Benetech

In this third installment of our blog series marking National Disability Employment Awareness Month, we’d like to share highlights from the Palo Alto White Cane Awareness Walk, in which we participated last Wednesday, October 16th. This annual event is held each October on or in proximity to White Cane Safety Day, a national observance celebrating the ability of people with impaired vision to lead independent lives. Last week, for the fourth consecutive year, Benetech and Bookshare proudly supported the White Cane Awareness Walk tradition in Palo Alto and we were delighted to join this celebration in partnership with the Palo Alto Lions Club, Vista Center and the Western Blind Rehabilitation Center (WBRC), the event’s host.

The San Francisco Chronicle featured our CEO, Jim Fruchterman, among a select number of top social entrepreneurs championing positive social change. The article, titled “Meet the Innovators,” recounts Benetech’s story.

The summer when I was 14, I got fired from my first volunteer job because, over time, the company managers learned that I was blind. The only thing I could do was to be more determined than ever to compete in the world of future employment alongside workers without disabilities. Today that’s exactly what I’m doing. The thing that makes my employment experience at Benetech so fulfilling is that I’m part of a vibrant, dedicated and brilliant team consisting of both disabled and nondisabled folks who truly believe in the work we do and who strive each day to make the world a little better than it was the day before. And, in the end, I think that’s what all of us–disabled or not–want from our jobs.

We’re in week #3 of the Skoll Foundation’s Social Entrepreneurs Charity Challenge on CrowdRise and we just found out about this week’s Bonus Challenge. We really need your help because it’s all about speed. Starting now, if we’re one of the first 40 organizations to raise at least $1,000, we’ll automatically get a $1,000 match for our cause. To help us be one of the “first 40” to receive this week’s Bonus Challenge #3, all you need to do is go to our Challenge page on CrowdRise—Bookshare for Veterans—and give what you can.

Ever wonder how new features come into being within Benetech’s suite of products? Let’s take a short, virtual trip into the world of software product development at Benetech. I’m Ginny Grant, one of the Product Managers in Benetech’s Global Literacy Program. I’d like to focus here on some of the critical final steps in our product development process. These include passing tests that our professional Quality Assurance (QA) team performs as well as passing our “alpha testing sessions,” which we sometimes refer to as “Bugfests”!