1. Celebrating 25 years of opening worlds – One Computer at a Time

2. Do you own a computer?

3. Do you use your computer
to communicate with friends,
family, health care
professionals and business
associates.
AKA – E-mail, Facebook,
LinkedIn, Skype

4. Do you use your computer to
Find important information?
AKA – Google, surfing

5. Do you use your computer to
management of finances, and maintenance
of household records.

6. Do you use your computer to read?

7. Do you use your computer to
Make purchases?

8. Do you use your computer to
pay bills on-line?

9. Have you ever used your computer to:
 take a class on line?
 Defensive driving perhaps?
 Computers for dummies?
 Youth Protection training for BSA?
 Complete a college degree?

10. Do you use your
computer to seek
employment?

11. What if you lost access to a
computer? How would your life
change?

12. What if you were visually
impaired and couldn’t afford
• A computer and
• The expensive assistive technology needed to use it?

13. TO THE RESCUE

14. Computers for the Blind Provides:
E-mail, Facebook
Internet searches
Make purchases & pay bills on-line
Increase employment options through on-line courses &
other educational opportunities
Conduct job searches, LinkedIn
Lending library of descriptive videos on CD’s & VHS.

16. What we do an how we do it:
• We receive donations of “no longer needed” computers from businesses and
individuals.
• Our volunteers wipe the hard drives clean.
• We install screen reader software that converts the text seen on the computer
screen to speech that a blind person can hear.
• We also install screen magnification software and provide larger monitors for
persons who have enough vision to benefit from it.
• We then provide these adapted computers to persons who don’t have other
resources to get them.

17. What we provide:
• Pentium 4 - 2GHz refurbished computers.
• For those with low vision: 17-21” LCD Monitor
• Accessibility software:
• Screen Magnification & Screen Reader Software
• typing tutorial
• Additional software:
• Windows Microsoft Security Essentials, Internet
Explorer, Windows Live Mail 2012
• 388 Electronic Books
• Word processor & spreadsheet
• Instruction tutorials and FAQ articles

19. So far Computers for the Blind has:
• Shipped over 8,000 computers
• Currently shipping 80-110 computers a month

21. Come visit us
1201 S. Sherman Street
Suite 204
Richardson, 75081
Mondays - Thursday afternoons
12:30 pm – 4:30 pm

23. How can we partner together?
1. Computer leads from your current and former employers.

24. Front Page News!
First State Bank in Gainesville Donates 67 computers

25. Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce

26. How can we partner together?
1. Computer leads from your current and former employers.
2. Your “no longer needed computers, IPhones & IPads”

28. CFTB DROP-OFF SITES IN DFW AREA
 AFB Center on Vision Loss – DALLAS
 Artisan Center Theater – HURST
 Colleyville Center – COLLEYVILLE
 Cooke County United Way – GAINESVILLE
 Computers for the Blind – RICHARDSON
 Dallas Lighthouse for the Blind – DALLAS
 Lighthouse for the Blind of Fort Worth – FORT WORTH
 Lions Eye Glasses Recycling Center – WATAUGA
 Plaza Theatre - CLEBURNE
 REACH of Denton - DENTON
 REACH of Plano - PLANO

29. How can we partner together?
1. Computer leads from your current and former employers
2. Your “no longer needed computers, Iphones and IPads”
3. Referrals of persons who are blind or have low vision

30. How can we partner together?
1. Computer leads from your current and former employers
2. Your “no longer needed computers”
3. Referrals of persons who are blind or have low vision
4. Volunteers to help refurbish computers

31. Target Populations

32. Target Populations
• Children and Youth

34. Children & Youth who are blind
• 95% of sighted youth use the internet to complete homework
assignments & research compared to 47% for blind youth.
• Why?
We need to narrow the gap!

35. Target Populations
•Older Blind Persons

36. There are 2 million people in the US
that can’t see well enough to use a
computer?

37. Who are these 2 million that can’t
see well enough to use a computer?

38. Who are these 2 million that can’t
see well enough to use a computer?
•Over half are 65 years old or older

39. Seniors with vision loss are often home
bound and left behind
• Do not have other resources such as:
• Educational funding thru special education laws
• Lions Camp
• Sports Extravaganza
• Vocational Rehabilitation funding through the Division for
Blind Services
• World Services for the Blind

40. Target Populations
•Newly Blinded

41. Target Populations
•Newly Blinded
Newly blinded persons lose the ability to use a computer because they
don’t have sufficient keyboarding skills to operate a computer.
These skills are needed in order to use software that converts the text
seen on the computer to speech.
TypeAbility Software and Computers for the Blind

42. • The Unemployed
• The unemployment rate is 63%!

43. Unemployed
Persons who are unemployed usually can’t
afford a computer and the expensive
assistive technology that is required to
make them accessible.
AND
In order to apply for a job you have to do it
online!

44. Financial support 
It costs on average $50 to refurbish each computer:
Windows 7 license
Replace hard drives
Replace broken parts
Packing materials
Boxes
Note: This does not include overhead costs such as lease of
refurbishing center, utilities, staff salaries, phones, etc.

46. Lions Clubs supports many worthwhile projects
such as:
• Lions Camp
• Leader Dogs for the Blind, Rochester Hills, MI
• World Services for the Blind, Little Rock, AK
• Lions Sight & Tissue Foundation
• Sports Extravaganza

47. Please consider supporting one more
worthwhile project.
Computers for the Blind

48. Please consider helping us to…
Open up worlds – One Computer at a Time

49. Opening Worlds – One Computer at a time
www.ComputersForTheBlind.net