2025 Year in Review & 2026 Outlook: Part 2

The conversation continues with APH’s leadership team as they reflect on the challenges and momentum of 2025 and look ahead to a pivotal 2026. Hear leaders discuss the growing urgency of digital accessibility in education, the expansion of the Monarch platform, the rise of eBraille, and the upcoming opening of The Dot Experience as a major public-facing milestone.

The conversation highlights resilience, courage, and a recommitment to APH’s mission amid rapid technological change. Hear personal reflections, including Craig Meador’s thoughts as he prepares for retirement and the importance of continuing to push forward rather than pulling back. 

We wrap up with a Tech Takeaway focused on Monarch’s one-handed mode, showcasing how inclusive design expands access for a wider range of users. 

On this episode (in alphabetical order)

• Jo Haas, Vice President of Advancement and The Dot Experience
• Anne Lancaster, Vice President, Chief Officer, Innovation and Strategy
• Craig Meador, Ed. D., APH President
• Paul Schroeder, Vice President of Impact and Outreach
• Jennifer Wenzel, APH Technology Product Specialist
• Michael Dennis, APH Technology Product Specialist

Transcript

Narrator: 0:00

Welcome to Change Makers, a podcast from APH. We're talking to people from around the world who are creating positive change in the lives of people who are blind or have low vision. Here's your host.

Sara Brown: 0:15

Hello and welcome to Change Makers. I'm APH's public relations manager, Sara Brown, and on this episode, we continue our conversation with APH's leadership team. After that, we'll share our Tech Takeaway. Now let's jump back into the discussion with leadership. For 2025, what is one thing that stands out to you or one thing that's synonymous with 2025 when you think back?

Anne Lancaster: 0:43

I think that 2025 was the year that accessibility and digital access in the classroom became a non-negotiable, right? Um, we know uh this our kids have been behind of the technology revolution, but now we're seeing more than 80% of classrooms are almost entirely digital in how they teach. So it's it's non-negotiable. And that opens up a lot of questions, right? Like, you know, internally for APH, the way that we do things, the way that we operate, is that in the best interest of kids in today's digital environment? But you know, the truth of the matter is we all have said that accessibility isn't optional. It's not something that we can get to later. Um, you know, we we have to stay focused right now and say, what do we do to make sure kids have what they need, the same thing that cited kids have to learn. And that means changing the way that we think, that means changing processes, that means uh everybody, you know, from teachers and parents all the way to the people who work at APH and the people in the field. Uh, it's something we have to push together to make a reality.

Craig Meador: 1:53

Yeah, mine is uh uh is all the rewords. Uh resilience, resistance, refocus, uh, reset, re-engage. I mean, it was a year of a lot of action verbs. Um, but I I think it was it made for a very long year. It wasn't a restful year. It was uh a year of uh a lot of, you know, it's kind of every and we all go through these things in lives and companies do this too. There they're always those years of they're not fun years. I mean, a lot of good can happen in those not fun times, but it is definitely the trial times. And this was a year of that. But I think as a result, we've come out sharper. Um, and and we're still dealing with some of that fallout from last year. And I think that's gonna carry over to 2026 somewhat. Um, but um I I having come through 2025, um I I think we're ready for anything that's gonna happen in 2026.

Anne Lancaster: 3:01

I I agree because I think it was a year that stretched us, but in really healthy ways. Um, it demanded us to be courageous, it demanded us to be clear. And um, and this has also given us some incredible momentum and and some confidence that the work we're doing, it's not only needed, it's very urgently needed. And I think we feel that uh everyone feels that throughout APH, no matter what they're doing at APH, we we feel that, we know that, we understand that. And that's the advantage of a tough year like we've had is that you here's another one for you, Craig, you recommit to uh to the mission for sure.

Paul Schroeder: 3:41

Well, I I think for me and for for many of us at APH, we're still uh talking and planning and doing a lot of work with the Monarch. And that's true in my team as well. We don't do uh we do product support and training. And so that's been an important part of the Monarch. And of course, Monarch rise is something that I mentioned earlier. So that's been a part. And um it was I'll just share a funny little anecdote that in some of my visits to offices on Capitol Hill, uh, I had uh a couple of staff members say, Oh, I've heard about this great technology. Did you happen to bring it with you? I haven't had a chance to see it yet. So the word is getting out there. Uh, and I've had a couple of my colleagues tell me when they were in visiting to talk about assistive technology, uh, that people ask them if they were aware of the Monarch. So it's nice to see the word getting out into uh the Capitol Hill world. I'd say the other uh thing that I've I've really appreciated seeing is the uh the support, the continuing support for the National Instructional Material Access Center (NIMAC), uh, which is also funded through the Department of Education and is so critical in the uh transformation of textbooks uh using those uh digital files that are housed there at the NIMAC and that has grown well. Publishers are very supportive, uh, and that's been uh of course nice to see that's continuing.

