, Berkeley Systems' outSPOKEN, GW Micro's Window-Eyes, Henter-Joyce's JAWS for Windows, IBM's screen reader/2 (running Windows under OS/2), Syntha-Voice's Window Bridge, and Telesensory's ScreenPower for Windows.

November 8, 1995

The Division of Purchasing, Office of Administration, issued the following statement to all Missouri Government agencies: "Due to issues involving the non-compliance of "Windows 95" software to section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (State Act), the contractor may not sell, and state agencies are hereby notified that they are not authorized to purchase, any form of this software package to the state, until (and unless) otherwise notified by the Division of Purchasing and Materials Management in writing."

1996

Dolphin Computer Access released Hal for Windows 95 version 1—a screen reader that used a unique screen access engine to provide fully automatic access to Windows 95 applications.

February 12, 1996

A New Jersey-based consortium of business, education, and accessibility experts announced the availability of a new product, pwWebSpeak, a self-voicing Internet browser. pwWebSpeak was the result of a collaborative effort among The ProductivityWorks who designed and developed the software, De Witt & Associates who were involved in defining and refining the user interfaces, and Thomas Edison State College.

March 1996

Arkenstone launched Atlas Speaks, talking map software.

December 31, 1996

Telesensory Corp. announced that it would discontinue production and sales of the Optacon.

1997

Ai Squared released ZoomText Xtra 6.0 with integrated magnification and screen reading.

April 7, 1997

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) announced the launch of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) to promote and achieve Web functionality for people with disabilities. Endorsed by The White House and W3C Members, the WAI involved the establishment of an International Program Office (IPO) responsible for developing software protocols and technologies, creating guidelines for the use of technologies, educating the industry, and conducting research and development. "As we move towards a highly connected world, it is critical that the Web be usable by anyone, regardless of individual capabilities and disabilities," said Tim Berners-Lee, Director of the W3C and inventor of the World Wide Web. "The W3C is committed to removing accessibility barriers for all people with disabilities—including the deaf, blind, physically challenged, and cognitive or visually impaired."

April 13, 1997

The inaugural meeting of the Web Accessibility Initiative, sponsored by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) (The W3C is the equivalent of a web standards committee) was held at the organization's sixth conference.

May 1997

GW Micro began shipping Window-Eyes 2.0. This version of Window-Eyes supported both Windows 3.1 and Windows 95.

Windows 95 Explained: A Guide for Blind and Visually Impaired Users, by Sarah Morley, was published by the Royal National Institute for the Blind in Peterborough, UK. It described fundamental Windows 95 concepts from a non-visual perspective, and provided a listing of Windows keyboard commands together with a comprehensive glossary. The book was available in print, braille, on ASCII disk and cassette with accompanying tactile and large print diagrams.

May 7, 1997

Microsoft released Active Accessibility—a set of programming language enhancements and standards for programmers to follow. It supported Windows 95 and was already used by several applications including: Windows 95, Internet Explorer 3.0, and Office 97 in key areas. Microsoft announced that Active Accessibility would become part of the next major release of its Windows 95 and Windows NT 5.0 operating systems.

1998

Dolphin Computers formed a U.S. division, Dolphin Computer Access LLC, in California.

June 1998

Arkenstone announced the release of WYNN, reading productivity software for people with dyslexia or other reading difficulties.

July 1998

Blazie Engineering announced the Type Lite, a notetaker with a QWERTY keyboard, speech output, and a 40-cell braille display.

July 17, 1998

Telesensory Corp. divested its OEM Braille division to Metec in Germany, and sold its Blindness Products division to Blazie Engineering in Maryland, to better focus on its low vision business. Blazie acquired three models of the PowerBraille braille display, the VersaPoint and VersaPoint Duo braille printers, and the TeleBraille, a communications device for people who are deaf-blind.

August 12, 1998

SAP America and Stevie Wonder announced the winners of the SAP/Stevie Wonder Vision Awards program, awarding a total of $500,000 to promote the integration of blind and visually impaired individuals into the workforce. Winners included: Kurzweil Educational Systems for Product of the Year, Canadian National Institute for the Blind for Role Model Organization of the Year, and Sarah Morley for Vision Pioneer of the Year. The awards ceremony was held at the Plaza Hotel in New York City.

September 1998

The assets and liabilities of Raised Dot Computing were transferred into a new Wisconsin non-profit corporation called Braille Planet, headed by Greg Rosenberg. David Holladay and Caryn Navy became part of the full-time staff of Braille Planet.

