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The Blind Institute of Technology is proud to announce that our Founder and Executive Director, Mike Hess has been appointed for the Denver Commission for People with Disabilities.

The mission of the Denver Commission for People with Disabilities is to promote and enhance equality for people with disabilities through empowerment, advocacy and education by working with community members, and City and County of Denver officials and employees who have the ability to affect change.

Hess’ mission, to prepare blind and visually impaired (BVI) people with IT and other technical skills and the employers who hire them for success in the workplace aligns perfectly with their cause.

BIT could not be more excited to work with the city of Denver, one of America’s most accessible cities, and make it an even better place for people with disabilities.

There are 20 million Americans who are blind or visually impaired, and 80 percent of them are unemployed. Now a Denver organization is working nationwide to get these people jobs.

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The stereotypical IT worker in your average television sit-com might wear thick-rimmed glasses and be most often seen with their face hidden behind a computer screen. But what if an IT worker is blind?

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Apps and smartphones are becoming important tools to track and manage personal health, but millions of disabled Americans still face significant obstacles accessing that technology. iTriage wants to eliminate that barrier, so the Aetna-owned company has partnered with the Blind Institute of Technology (BIT) to have visually impaired engineers work with developers to make forthcoming versions of iTriage and an Aetna app for members that are designed with disabled access in mind.

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A calculated “bug hunt” is underway at iTriage in downtown Denver.

With laptops and tablets on a desk, contract employees Antonio Rozier and Amelia Dickerson scan through the backbone of a health symptom and information website and mobile app, using screen readers that convert text to Braille or speech to determine how well they work with assistive technology for the vision-impaired.

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Mike Hess is the founder and Executive Director of the Blind Institute of Technology, a Colorado-based nonprofit transitioning to be a national outfit, whose goal is to find tech roles for the chronically underemployed visually impaired community. Hess, who runs the organization with 40+ volunteers, including eight C-level executives on his board of directors, recently outlined his goals for Network World Editor in Chief John Dix.

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After 17 years working in the IT sector, Mike Hess decided that a six-figure salary wasn’t nearly as important as leaving a legacy and making a difference.

“I knew I wanted to do more…and I thought how can I get other sight-impaired people into technology?” Hess said.

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