[gui-talk] Fwd: Microsoft grants $US4.5m to Vision Australia | Australian IT

[Steve Pattison]

 From:    Scott Erichsen pianoman at scotterichsen.com
 To:      vip-l vip-l at softspeak.com.au

Microsoft grants $US4.5m to Vision Australia | Australian IT
Lauren Wilson | April 22, 2009 
ONLINE social networking websites and digitised libraries have become
important sources of modern information, but until now they have been
inaccessible to the 300,000 Australians who are blind or who have low
vision.

Bruce McAllister, a Vision Australia client, will benefit from Microsoft's
grant. 
Microsoft has today announced its largest Australian software grant, valued
at $US4.5 million ($6.7 million), to Vision Australia, a charity supported
by The Australian. 

The donation will allow Vision Australia to establish its own social
networking platforms and build an online "i-access" library where clients
can browse and download audio books, magazines and newspapers. 

Vision Australia chief executive officer Gerard Menses said the donation was
exciting for the not-for-profit organisation, which until now has relied on
packing and posting audio-tapes to its clients across the country. 

"Only 5 per cent of all print information is in an alternate form that can
be accessed by blind or low-vision Australians," Mr Menses said. 

"The internet, which was once seen as scary and inaccessible for many of our
clients, will now be accessible." 

Mr Menses said Vision Australia dreams of building a global online library
that can be accessed not only by low-vision Australians but also by anyone
who has a print disorder such as dyslexia. 

The grant from Microsoft was an important first step, he said. 

The donation is timely for Vision Australia, which like many other charities
has suffered a drop in monetary donations since the start of the credit
crunch. The organisation predicts the global financial crisis will eat into
its bottom line by about 17 per cent, while the number of people who are
blind or have low vision in Australia is set to double by 2020 to 600,000. 

Bruce McAllister, 50, suffers from retinitis pigmentosa. When he was seven
years old, he learned he would lose his sight, and 20 years ago he was
declared legally blind. 

As a Vision Australia client, Mr McAllister is looking forward to taking the
plunge and going online with the help of Microsoft's assistive software
plug-ins. 

"It's going to make life a lot easier. I'm not on the net or using emails at
the moment, but I will with this," he said from his home in Newcastle, north
of Sydney. 

"It can be a very isolating experience to lose your sight and I think these
new technologies will really help young people who have low vision connect
with one another, especially those who aren't getting out and doing much or
mixing socially." 

Microsoft Australia's director of corporate affairs John Galligan said his
company wanted to bridge the divide between those who had access to
technology and those who did not. 

Source:
www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,25369447-15306,00.html

Regards Steve
Email:  srp at internode.on.net
MSN Messenger:  internetuser383 at hotmail.com
Skype:  steve1963