September 1, 1998

Lernout & Hauspie announced that it had reached a definitive agreement to acquire Kurzweil Educational Systems, a leading developer and provider of educational software and systems for reading assistance.

April 1999

Arkenstone began shipping OpenBook Ruby Edition (version 4.0), the latest update of its optical character recognition software.

September 1999

The first Talking ATM in the United States was installed in the Office of the Treasurer of the City and County of San Francisco during a push by advocates and city staff to make City Hall—where the office was located—100% accessible.

September 10, 1999

The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) launched Web-Braille, a new system for distributing braille books via the Internet. Grade 2 braille books are available for download or online use by eligible individuals, libraries, and schools with braille embossers, refreshable braille displays, and other braille-aware devices.

October 1999

Arkenstone developed a business plan to expand efforts, called the Benetech Initiative.

October 6-9, 1999

The first Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA) conference was held in Orlando, Florida. ATIA was formed as a result of assistive technology vendors feeling that their products were not getting enough attention at other conferences, where they felt exhibits were secondary to conference sessions and other activities.

2000

Dolphin Computers acquired Labyrinten A.B., a Swedish developer of digital Talking Book players and publishing software.

March 2000

The BrailleNote personal digital assistant was announced by Pulse Data International and HumanWare. It operated on Microsoft's Windows CE operating system and included an 18- or 32-cell braille display, a POP3 e-mail package, and an internal modem.

March 31, 2000

Dr. Harry Murphy retired as Director of the Center on Disabilities at California State University at Northridge, which he founded. Murphy held the position since 1993. His tenure at CSUN spanned 23 years. Murphy previously served as Assistant Director of the National Center on deafness at CSUN and was Coordinator of Disabled Student Services. The Center provides support to students with disabilities, conducts the conference, "Technology and Persons with Disabilities," and directs the training program, "Assistive Technology Applications Certificate Program."

April 2000

Syntha-Voice released Window Bridge 2000, an upgrade to its screen reader for Windows 95, 98, and NT 4.0.

Henter-Joyce merged with Blazie Engineering to form Freedom Scientific Inc., a new company offering assistive technology products for people with sensory impairments and learning disabilities. Ted Henter and Deane Blazie were announced as vice presidents of the new company.

Adobe Systems, with support from Microsoft Corporation, GW Micro, and Henter-Joyce, announced its intention to support the Microsoft Active Accessibility Application Programming Interface in future releases of Adobe Acrobat software for Windows, which includes Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF).

De Witt and Associates of New Jersey, launched a web site for people who are visually impaired called www.enablelink.com.

June 12, 2000

Freedom Scientific acquired the business operations and product lines of Arkenstone, Inc. Arkenstone, a non-profit organization located in Moffett Field, California, was founded in 1989 by Jim Fruchterman, a Silicon Valley software entrepreneur. Freedom Scientific acquired the Arkenstone Open Book, VERA, and WYNN product lines, as well as its name, intellectual property, and business assets. The Arkenstone engineering group, including Jim Fruchterman, continued in California as a nonprofit entity, renamed Benetech, and develops new adaptive technology products for people with disabilities.

June 2000

Window-Eyes 4.0 was released by GW Micro. New features included: braille display support, support for Windows Millennium, and enhanced support for Internet Explorer 5, 5.01, and 5.5.

Bank of America announced the operation of the first 15 talking automated teller machines (ATM), of the 1,600 talking ATMs the bank would install in California. The first cities to receive the ATMs included: San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Berkeley, and Oakland.

June 12, 2000

Harry F. "Bud" Rizer, a nationally recognized leader in the field of assistive technology for people with disabilities, was named Director of the Center on Disabilities at California State University Northridge replacing Dr. Harry Murphy.

July 21, 2000

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted rules requiring the top television broadcast and cable networks to provide video description to make television more accessible to persons with visual impairments. Video description involves the insertion into a television program of narrated descriptions of settings and actions that are not otherwise reflected in the dialogue.

July 26, 2000

The National Federation of the Blind withdrew its lawsuit against America Online, Inc. in order to give the company time to make its Internet service accessible to blind people. AOL agreed to continue its existing efforts to ensure that the next version of its software would be compatible with screen reader technology that would make it usable by blind people. While the Federation withdrew its suit as part of the agreement, it retained the right to renew its claims after one year. AOL also agreed to post an accessibility policy on its web site.

