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The Computer Center for Visually Impaired
People 25th Anniversary Celebration
Baruch
College, CUNY
 The 25th Anniversary Celebration of the Computer Center for Visually Impaired People at Baruch College was an outstanding event. It truly lived up to what was said of it, a celebration of access to excellence!
 CCVIP is truly a unique school, which is dedicated to helping to bridge the digital divide between those who are visually impaired and the technology which they need access to. They work with softwares which translate screen information into audio, special keyboards which replace point and click technique which they do not have access to. With yet one more person sustaining significant vision loss every seven minutes, the significance of this school cannot be stressed enough. Given the fact that visual impairement causes more than two out of every three people it affects to be unemployed, and the average wages of those who are employed to be a third lower than those who are not visually disabled, it is not difficult for one to conclude how crucial a building block special assistive hardware and software can be in enabling people to acquire skills that are necessary to compete in today's compatitive job market.
The event was opened with a special welcome from Karen Gourgey, Ed.D, Director of CCVIP, who spoke about the honorees--those who have helped to extend community access to those whose vision is significantly less than 20-20, and those who have put such access to work and those who have used such facilities in extraordinary ways to achieve great success.
 Karen proceeded to thank Baruch College and the City University of New York (CUNY), particularly its Late president, Joel Segall, for his support. She also acknowledged previous Baruch College Presidents. Ms. Gourgey extended a hearty thanks to all who have helped CCVIP thrive, and stated that she hopes that anyone who either knows of anyone who has vision loss or is visually impaired themselves will be encouraged to come and find out more.
The master of Ceremonies, Mark Farrell, was introduced by Hortense Ford, the Outreach and Marketing Coordinator. Mr. Farell is also the Talk Show Host for the radio show "Dialogue", on CD 101.9.
Honorees and Exhibitors included Dirk Swart, Director of Marketing for Ai Squared, and Bill Killroy, Director of Eastern Regional Sales, both who received the Assistive Software Access Builder Award. Melba Gonzalez, VP and ATM Channel Deployment Manager for JP Morgan Chase, Paul DiOrio, VP and ATM Operations Manager, and Frances G. Davis, SVP and ATM Channel Director, all who received the Business Access Builder Award The Communication Access Builder Award was presented to Lisa Harison-Burke, Senior Staff Consultant of Marketing Support for Verizon. Ed Smith, NorthEast Marketing Manager for PulseData HumanWare. The Media Access Builder Award was given to Mark Turits, Director of Captioning and Video Description at CBS, and Gregg Peterson, Manager of Captioning and Video Description for CBS. Larry Goldberg, Director of the Media Access Group at WGBH, also won the Access Builder Award. The Tactile Access Builder Award was presented to Rick Holborow, Representative of Touch Graphics. The Transportation Access Builder Award was presented to Peter Calkow, Chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and, in his absence, was received by Douglas Sussman on his behalf.
 Additional Honrees were Pete Mikichick, who received the Entrepreneurship Access Builder Award, Jackqueline Caldwell, Theresa Chinheya,and Michael Nash, who were each awarded certificates for their achievements.
Finally, there was a special award presentation made to Karen Gourgey, Ed.D., which was made by Bradford Sussman on C. Virginia Fields's (Manhattan Borough President) behalf.
It was a wonderful and touching event where people were shown recognition for their hard work. loyalty, and dedication.
If anyone would like more information about the CCVIP (Computer Center for Visually Impaired People), including scheduling, they may visit their website, at www.baruch.cuny.edu/ccvip.
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