Those of us at ViewPlus Technologies are pleased to announce that our founder and President, Dr. John Gardner, is the recipient of the ACM SIGACCESS Award for Outstanding Contributions to Computing and Accessibility. This award was established to recognize individuals who have made significant and lasting contributions to the development of computing technologies which improve the accessibility of media and services to people with disabilities. Outstanding contributions through research, practice, or advocacy are recognized. The award recognizes members of the community for long-term accomplishments or those who have made a notable impact through a significant innovation.
Dr. Gardner, a physicist and research scientist who became blind in 1988, not only continued his contribution to physics after his blindness, but pioneered an entirely new area of accessibility in math and science. While the onset of his blindness initially delayed his scientific work, many of Dr. Gardner’s numerous publications are devoted to accessibility. He has contributed to incorporation of accessibility into Microsoft’s operating systems, developed the DotsPlus Braille mathematics notation, and contributed to the MathML mark-up language. He and his group developed the Tiger embosser and IVEO audiohaptic display technology, an accessible graphing calculator and collaborated with American Physical Society (APS) to develop the technology and infrastructure necessary for APS to publish its journals using the DAISY format.
Dr. Gardner will be attending the ASSETS 2012 conference to deliver the keynote address. I hope you will join us in congratulating Dr. Gardner on receiving this distinguished award.