With more than 29 years of combined experience and education in the high tech sector, Sharlyn Ayotte’s drive to make accessible materials available to the blind community resulted in the launch of her company.

Sharlyn’s Ottawa (Canada) based T-Base Communications provides companies and organisations with alternate format communication services for their blind and partially sighted customers. The company specialises in producing accessible communication materials in Braille, large print, e-Text and audio formats.

Sharlyn lost her vision due to an eye disease. Until the mid-90s, she could still see a little. As she started experiencing difficulties in reading everyday documents such as monthly bills and bank statements, the need for mainstream alternative services became increasingly apparent. She decided to turn what others may have seen as a disability into an asset.

Having pioneered the standards and pricing models adopted by government and industry, Sharlyn attributes her success to a personal interest in provincial and federal legislation along with her intimate knowledge of the services consumers were seeking. "I simply understood the alternative-format products market from the consumer's point of view,” she said.

Sharlyn added: “I knew that other members of the blind community were experiencing the same frustration and I was fortunate enough to have the background and skills to impact and facilitate change."

T-Base Communications has been providing listen-ready and touch-ready contractual and customer management materials for government and industry since 1994. It has offices in Canada and United States of America.