Bionic ear transformed Royer's life
IRS computer specialist motivated to champion Section 508 programs
From: Federal Computer Week - 12/12/2005 - page 40
By: Florence Olsen

Michael Royer blends in with the crowds filling the Metro trains each morning
in the suburbs of Washington, DC. He carries an iPod and listens to music or
recordings of sermons that he downloads from his church's Web site. The
difference is the iPod is plugged into Royer's cochlear implant, an
electronic device that compensates for damaged or nonworking parts of the
inner ear. The 27-year-old computer specialist at the Internal Revenue
Service delivers a compelling presentation when asked to speak in executive
education classes about the agency's Section 508 and assistive technologies
program. The cochlear implant, paired with the external device Royer wears on
his ear, has restored most of his hearing. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.fcw.com/article91693-12-12-05-Print

Accessible IRS Tax Products
http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/article/0,,id=96151,00.html

IRS: Disabilities: Adaptive Technology
http://jobs.irs.gov/dis_adaptive.html

Internal Revenue Service - Information Resources Accessibility Program (IRAP)
http://www.neweditions.net/projects/irs_irap.html