HumanWare and
Partners Demonstrate Assistive Technologies that Change
Lives at CSUN Technology & Persons with Disabilities
Conference
Los Angeles, California, March 21 2007 – HumanWare
and partners will today showcase assistive technologies
for the blind and visually impaired that can fundamentally
improve lives and eliminate barriers to success.
HumanWare will demonstrate its breakthrough products
such as myReader, the reading support product for people
with low vision. Trekker, HumanWare’s handheld
GPS product, will be used for “virtual booth tours” and
to conduct GPS-guided tours outside the conference venue.
The world-renowned BrailleNote line running Sendero GPS
will also be featured.
“CSUN is the longest-running and largest university-sponsored
conference on technology for persons with disabilities.
So, it’s the ideal place to showcase our world-leading
and life-changing technologies,” said Dr Richard
Mander, HumanWare CEO. “We always have one of the
largest booths at the event, and this year, rather than
taking center stage ourselves, we’re showcasing
the two groups that mean the most to us: Our customers
and our partners.”
Showcasing Partners
On the first day of the CSUN Conference Exhibition,
Wednesday, 21 March, HumanWare will be showcasing six
key partners:
- Baum Retec AG. Germany’s Baum
makes the BrailleConnect and Brailliant Braille displays,
resold by HumanWare, and the hardware for HumanWare’s
BrailleNote PK device. Baum is also an authorized distributor
for HumanWare products in Germany and Austria.
- Code Factory. Code Factory of Barcelona,
Spain makes Mobile Speak Pocket, software which “speaks” the
screen contents of a PDA. HumanWare is the sole authorized
distributor for Mobile Speak Pocket in English.
- Eschenbach. Eschenbach Optik of
Germany is the leading distributor worldwide of eyecare
products, such as glasses, to eyecare professionals,
and the largest authorized distributor worldwide of
HumanWare low vision products.
- Quantum Technology. Quantum Technology
of Australia is the developer of the MountBatten Brailler
and Jot a Dot Braille learning products, for which
HumanWare is the sole authorized distributor in the
US.
- Sendero Group. US-based Sendero
Group makes the GPS product for the BrailleNote family
and sells a variety of products, including GPS-equipped
BrailleNotes.
- ViewPlus Technologies. ViewPlus,
another American company, makes a breakthrough line
of Braille embossers with their patented Tiger® technology.
Tiger allows flexible printing of Braille text, embossed
graphics and even mixed Braille and plain text printing.
Support Braille Literacy
Also on the first day of the CSUN Conference, HumanWare
will launch a new resource in its Support Braille Literacy
effort.
HumanWare is continuing its Support Braille Literacy
effort, launched in January, with a campaign called “We’re
Listening”. In meetings, at conferences and online,
HumanWare will be soliciting ideas from customers, partners
and others. A new Web page, www.humanware.com/braille,
will be launched to solicit ideas.
According to JoAnn Becker, HumanWare’s International
Education Product Manager, who will be presenting on
HumanWare products on the day: “I was lucky to
learn Braille as a child, and Braille has made a huge
difference in my life. Most blind children today are
not so lucky.”
According to National Braille Press, the number of school-aged
children in the US who use Braille as their primary reading
medium has dropped from 50 percent in the 1960’s
to 12 percent today. Other countries have a similar story.
Many of HumanWare’s partner relationships support
Braille literacy. HumanWare bundles Baum’s BrailleConnect
and Code Factory’s Mobile Speak Pocket into a complete
Braille-based PDA solution. Code Factory is also demonstrating
a new Games Pack of Braille learning games for Mobile
Speak Pocket with HumanWare at CSUN.
Users can grow from Quantum’s Jot a Dot and Mountbatten
Brailler, sold by HumanWare in the US, to HumanWare’s
BrailleNote family. And with ViewPlus printers, HumanWare
customers can create a complete Braille learning or productivity
environment.
myReader, GPS and more
Thursday, March 22nd, is HumanWare’s Update Day
for myReader, the reading support product for people
with low vision. Trekker, HumanWare’s handheld
GPS will feature on Friday March 23rd, which is GPS Day,
and HumanWare will hold GPS seminars in the morning and
demonstrate Trekker and Sendero GPS.
The final day of the Exhibition, Saturday, March 24th,
is open to the public until the show closes at 1pm.
For further information please contact:
Floyd Smith
VP, Marketing and Customer Experience
HumanWare
Ph: +44 7949 818966
floyd.smith@humanware.com
About HumanWare
HumanWare is the global leader in assistive technologies for vision, including
products for the blind and visually impaired. HumanWare’s products include
BrailleNote, the leading productivity device for blind people in education,
in business and in their personal lives; the Victor Reader product line, the
world’s leading digital talking book players; and myReader, a unique "auto-reader" for
people with low vision.
Web links
HumanWare: www.humanware.com
HumanWare Support Braille Literacy ideas page: www.humanware.com/braille
CSUN Technology & Persons with Disabilities Conference: www.csun.edu/cod/conf/
National Braille Press, The Case for Braille: http://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/braille/case_for_braille.html
Baum Retec AG (in English): www.baum.de/index-e.php
Code Factory: www.codefactory.es
Eschenbach Optik of Aemerica: www.eschenbach.com
Sendero Group: www.sendero.com
Quantum Technology Mountbatten Brailler Web site: www.mountbattenbrailler.com
ViewPlus Technologies: www.viewplus.com
Note: All trademarks used are property of their respective
owners. |
