Ted Henter (born 1950 in

Panama Canal Zone The Panama Canal Zone ( es, Zona del Canal de Panamá), also simply known as the Canal Zone, was an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the Isthmus of Panama, that existed from 1903 to 1979. It was located within the terr ...

) is an American

computer programmer A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software. A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...

and

businessperson A businessperson, businessman, or businesswoman is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial or industrial) for the ...

known for having invented the JAWS screen reader for the blind.Ted Henter
at the

American Foundation for the Blind The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) is an American non-profit organization for people with vision loss. AFB's objectives include conducting research to advance change, promoting knowledge and understanding, and shaping policies and practice ...

; published April 30, 2004; retrieved March 5, 2014 He studied engineering, but learned computer programming and started his own business after becoming blind in a car accident in 1978, which put an end to a promising career as an international motorcycle racer. In 1987, he teamed up with businessperson

Bill Joyce William Joyce (born 8 April 1877) was a Scottish footballer who played as a centre-forward in the Football League for Bolton Wanderers and Burton United. He played in Thames Ironworks' final season before reforming as West Ham United, and als ...

, who together founded Henter-Joyce in St. Petersburg, Florida. Henter was president and led the operation and provided technology direction while Joyce acted as a silent partner. Henter-Joyce produced

JAWS Jaws or Jaw may refer to: Anatomy * Jaw, an opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth ** Mandible, the lower jaw Arts, entertainment, and media * Jaws (James Bond), a character in ''The Spy Who Loved Me'' and ''Moonraker'' * ...

, a

screen reader A screen reader is a form of assistive technology (AT) that renders text and image content as speech or braille output. Screen readers are essential to people who are blindness, blind, and are useful to people who are visual impairment, visually ...

for personal computers using

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...

, and later

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

. After becoming blinded, Henter rediscovered waterskiing, and started competing in waterskiing events. He won six times out of seven competitions in the United States and twice in international competition. He retired in 1991 after winning the overall Gold medal in the United States and World Championship for Disabled Skiers. Henter-Joyce merged with Arkenstone and Blazie Engineering in 2000 to form

Freedom Scientific Freedom Scientific is a company that makes accessibility products for computer users with low vision and blindness. The software they create enables screen magnification, screen reading, and use of refreshable braille displays with modern compute ...

. Henter currently remains on the board of directors of Freedom Scientific, and in 2002 he founded Henter Math, to produce software that helps the "pencil-impaired" with mathematics.

Career statistics

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

External links

Biography

Henter Math
1950 births American computer programmers Living people American blind people American water skiers American motorcycle racers 250cc World Championship riders University of Florida alumni Zonians {{US-compu-bio-stub