Microsoft Honored for Supporting Easter Seals

"Microsoft's support for the work of Easter Seals is a great example of what we believe it will take to solve the problem of the growing digital divide between people who have disabilities and people who do not," said Barry Preppernau, Microsoft Director of Accessibility. Preppernau recently accepted a corporate sponsorship award on behalf of Microsoft from Easter Seals at the "Visions of Our Future" Easter Seals 2000 National Awards Dinner held March 24 in Los Angeles, California at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel.

Founded in 1919, Easter Seals is a non-profit, community-based, national network of health and human services providers dedicated to helping children and adults with disabilities gain greater independence.

Through its Midwest District Office of Community Affairs, Microsoft contributed a $1 million software grant in 1999 to Easter Seals. The grant is being used to build an internal network for Easter Seals' 105 affiliates and 430 program service sites. The software grant also helps Easter Seals give children with disabilities training and computer assistive technology in their schools, and to expand adult employment training programs.

In addition to software, the Microsoft contribution included 1,250 client access licenses for Microsoft Small Business Server allowing Easter Seals to serve as a worldwide resource on disability issues and help its affiliates communicate and share vital data promptly and inexpensively.

"Technology can be an incredibly powerful tool in enabling people with disabilities to live fuller lives with greater opportunities to learn, play, and find meaningful employment," says Preppernau. "Microsoft is a leader in technology and Easter Seals is a leader in getting important services to people with disabilities-combining our strengths can have a tremendous impact."

For more than a decade, Microsoft has worked to make it easier for people with disabilities to use computers and other information technology. In recent years, the Microsoft Accessible Technology Group, along with manufacturers of assistive technology, and disability advocates, has accelerated the pace of progress toward making software easier for people with disabilities to use.

An important area of emphasis for Microsoft accessibility efforts is expanding employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Toward this goal, Microsoft established the Able to Work consortium, in cooperation with the National Business & Disability Council, last fall. The consortium's primary purpose is to develop tools and strategies that will help businesses tap into the pool of over 8.5 million job seekers with disabilities who want to work but who remain unemployed.

As part of a community outreach effort over several years, Microsoft recently funded two grants focused on using accessible technology to open doors for people with disabilities in the workplace. A $250,000 grant will fund a joint effort by Microsoft, Highway 1, and Accessible Systems Inc., to train federal IT managers in accessible technology.  The program will include establishing a state-of-the-art lab that federal agencies can use to test software for accessibility.

This is a particularly timely and valuable service for the federal government since Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998 goes into effect in August requiring electronic information technology developed, procured, maintained or used by the federal government be accessible to people with disabilities.

Microsoft also recently made a $250,000 grant to the Institute of Community Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts at Boston which addresses employment issues for people with disabilities through education, resource development, and increasing employment opportunities for individuals seeking meaningful careers.