This kid and his mom were interviewed during a recent FSCast episode. He
qualified to have a wish granted by the Make a Wish Foundation and what
he wanted was to visit Freedom Scientific. Here's the article.
wtsp.com
Blind teen visits Florida business that changed his life
TEGNA
A visually-impaired St. Pete youth got to experience a wish coming true.
Andrew Zeman of Wisconsin meets some of the people who created
technology that allows him to use a computer much like a seeing person.
WTSP photo
A lot of people come to Florida on vacation for sunsets, fishing and, of
course, Mickey Mouse. But, if you only had one place to visit would you
visit an old office building in St. Petersburg?
“I was shocked,” said one Freedom Scientific employee.
“Floored,” said another.
When 18-year-old Andrew Zeman walked through the doors, it turned heads.
Andrew was born without eyes and with “severe renal failure," according
to his mom, Karen. Doctors expected him to need a kidney transplant
before his first birthday. Instead, his kidney lasted over a decade
before Andrew ultimately received a transplanted kidney from his uncle.
The transplant qualified him to get a wish granted from the Make-A-Wish
foundation. There was no doubt where he wanted to visit.
“He has had this dream for years that he wanted to visit Freedom
Scientific so there was so surprise,” Karen said with a smile.
Andrew was greeted by a few of the men who helped change his life.
Andrew needs the products that Freedom Scientific creates in order to
use a computer in the same way that a seeing person would be able to use it.
The company created J.A.W.S., which stands for Job Access With Speech.
“J.A.W.S. basically gives you the ability to do what sighted people do:
look at the screen and have the screen read to you,” said Program
Manager Dan Clark.
Clark started webinars at Freedom Scientific in 2009. Andrew latched on
those teachings and became glued to the voices of Freedom Scientific.
Voices like Ryan Jones’.
“He could have done anything and he chose to come see us,” he said. “It
floored us.”
Andrew sat between Clark and Jones on Wednesday morning to participate
in Freedom Scientific’s latest live webinar. He helped listeners
understand some of the facets that he’s come to love about J.AW.S. and
chatted with users from as far away as the United Kingdom.
There was even webinar participant from Andrew’s home state of Wisconsin.
“He feels he knows the people that he hears every day when he uses it so
it was his dream to meet them and thank them,” said Karen.
The Freedom Scientific team gave Andrew loads of gifts to take home to
remember his time in Florida. He hopes to return someday to work for
Freedom Scientific and help make life easier for others facing vision
challenges just like his.
“This is like one of the best days that I can recall working here,” said
Clark.
--
David Goldfield,
Assistive Technology Specialist
Feel free to visit my Web site
WWW.DavidGoldfield.Info
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