The New “Miracle Worker”

How smart technologies allow everyone to work independently and to their full potential.

Guest Post by Karen A. Cole, Global Product Marketing Manager, Xerox Corporation

“The Miracle Worker” was a 1957 play based on Helen Keller’s autobiography. Later it became a famous movie in 1962, starring Ann Bancroft as “The Miracle Worker” a.k.a Annie Sullivan, and Patty Duke as Helen Keller.

This triumphant personal story led us on an emotional and compassionate journey of life’s difficulties, as a blind and deaf person, where even the most basic tasks were a huge struggle. We know how this story ended, and we are all still inspired by it today.

We just celebrated Helen Keller’s birthday on June 27, and the entire nation celebrated Helen Keller Deaf-Blind Awareness Week in her honor. She was a luminary, a contributing, independent and intelligent advocate for social justice who dedicated her entire adult life to improving the conditions of blind and the deaf-blind around the world.

Intuitive Technologies Help Visually Impaired
There are over 15 million blind or visually impaired people in the U.S., and 38 percent are actively employed in today’s workforce.

They are the new Miracle Workers — employees in every vertical of business and public sector organizations looking for technologies that allow them to work independently without the support from their sighted colleagues to perform life’s simple office tasks.

Today, with the new technologies like the Xerox Adaptable Accessibility Solution, the blind and visually impaired can leverage new smart technologies, that make office tasks easy for people of ALL ABILITIES.

The Xerox Adaptable Accessibility Solution operates on a standard tablet to leverage a user’s existing working knowledge of technology tools. Plus, audio talk-back provides work independence for key features like Copy, Scan to Email and Faxing, minimizing the barriers that technology presents for people with disabilities.

Xerox worked with ABVI, the Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired located in Rochester, NY in the development of this new technology for Xerox multifunction printers. The result of this collaboration led to one of the best intuitive technologies for the blind and visually impaired in the industry.

As Helen Keller once said, “We are never really happy until we try to brighten the lives of others.”

The Xerox Adaptable Accessibility Solution is supported on many Xerox devices with Xerox ConnectKey® Technology. With a strong commitment to empowering all decision makers equally, Xerox also offers braille product brochures. Learn more about the latest Xerox accessibility solutions.