Helen Keller Achievement Award Highlights Cisco Systems' Commitment to Accessibility

May 22, 2006

By Terry Timm Moos, News@Cisco

For most of us, logging on to a computer to check email or accessing voice messages is almost second nature.

But for people with disabilities, such as vision or hearing impairment, these seemingly simple tasks are anything but second nature. Nearly 20 percent of the worldwide population is currently coping with some type of disability. Cisco Systems is devoting time, resources, and energy into company-wide Cisco Accessibility Initiative programs that are making an impact in the lives of people around the world.

American Foundation for the Blind honors Cisco Systems

The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) is honoring Cisco Systems with its prestigious Helen Keller Achievement Award. This award recognizes the extraordinary efforts of organizations and individuals who are improving the quality of life for people who are blind or visually impaired. Cisco Systems is being honored for being an industry leader in addressing accessibility in their products for all people with vision loss.

Cisco Accessibility Initiative launched in 2003

Cisco Systems launched the Accessibility Initiative in 2003 at its San Jose, California headquarters. Overseen by a cross-functional team, the initiative's plan created programs for Accessibility Design Requirements, accessibility training, and an accessibility design and evaluation lab.

Don Pitchford is co-founder and manager of the Accessibility Initiative at Cisco. "People are living and working with disabilities every day, so our goal with this initiative has been to raise awareness, reach the widest possible group of people, and strive to incorporate accessibility into our solutions," said Pitchford.

"Accessibility issues affect our own employees and the employees of our customers, and accessibility just makes good business sense," he continued. One of Cisco's biggest customers - the federal government - requires vendors to have accessibility integrated within products. "The IT community will make decisions based on how accessible our solutions will be for their own employees, so we want to remove barriers that hinder the use of our technology," Pitchford said


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