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Some pretty amazing people are making good things happen using Axon Computers in the West Palm Beach offices of the FDLES Division of Blind Services. In fact, a news crew from the local CBS television affiliate recently spent a morning there filming a special |
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The television story angle was about a blind FDLES Computer Engineer teaching a deaf writer who is losing eyesight how to use complex software on an Axon Computer made by disabled Florida citizens!
As the CBS 12 News crew soon learned, the "disabled community" is not some faceless demographic group. Rather, it is comprised of people just like you and I...people thrown into dramatic and heroic life challenges that few of us can imagine unless we have been there.
Take the case of Andrew Irizarry who grew up in a tough Bronx neighborhood where being a deaf and dumb eight-year-old carried a tremendous stigma. Andrew recalls not only being teased by neighborhood bullies, but once he was actually beaten up and thrown into a dumpster. He vowed to overcome his disability...and he did. With great personal resolve and help from a school for the deaf, Andrew went on to lead an incredibly interesting life.
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"I am one of those people who works until he succeeds", says Andrew who worked as an auto mechanic and carpenter, as a magician and as a mime. That's when life threw Andrew a new challenge. Just as he started out on a promising new career as an inspirational writer and lecturer, Andrew |
That's when Joy Katzung stepped into Andrew's life. Since hearing about Helen Keller in the third grade, Joy has wanted to do nothing else with her life except teach the blind. As District Administrator of the Division of Blind Services in West Palm Beach, she has put together a team of specialists like Leonardo Banes and Herbert Mejia, specially trained to provide technological solutions to visually impaired clients like Andrew.
"When I met Andrew, he was growing frustrated with his failing eyesight and ready to give up on a very promising career as an author", said Leonardo Banes, Andrew's instructor who happens to be totally blind himself. "I know from my own experience, that losing sight isn't the end of the world and I want to teach Andrew how to use technology to help overcome his visual disability".
Leonardo, who lost his site as an adult, now enjoys a bright career as computer engineer specializing in assisted technology. "I get a lot of gratification teaching clients like Andrew. It's funny how things work. Here I am helping Andrew to use a PC, made by disabled people, so that he can write a book encouraging and helping yet more people to overcome their own disabilities. There's a lot to be said for people helping people".
The day CBS News filmed them, Leonardo was instructing Andrew using a robust Axon Computer configured with an Intel Pentium II 450 MHz processor and 128 meg of RAM running JAWS software. The Axon Computer was manufactured by disabled Florida citizens under the RESPECT of Florida program, established under Florida Statute 413 and endorsed by Florida's Governor Jeb Bush in his letter of 2/1/99.
Instead of sending taxpayer's money out of state, Governor Bush encourages agencies like The Florida Department of Labor and Employment Security to buy Axon Computers. In his letter he said, "I encourage all state agencies and political subdivisions to fully comply with the statutory responsibility of purchasing from Respect of Florida. Cooperation is critical for the continued success of the program.....Florida residents with disabilities are employed in the production of these products and services, thereby reducing their dependence on government support." (please click here for profiles of some of the people employed building high quality Axon Computers)
The FDLES Division of the Blind Services West Palm Beach office saw Governor Bush's letter and decided to conduct a technical evaluation of an AXON PC. Computer analyst Herbert Mej'a said, "We gave the Axon evaluation PC a thorough test drive. It easily loaded JAWS, ZoomTech and other demanding software that we have had difficulty running on some other brands of PC's. We deployed the Axon in our training room and our clients like Andrew have been giving it a very tough work out. The Axon PC is well made and durable. With its Intel processor and motherboard and quality components, I would rate it as high as any PC that I have tested. I am recommending Axon to our agency and clients. It's a great PC." Governor Bush agrees. Regarding Respect products such as Axon PC's, he said, "Agencies who participate in the Respect program receive high quality products and services which have been independently reviewed and evaluated for performance and price requirements."
As the CBS News 12 crew packed up after filming in the FDLES offices, Andrew Irizarry turned to the Axon Computer rep, Denis Eirikis, and shook his hand. "Axon is a great computer and I am not surprised that it was made by my fellow disabled citizens. I think this program is so cool that I am going to mention it in my next book". With a flourish, Andrew then whipped out a cane and left the room in search of his promising future. Note: Taxpayer money spent on Axon Computers not only provides jobs for Florida's disabled citizens, but revenues in excess of costs are spent on vocational rehabilitation and other programs benefiting Florida's blind and severely disabled.
Note: Andrew Irizarry's first book, I Overcame My Disability with Positive Thinking, is available now. Call 561/742-8929 for further information or click here to send email to Mr. Irizarry.
