Biography ~ Dan Clark
Dan Clark is an accessibility consultant that has dedicated his life to helping the blind and visually impaired navigate the workforce. He has more than 30 years of experience in the computer and software accessibility field with a passion to share his knowledge.
Dan was born in Bossier City, Louisiana, and frequently moved around the country with his family as his father was in the US Air Force. As a teenager, he lived in Germany with his family and vacationed throughout Europe where he was inspired by the cultures and diversity of the people and the histories of their countries. Dan graduated from Louisiana State University in 1977 with a degree in General Studies majoring in Botany.
His first contact with computers was during his time as a restaurant manager for Shoney’s and Pizza Hut where he used Lotus 123 to keep track of food costs. Little did he know that the real-world experience of working with food costs would inspire him to create a Restaurant Supply Sample Spreadsheet. This food cost example is still used today as a Microsoft Excel lesson for accessibility training purposes.
Years later, in 1995, he would find himself working as a sales manager for Henter-Joyce. The company rebranded to Freedom Scientific shortly after and is now known as Vispero.
It was during his time at Henter-Joyce that Dan saw the need for an accessible tracking system to help the blind and visually impaired access the paper trails of sales forms. This lead him to create a database using the Automated Contact Tracking (ACT) database, which was commercially available and compatible with JAWS. He took things one step further and used a headset that could output audio from a call in one ear and audio from JAWS in another. This technology increased the number of blind and visually impaired employees working in the sales department at Henter-Joyce who were able to receive a competitive full-time salary and no longer rely on Social Security Disability.
Over the next 25 years at Freedom Scientific/Vispero, Dan dedicated his life to advocating equality in the workplace for visually impaired and blind persons. He has extensive experience in JAWS screen reading software, ZoomText screen magnification software, Fusion (JAWS and ZoomText combined solution), and other accessibility technologies. With all that knowledge and insight, Dan is now sharing his valuable knowledge with the rest of the world interested in learning more about accessibility.
Dan has a deep passion for creating equal opportunities that put people first. His new platform, dSurf, is focused on providing education for end-users, teachers of end-users, sighted testers, and engineers. They’ll have an opportunity to learn more about JAWS and ZoomText, how to use the JAWS scripting language, and how to test websites and documentation for accessibility. The educational videos, articles, and webinars are offered alongside an accessibility consulting service for those interested in one-on-one consultations or setting up educational classes.
His new venture will provide a space for Dan to share his knowledge as an Accessibility Application Developer, Accessibility Verification Tester, and Website audit specialist. With his experience hosting live webinars he will use his new platform to provide free training, educational blog posts, and open discussions for those who want to know more about accessibility development.
Dan’s mission is to educate users and share his knowledge in the computer and accessibility field. Should you like to enquire about training or consulting, please use this link to our contact form.