August 2000

Ai Squared released BIGSHOT, an inexpensive magnification program aimed at older computer users, people suffering from eye strain, and laptop users. BIGSHOT magnifies all Windows programs in 20 magnification steps from 100% to 200% (200% = 2 times), and uses less computer resources than ZoomText, the company's main magnification product.

After 28 years in the assistive technology field, Larry Israel announced his resignation as president and CEO of Telesensory Corporation.

October 4, 2000

Freedom Scientific, Inc., released version 5.0 of OpenBook, its optical character recognition software.

2001

January 1, 2001

isSound discontinued sales and enhancements of pwWebSpeak, the self-voicing browser.

January 23, 2001

Freedom Scientific released Connect Outloud, a lower-cost screen reader which provided speech and braille access to Internet Explorer, Outlook, and simple word processing.

February 2001

The Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board) issued its final accessibility standards for electronic and information technology as required in Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (1978). Section 508 requires that electronic and information technology used by federal agencies be as accessible to federal employees and members of the public who are disabled as it is to non-disabled people. The new standards provided technical criteria that specifically relate to various types of technologies, such as software applications and operating systems, web-based information or applications, telecommunications functions, video or multi-media products, self-contained, closed products such as information kiosks and transaction machines, and computers. The standards also addressed compatibility with adaptive equipment used by people with disabilities for information and communication access.

U.S. President George W. Bush announced the Freedom Initiative on Disability, a set of policies that are designed to promote greater inclusion of people with disabilities in society. Among the proposals detailed in the initiative are: increasing the federal investment in assistive technology research and development, expansion of funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, integrating people with disabilities into the workforce, and promoting full access to community life. The initiative also called for the following: low interest loans for people with disabilities to purchase computers and other equipment that would allow them to work from home, increased federal funding of low interest loans for the purchase of assistive technology, and additional funding for the purchase of assistive technology by small businesses to help them comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

March 2001

Deane Blazie and Ted Henter exchanged their positions as Vice Presidents of Freedom Scientific for new roles as Senior Consultants on Technical and Industry Matters for the company. Deane Blazie founded and owned Blazie Engineering, and Ted Henter founded and owned Henter-Joyce; both companies were acquired by Freedom Scientific in April 2000. Bryan Blazie, 13-year veteran of Blazie Engineering and former Vice President of Product Management for Freedom Scientific, announced his resignation to pursue other interests.

June 1, 2001

ALVA, B.V., announced that the company would devote its Windows development resources to Microsoft Windows XP and discontinue the development of outSPOKEN World1 for Windows 2000.

June 21, 2001

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 went into effect. The law mandates that U.S. federal agencies must consider accessibility when purchasing software, computers, printers, copiers, fax machines, kiosks, telecommunications devices, or video and multimedia products. Federal web site designers also must create sites that are accessible to disabled users.

July 5, 2001

NCR Corporation announced plans to build all NCR Personas ATMs shipped to the United States with private audio capability, effective on all new orders as of August 2001. This capability enables ATM access to individuals with sight disabilities or literacy difficulties by using voice cues instead of the traditional video screens.

October 25, 2001

Microsoft released Windows XP. The Windows XP Home version focused primarily on home entertainment and Internet access, and Windows XP Professional focused primarily on business and advanced home computing.

November 14, 2001

The management of the Kurzweil Educational Systems Group of Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products N.V. L&H announced that they had purchased the business and assets of the group from L&H. Michael Sokol led the management buyout and was named to serve in the new company as President and CEO. Sokol was a founder in 1996 of Kurzweil Educational Systems, Inc., along with technical visionary Ray Kurzweil who was named as a Director of the new entity. Kurzweil Educational Systems, Inc. was acquired by L&H in 1998.

November 7, 2001

Dolphin Computer Access released version 5 of their Supernova reader magnifier software product. Supernova works with Windows XP and offers magnification, speech, and braille access.

November 9, 2001

Freedom Scientific Inc. posted a free public beta of JAWS for Windows Version 4.01 that was compatible with the new Windows XP operating system—just two weeks following Microsoft's release.

