About the video: Watch the Dinner with da Vinci Introduction: Windows Media File (.wmv).  This video contains presentations by Senator Tom Harkin (D) Iowa, President George H.W. Bush, Ross Doer - New Hampshire Association for the Blind and HiSoftware. The da Vinci Awards honor individuals, organizations and corporations in the engineering, construction and technical industries, whose design innovations have exceeded any legally mandated requirements, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, to further empower all people regardless of physical ability.

View the media file in the default format.
(3MB - Recommended for Cable/DSL or Above)

View the media file in a small format. 
(<1 MB Recommended for dial-up users)

View the media file in higher quality mode 
(11 MB)

The Spanish Language version of this Page and Transcript

All three media clips are 4 minutes, 13 seconds in length.
Full text Transcript
Using Captions

Requirements
You must have Windows media player 6.4 or greater in order to view captioning.  If you do not have Windows Media Player, you may download it from the Windows Media site.

Preparing this video for the Web
This video was edited, formatted and resized using Microsoft Movie Maker.  Captioning added using Hi-Caption generated SAMI files.

How to view captioning with Windows Media Player
In order to view captioning, a Windows media file needs to include a SAMI (Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange) file.  Video clips on the HiSoftware site include these files by default.

Next, you need to configure Windows Media Player to show the captioning.

For Windows Media Player 7.0/7.1/8.0:

1. Click on the Show Equalizer Settings button.  See item 1 in picture below.
2. Cycle through the equalizer settings until the captioning text appears.  See item 2 in picture below.
3. Captioning will appear in the block below the video.   See item 3 in picture below.

The transcript of this video as text

Senator Tom Harkin (D) Iowa
Hi, I'm Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa and I'm sorry I couldn't join you for this year's dinner with da Vinci award ceremony. Unfortunately, Senate business will once again keep me here in Washington. And while I didn't get the chance to say it, I want to say it now, "thank you for honoring me last year for the da Vinci awards." It meant a great deal to me. I want to thank Michael Rocosz, a true visionary. and the father of the da Vinci awards. He helped bring together the Michigan chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the Engineering Society of Detroit for a great event, for a great cause. My thanks as well to Nick Scheele of Ford for chairing this year's dinner.

A little over twelve years ago, America committed itself to the principles that disability does not limit a person's right to participate in the cultural, economic, educational, political and social mainstream of America. We made that commitment when the American's with disabilities act became law. Passing the ADA was a tremendous victory and one of the happiest days of my life because I was the author and chief sponsor of that bill. But as you know, we can't stop here. There is still a great deal more to do, especially in the area of accessibility.

By recognizing advances in barrier free design and technology, the MS Society and the Engineering Society of Detroit are literally helping to open the doors of opportunity for millions of Americans with disabilities. So my thanks and Congratulations to all of this year's honorees and participants.

Narrator
In 1452, one of the world's greatest innovators was born near Florence, Italy. Leonardo da Vinci was a painter, but quickly found that his talents were worth far more than pretty paintings. He used drawing as a tool of his imagination, creating not just beautiful art, but scientific inventions. More than five centuries later, da Vinci is still recognized as a man ahead of his time, a universal genius. His ideas and innovations changed the world and have shown all the power of imagination.

Tonight's da Vinci awards honor the inventors of our time, whose brilliance and vision are making our world a better place.

President George H.W. Bush
By creating the da Vinci awards to recognize those who have dedicated themselves to improving accessibility, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and ESD, the engineering society, have helped open the eyes of Americans to the needs and more truly, the universal design; design that not only help improve the lives of people with disabilities, but the lives of all of us.

Michael Rocosz - Fold Motor Company
It is very difficult to get a large company to invest funds into a development that may affect only a small share of the market, but when they see if will affect everybody, and that everybody will be interested in that type of assistance, then they will commit the funds to do that.

We are looking to create magic.

Narrator
Tonight's magic begins with the HiSoftware company in New Hampshire.

Ross Doer - New Hampshire Association for the Blind
Access to information is everything and the road just got wider and a heck of a lot smoother.

Narrator
With HiSoftware programs, web developers can test, verify and monitor their
content, making sure it is accessible to everyone. Web developers say the HiSoftware programs are simple and easy to use.

Tom Sweet - HiSoftware Company
The report will list, by checkpoint, which items are accessible, and which ones aren't.

Narrator
HiSoftware helps developers deliver information in a way that everyone can use. While this accessibility empowers the disabled, other users are reaping the benefits too.

Tom Sweet - HiSoftware Company
Not only does this help disabled users, but other other users who may need additional assistance at a given time, such as when you are in a library and can't play a media file loudly because of the audience, then you can play it with captioning and you can view the whole contents of the file without actually listening to the contents.

Ross Doer - New Hampshire Association for the Blind
HiSoftware has really opened up a world and a highway into information.