Nv Access Limited
NV Access continued to develop and distribute the free and open source NVDA screen reading software, providing it to blind and vision impaired people across the world. NVDA enables free and easy access to computers and technology for the blind and vision impaired people, supporting them to gain education, employment and independence. A total of 4 new releases of the product were developed and made available, with significant focus on support for Microsoft Office products, ensuring a better chance for blind people to be employed or to participate in education. Additional focus and effort over the last year has been dedicated to ensuring that NVDA is stable and secure, as well as improving performance. Other activities undertaken during the year include providing access to new voices, additional languages and enhancements to Braille support and functionality. Significant contributions were made by the NVDA Development Community. These contributions are greatly appreciated by NV Access. Many members of the NVDA Development Community are blind or vision impaired themselves their contributions plus those made by NV Access Australian based blind or vision impaired NVDA developers demonstrates that NDVA continues to be software by the blind, for the blind . NV Access continues to meet the technology needs of NVDA users and the NVDA community. This is reflected in the increase in user numbers year on year, plus favourable trends in user satisfaction survey results year on year. NV Access Founders Mick Curran and Jamie Teh were recognised for their work in helping others by being awarded the Queensland Community Foundation 2023 Philanthropy Innovation Award. Additionally, NV Access was a recipient of a 2023 Access Ability Award from Helen Keller Services which honours organisations supporting low vision, blind and deafblind communities. The work and achievements of NV Access Founders Mick Curran and Jamie Teh were highlighted by an episode of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) documentary series Australian Story. Please refer to the following link https://www.abc.net.au/news/20230605/blindleadingtheblindadenabled/102442320 Thanks to ongoing support from supporters, partners and donors, we have been able to employ staff in Australia who are helping NV Access to create further income streams and to update and create new training and support packages. These packages that ensure that NVDA users can get the most out of the product, again improving their chances at education or employment, as well as community participation and engagement. During the last year improvements were made to the free NVDA User Guide via the incorporation of a Quick Start Guide, which assists new NVDA users to easily set up and implement NVDA.