November 15, 2001

Tim Cranmer, one of the great pioneers of blindness technology, died. Born with very little vision and totally blind since age 9, Cranmer was a remarkable example of what can be accomplished by sheer intellect and motivation. Born in 1925 as the fourth of seven children in a Depression-era Kentucky family, Cranmer attended the Kentucky School for the Blind from first through sixth grade. No one seemed to mind that he left; no one else in his family had ever gone much further in formal education. But Cranmer went light years further in his own education as scientist, inventor, and general finder of solutions for how a blind person might do a thing. Best known for the Cranmer abacus, a tool that he modified from studying Japanese versions and used now for decades as an educational tool for blind students, Cranmer played a role in the evolution of many other products. Most familiar to users of assistive technology is the Braille 'n Speak, which was the outgrowth of study, experimentation, and long-time friendship with Deane Blazie. Each of these two men gave credit to the other for the product's origin, but it was clearly the result of their collaboration and of Cranmer inspiring his then-young friend. Tim Cranmer was the epitome of the self-taught man. After learning braille in his few years of schooling, he taught himself Grade 3 and personal shorthand braille using only a slate and stylus for many years. From braille books, he taught himself the principles of physics, chemistry, computer science, philosophy, and more. His gifts to the blindness community, both in products and by way of example, will resonate long, and he will be greatly missed.

November 23, 2001

David Wayne Kostyshyn, President of Syntha-Voice Computers, Inc., passed away.

2002

January 15, 2002

Syntha-Voice Computers, maker of the screen reader SLIMWARE Window Bridge, went out of business.

February 2002

Ostrich Software, seller of the Road Runner MP3 player, went out of business.

February 21, 2002

Bookshare.org was launched by Benetech. The web site is designed to be an Internet library for people who are blind or visually impaired to legally store and share scanned books.

March 2002

HumanWare began shipping the Braille Star 40 braille display. The battery-operated Braille Star offered portable information management through a "scratchpad" that operates whether connected or disconnected from the host PC. The Braille Star's other features included: USB and serial ports, lightweight design, and a backpack or shoulder bag.

July 2002

Beyond Sight released Visionary LapTalk, a screenless laptop computer with an integrated text-to-speech application. LapTalk operates in a Windows environment and has 256 megabytes of RAM and 20 gigabytes of storage. The computer is equipped with a Window-Eyes screen reader, Windows XP, a modem and network port, Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, and word processing, spreadsheet, and database applications. LapTalk weighs 2.6 pounds and measures 11 inches by 9 inches by 1 inch.

August 2002

Lee Hamilton became the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Freedom Scientific. Dr. Hamilton was president of the company's Blind/Low Vision Group since March 2002. Richard H. Chandler, Freedom Scientific's previous CEO, remained as non-executive chairman of its board of directors until the end of 2002.

Watchfire, a provider of web site management software and services for organizations to automate the testing and analysis of web content, acquired Bobby from CAST, a nonprofit research and development organization promoting computer use by people with disabilities. Bobby was a comprehensive web site accessibility software tool.

September 3, 2002

Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic (RFB&D) added an inaugural collection of more than 6,000 digitally recorded educational titles to its collection of 91,000 accessible textbooks. To listen to RFB&D's AudioPlus digitally recorded textbooks, students need a portable CD player equipped to play RFB&D's books or a standard multimedia computer equipped with a CD-ROM drive and specialized software.

November 2002

Curtis Chong left his position as director of Technology for the National Federation of the Blind (NFB.) The new director of Technology was Allison Joyce. Ms. Joyce, who began working for NFB in 1994, holds a master of business administration degree from Georgetown University.

2003

January 2003

The U.S. Department of Education awarded $199,911 to the National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum, part of the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST), to develop a voluntary national file format for the electronic transmission of instructional materials. The initiative will develop technical standards for accessible instructional materials, a timeline for implementation, and a process for assessing the success of the standards.

February 2003

Bonnie O'Day of Alexandria, VA, filed a formal complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) against Audiovox Communications Corporation, a manufacturer of wireless products, and Verizon Wireless, a service provider, regarding the lack of accessible features in one of their high-end cell phones. This was the first formal complaint to ask the FCC to enforce the rights provided under Section 255 of the Communications Act (as amended by the Telecommunications Act of 1996), which requires telecommunications equipment and services to be accessible to and usable by people with disabilities, if readily achievable.

March 2003

Tieman Group introduced the Traveller, a portable electronic magnifier. Traveller was a portable CCTV with an adjustable screen, photo mode, two high-contrast text modes, linear zooming, an integrated writing facility, and a magnification range of 4.5X-16X. The 1.76-pound magnifier cost $1,895.

Telesensory Corp. introduced Genie Pro, a computer-compatible video magnifier. Designed for use with most computer monitors or televisions, the features include: 5.5X-50X magnification, split-screen, 24 color combinations, and shadow mask, which is designed to assist in text tracking and glare reduction. Genie Pro cost $3,295.

