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Curtis Chong 1954 ---- Curtis Chong is currently employed as the Program Administrator for Field Operations and Access Technology at the Iowa Department for the Blind. In this capacity, he oversees programs of vocational rehabilitation, independent living, access technology, and information technology support. Chong has more than 25 years of experience in commercial and nonvisual access technology. He was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A., being born prematurely and having his eyesight lost due to excessive oxygen in an incubator. Without the incubator, Chong would have died; so the choice was simple: live as a blind person. His involvement in affairs of the blind began when, in 1969, he joined the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and, through that organization, worked to improve the quality of services provided to the blind of Hawaii. In 1972, Mr. Chong was hired by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and began his career as a computer professional. Because there were no talking computers at the time, he developed his own Braille output program for the IBM 1401 computer which, together with a piece of elastic taped to the front of an impact printer, enabled him to Braille information stored on punch cards. During the early '70's, he continued to play an active part in advocacy efforts on behalf of the blind and was appointed to serve on an Advisory Board to the Hawaii State Agency for the Blind, called Ho'opono (friend in Hawaiian). In the winter of 1974, Chong moved to Minnesota and spent some time at the University of Minnesota. In 1977, the Brown Institute of Minneapolis reluctantly admitted him into its six-month computer programming course, from which he graduated at the top of his class. Within five days after graduation, he was hired by the State of Minnesota as a computer programmer trainee. In the spring of 1980, he was recruited as a programmer-analyst by Investors Diversified Services--a company which later became American Express Financial Advisors. By the time he left the company seventeen years later, he was a designer/consultant, supervising two technical teams supporting mainframe communications software and mid-range operating systems. From the late '80's until 1997, Chong served as the Chairman of the Minnesota Rehabilitation Advisory Council for the Blind. In 1984, Mr. Chong was elected President of the National Federation of the Blind in Computer Science where, on a volunteer basis, he influenced efforts to achieve nonvisual access to personal computers and other computer-based technologies. He holds that position today. In the summer of 1997, Mr. Chong accepted a position at the National Federation of the Blind's national headquarters as Director of Technology, a position which he held until the fall of 2002. There he oversaw the operation of the organization's national technology programs: NEWSLINE ® for the Blind and America's Jobline; the NFB's International Braille and Technology Center for the Blind and its related training and evaluation programs; R&D efforts in the technology arena; and the operation of the NFB’s internal information technology systems. Chong is an internationally-recognized expert in the field of access technology for the blind. In this capacity he has written extensively, lectured and appeared at public fora and served on a number of advisory bodies. Between October 1998 and April 1999, he served as a member of the Electronic Information and Technology Access Advisory Committee of the U.S. Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board; this group prepared the preliminary standards which were later used by the Access Board to implement Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. From 1998 to 2000, Chong served on the Microsoft Accessibility Advisory Council. During the first half of 2003, he served on the National File Format Panel--a group charged with developing a voluntary standard which textbook publishers can follow to produce accessible material for students with disabilities. He currently serves as a member of America Online's Accessibility Advisory Committee. Mr. Curtis Chong has been honored regularly throughout his life: a nomination as The Federal Aviation Administration’s Federal Young Man of the Year (1974), recipient of the Minnesota Jaycees Ten Outstanding Young Minnesotans (1984) Award, and a recipient of the National Jaycees Ten Outstanding Young Americans (1985) Award. |
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