| | The HP accessibility program partners with key organizations that have demonstrated a strong commitment to people with disabilities or age-related limitations. These organizations have shown that they are dedicated to breaking down the barriers to information and technology.

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HP has collaborated with Microsoft on many accessibility projects. The nationwide network of Microsoft Accessibility Resource Centers (MARC) is one of the latest developments. These centers provide accessibility consultation to businesses, schools, and individuals looking for empowering technology solutions. HP supports the centers running Windows Vista, the next generation Windows operating system from Microsoft.
MARC will continue to focus on training and providing consultation for existing AT products while ramping up for the wave of new technology with the introduction of Windows Vista.
The ATIA is a not-for-profit member-driven organization. Members include a wide variety of assistive technology vendors and other organizations providing services for people with disabilities. The organization hosts an annual conference which gives members an opportunity to interact with employers, rehabilitation professionals, information technology professionals and others working in and making technology-related decisions for the disabled community at large. HP partners with ATIA as a major sponsor for the annual conference.
For the past 11 years, HP Public Sector Federal and the HP Accessibility Program Office have proudly sponsored the National Veterans Wheelchair Games, presented by the Paralyzed Veterans of America and the VA. This year, July 25-29 in Omaha Nebraska, athletes compete in 17 events. As part of our support, HP provides technology used to coordinate the games — from athlete registration to event scoring. At the games, HP also provides hands-on demonstrations of new technologies including the new HP Touchsmart PC and the new HP 2133 Mini-Note PC to the athletes and their families. More than an athletic competition, the event provides participants the opportunity to prove that any opportunity is within their reach.
Millions of Americans of all ages use cell phones, PDAs or dedicated portable media players to access content related to almost every aspect of daily life. Streaming and downloadable video are gaining popularity in the mobile world, yet the 22 million Americans who are deaf or hard-of-hearing cannot benefit from this content because mobile-video technologies do not address the technical requirements for packaging and delivering captions.
HP supports the NCAM's Captioning Solutions for Handheld Media and Mobile Devices project which will explore and prototype methods for delivering captioned media to mobile devices of all kinds, address the technical requirements for packaging and transcoding captions, and look at ways for users to access and control caption data.
HP partnered with the American Library Association (ALA) and the Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA) to develop the HP Library Technology Access (LTA) initiative. The focus was a technology demonstration and reference platform for accessible technology in libraries in the U.S. Select the link below for more details including documentation materials and case studies profiling libraries participating in the first phase of the pilot program.
Business & Disability: a European Network grew out of the group of Corporate Partners formed during the European Year of People with Disabilities 2003 (EYPD). Business & Disability works to raise awareness of the business case for disability, promotes disability inclusion initiatives, and encourages the exchange of ideas. It is committed to the inclusion of people with disabilities in all aspects of European society, and in particular as workers, consumers and policy-makers. HP is a founding member of Business & Disability.
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