James W. Thatcher
James W. Thatcher (March 25, 1936 – December 7, 2019) was an American computer scientist, and the inventor of the first screen reader, a type of assistive technology that enables the use of a computer by people with visual impairments.

Thatcher was also important to the development of the accessibility consulting industry.

Among many other awards, Thatcher was awarded the first ACM SIG Access Award for Outstanding Contributions to Computing and Accessibility for his contributions to digital accessibility in 2008.
Q1328864
screen reader
Concept
Q688498
assistive technology
Concept
Q737460
visual impairment
Concept
Q7574595
ACM SIG Access
MEDIA
Q3097841
digital accessibility
Concept
Q78816497
James W. Thatcher
PER
1936-03-25T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
March 25, 1936
DATE
2019-12-07T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
December 7, 2019
DATE
2008-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2008
DATE
date of death
field of work