May 2003

Henter Math of St. Petersburg, Florida, released their first product, Virtual Pencil, computer software for interactive access to math. It is a tool that can be used to interactively solve a math problem. It moves to the right spot on the "paper," guided by the user, and inputs the answers that the user selects. When used with a screen reader, the numbers and actions are read out loud, or displayed in braille. The current product handles addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and decimals.

June 10, 2003

ALVA B.V. announced that it would no longer develop outSPOKEN or inLARGE, ALVA's screen reader and screen magnifier for Macintosh computers. A company executive said that its resources were best directed towards producing stand-alone products with dedicated user interfaces tailored to the needs of its customers.

September 22, 2003

GW Micro released Window-Eyes version 4.5, the first screen reader to offer remote access solutions for Citrix MetaFrame XP, Microsoft Terminal Services, and Microsoft Remote Desktop. New web features included: access keys, Flash, headings, languages, long descriptions, new pop-up windows (with user-definable sounds), objects, table headers, table header attributes, table summary, table row grouping, tables with merged cells, graphics with no ALT tags, ability to suspend page refreshes, automatically identify new page information, the ability to move to beginning or end of an element with a simple key press, and automatic speaking of multiple languages when using multiple Eloquence or ScanSoft RealSpeak synthesizers.

2004

March 2004

American Printing House for the Blind introduced the Book Port Digital Talking Book player. This palm-sized device can hold hundreds of audio files, allowing a person who is blind or visually impaired to listen to books or magazines, jump around easily within text, set bookmarks, and enjoy other features that facilitate reading. The Book Port can read DAISY, text, and MP3 files.

April 2004

Code Factory announced Mobile Speak, the first full-fledged screen reader for cellular phones.

June 29, 2004

Freedom Scientific announced FSReader, its DAISY book reader for computers and the PAC Mate PDA (personal digital assistant.)

June 2004

Henter Math, run by Ted Henter, announced Virtual Pencil Algebra, computer software for interactive access to algebra for students who are blind or visually impaired. This standard Windows application presents the equations visually for the sighted teachers, and audibly for the blind students.

June 30, 2004

Pulse Data International announced the BrailleNote PK, the smallest model of the BrailleNote family. The PK featured WiFi capability, Bluetooth, USB, an MP3 player, compact flash slot, serial port, and an 18-key braille display. It measured 6.8" by 3.6" by 1.3 inches and weighed 0.9 lbs.

July 2004

VisuAide introduced Maestro, an off-the-shelf handheld PDA adapted for use by people who are blind. Over the unit's touch screen, which is used by sighted individuals with a special stylus for pointing and drawing, VisuAide added a keypad membrane that can be navigated easily by touch. Maestro has an address book, personal organizer, and memo recorder, and can be used to operate VisuAide's GPS device, Trekker.

2005

January 20, 2005

New Zealand-based Pulse Data International and Canadian-based VisuAide announced the merger of their companies. The merged entity was named the HumanWare Group. Pulse Data was known for the BrailleNote, the SmartView video magnifier and more recently myReader—the world's first low vision auto-reader. VisuAide was known for the Victor Reader Digital Talking Book players and the Trekker GPS.

March 2005

GW Micro and Human Information Management Service introduced the Braille Sense, a PDA with braille and speech output and a braille keyboard. The Braille Sense features a word processor, appointment calendar, phone book, media player, and scientific calculator.

2008

March 2008

After nearly 35 years working with people with disabilities, Jim Halliday "officially" retired. Halliday was CEO emeritus of HumanWare. Halliday will remain involved with HumanWare on a consulting basis, driving the launch of the new DeafBlind Communicator and representing HumanWare as President of the Assistive Technology Industry Association board and on the board of the American Center on Blindness and Visual Impairment. He will remain active as a speaker at industry conferences, as a resource to HumanWare's product development, and as an ambassador for assistive technology.

Additional recent items will be added in the near future. If you have suggestions, e-mail them to jaylev@afb.net.

Major sources of information for this timeline include: the Raised Dot Computing Newsletter, TACTIC magazine edited by Deborah Kendrick and Clovernook Printing House, Newsbits, a cassette magazine formerly produced monthly by Doug Wakefield of Talking Computers, Inc., and the Braille Monitor, January 1992. The following people also contributed information: David Holladay of Raised Dot Computing and Duxbury systems, Ben Weiss formerly of Ai Squared, Marc Stenzel of Telesensory Corp. and Enhanced Vision, Helen Beresford of Dolphin Computer Access, Jim Fruchterman of Benetech, and Scott Meyers formerly of Freedom Scientific.

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