Happy New Year. We're counting down the top 10 biggest and most influential stories of 2014 on Blind Bargains. This year's panel included Jeff Bishop, J.J. Meddaugh, Jamie Pauls, Alena Roberts, and Joe Steinkamp. Coming in at number 7 is a potential huge break-through for accounting.
It's possible for blind people to enter into dozens of careers, but sometimes the available software limits what's possible. If one wants to become an accountant, especially one who is well-versed with modern business practices, it's a prerequisite to know and understand QuickBooks. The thing is, the desktop version of QuickBooks has been inaccessible for the past decade or longer, despite repeated attempts to convince Intuit to change their view.
But recently, a breakthrough of sorts occurred as Intuit ramped up their accessibility efforts and started to rethink what was possible. What resulted was an admirable first effort in accessible for the QuickBooks desktop product, improvements for the cloud-based QuickBooks Online, and a changing culture that is now influencing other parts of the company. Just this week, developers from personal finance tracking platform Mint reached out to consumers to get feedback on the accessibility of their iOS product.
</P. In addition to the potential for blind business owners to become more independent, this all opens up opportunities for an entire career that to this point has not seen many takers by blind individuals. With millions of companies using QuickBooks as their financial platform of choice, blind accountants can now learn this useful craft and take on a very rewarding career, often from the comfort of their homes. It's a real employment game changer, and hopefully some enterprising soul will create some training courses to help realize this potential.
Intuit and their accessibility efforts, especially with QuickBooks, land at number 7 on our list. Stay tuned for more of the top stories of 2014 in the coming days.
Category: ArticlesNo one has commented on this post.
You must be logged in to post comments.
Or Forgot username or password?
Register for free
J.J. Meddaugh is an experienced technology writer and computer enthusiast. He is a graduate of Western Michigan University with a major in telecommunications management and a minor in business. When not writing for Blind Bargains, he enjoys travel, playing the keyboard, and meeting new people.
