Lexmark Accessibility Solution helps the visually impaired leverage MFP technology

LEXINGTON, Ky. -Lexmark International, Inc. (NYSE: LXK) today announced the Lexmark Accessibility Solution, a new application designed to provide people with visual impairments easier access to Lexmark multifunction product (MFP) technology. The application is being shown this week at the 24th Annual International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference in Los Angeles.


The Lexmark Accessibility Solution allows users to accomplish nearly all the same tasks available on the touch-screen panel of an MFP by using a Web browser at their workstation. This enables visually impaired users to set up copy, fax, e-mail, FTP and scan jobs directly from their workstation rather than requiring use of the MFP touch-screen display.



Configure job settings on the workstation



Users set up the desired task on the workstation through their assistive technology software product (compatible products listed below). The document job is then assigned a job number displayed on the workstation screen, and the job parameters are sent to the MFP. The user then goes to the MFP, enters the job number using the accessible number keypad, and the completed document task is performed (e-mail is scanned and sent, copies are produced, fax is sent). The result: People with disabilities have virtually the same access to functionality as people using the touch-screen interface on an MFP.


“The Lexmark Accessibility Solution was developed to meet the needs of our visually impaired customers,” said Marty Canning, Lexmark vice president and president of its Printing Solutions and Services Division. “This application will help those with visual impairments to work with technology that to this point has been unavailable to them. This also allows users the ability to manage documents and automate paper intensive tasks.”



“This new application from Lexmark will help to level the playing field for low-vision and no-vision individuals,” said Jenny Tyree, vocational rehabilitation administrator for the Kentucky Office for the Blind. "In the past, visually impaired workers have been unable to be competitive when seeking jobs that require the use of general office equipment. This new technology can potentially provide more vocational opportunities in many business and office settings for the visually impaired community.”



Works with several accessibility solutions


The software is designed to work with accessibility products such as GW Micro’s Window-Eyes, Voice Sense and Braille Sense Plus; Ai Squared’s ZoomText; Freedom Scientific’s JAWS and MAGic; and industry standard speech recognition software.



Now, disabled employees can leverage the power of these accessibility tools to access the functions of Lexmark MFPs.



“GW Micro is pleased that Lexmark is looking towards the future by making its MFP user interface accessible to people who are blind" says Dan Weirich, vice president of
sales and marketing for GW Micro. “Now a blind person using Window-Eyes, Braille Sense or Voice Sense can send faxes, make complex photocopies, and manage other machine operations as easily as their sighted colleagues.”


“Lexmark has shown real commitment to its customers and the visually impaired community by rolling out a PC-based interface that ZoomText users can operate,“ said Scott Moore, vice president of marketing for Ai Squared. ”We are proud to work with such a forward thinking company"


“We are pleased to see Lexmark putting forth the effort to create an accessible interface for its MFP technology,“ said Eric Damery, vice president of software product management for Freedom Scientific. “We are even more pleased that Lexmark is reaching out to JAWS users to test their interface and verify its accessibility.”