Kurzweil Educational Systems, which makes scan-to-speech systems for the blind and dyslexic, has been purchased by Cambium Learning, a company serving “at-risk” students.

In 1976, Ray Kurzweil invented a system that would read a page out loud. At that point it cost $100,000 and was the size of a major kitchen appliance. Kurzweil Computer Products became Xerox Imaging Systems in 1980. In 1996, KES was officially launched on its own. In 1998 it was purchased by Lernout & Hauspie. When the founders of L&H were led away in manacles because they were despicable con artists who should rot in hell, the company bought itself back, completing the transaction in November, 2001. Since then the company has continued to innovate and has been making a profit by doing something good. [The facts in this paragraph came from here.]

I know some of the folks at KES well. One of them is, in fact, my cousin-in-law. These are folks who have been working for years with intense and heartfelt focus on helping people with disabilities integrate further into the world. The company has become a living member of the communities it serves. It’s been through tough times. I hope and assume that this new acquisition means KES will be around for a long, long time. [Technorati tags: kes kurzweil blind dyslexic lernout cambium]

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