Jo Haas: 5:02

I think for me, the the thing that stands out is um the work that we have done in the last six months or so to take a project from um from paper and planning um and and and breathing life into it, um bringing The Dot Experience brand uh to life, um, you know, telling more uh more lively, uh interesting stories about The Dot Experience , um uh and uh and and and taking it off the planning page, literally, and and turning it into something that is starting to become um you know uh what will be a draw for visitors from all over all across the country, all around the world, um, you know, really, really uh starting to beat the drum on um on a project that has 360-degree interest, not just you know, the plans in a book.

Sara Brown: 6:20

And now that we're in 2026, what priorities, initiatives, projects is The Dot Experience or APH focusing on to advance its mission?

Paul Schroeder: 6:33

Why don't you start this one, Jo, if you want?

Jo Haas: 6:36

Yeah, I want to say opening day. We have uh um a installation, um pre-opening period, and an opening schedule um now nailed on the calendar. And so uh we will be working feverishly on uh you know finalizing the die design of the ticketing system, um, you know, manifesting the the retail merchandising um plan, um uh developing you know the staffing structure and the uh um operating plans for how you know we keep things running day in and day out. Um we'll be uh um kicking off the new year uh at the American Bus Association conference marketing, um some uh some really fun uh um ways for bus tour groups to engage with us. Uh so you know there is a lot to get done, um, but all of our sites, I think, are set on uh uh October um of 2026 as our our opening.

Paul Schroeder: 8:03

I think we are all looking forward to welcoming the field, welcoming Louisville, welcoming the larger community to The Dot Experience. It's gonna be a lot of fun this year. Um probably some moments of of fear and fright, but uh mostly fun. And uh those will be joyful. Um one of the things I haven't mentioned, and it it's it it's it's kind of not remarked upon very much, uh, but that's the importance of prison braille programs across our country that produce, I would probably say most of the textbooks and materials used in the educational system, at least in some fashion. It says prison braille, but of course they also do large print and tactographics as well. We did an evaluation of those programs this in 2025. Uh, and that was really the first time I think we had done one. And we got, you know, we got a decent participation. I think we'll do better, I hope, next time, because I think a lot of programs were very interested in what we found. And we found there are some barriers that we can work on to try to improve the uh productivity of those programs and challenges. And I uh so I'm looking forward to spending some time here in 2026 and beyond trying to grow and support and strengthen those programs. And they are uniquely challenging programs because they are based in prison systems, which have you know their own challenges, as you might imagine. The other area is I'm uh I'm just continuing to appreciate the relationship that's that's getting better and closer and building between uh APH uh services in the outreach area and the product uh development and and product uh distribution programs as we work to train uh teachers and other constituents around the country on how to best use APH products. And I'm looking forward to ways in which we can even add more support for the education system in our country. We've talked talked a little bit about digital files and uh this year uh in April of 2026, if nothing is blocked, uh there will be a new part of the Americans with Disabilities Act going into effect that will uh include state governments and local state and local governments, and that includes schools and education systems that will be required to make web uh programs and software accessible for people who are blind and low vision, including students. And so that's going to be very interesting to see uh how we uh in APH land help to make digitized and digital educational material more accessible and work with schools to make sure they can implement these ADA requirements because we know that although they're the schools still look and feel like they used to when we were younger, maybe, but there's a lot more digital material being used, a lot more teacher-created material being used. And that's going to be uh very important for blind and low vision students to have access to. And I'm so excited about this uh uh addition to the Americans with Disabilities Act. So I look forward to that going into effect.

Anne Lancaster: 11:15

No, I can, you know, just building on that idea, the digital content transformation next year for us, it's going to be the year of ebrail. And uh, you know, with the launch of ebrail, we have a lot of work to do in terms of training folks as to how to save those ebrail files, how to use ebrail files. And then, you know, we are also looking at our organization and making sure that we have ebrail content available to users and not just us, but our partners, our partners at NFB and our partners at Humanware, we're all committing to that 2026 is going to be the year of eBrail and really pushing this new uh you know digital file format that is going to make such a big difference for Braille readers. And I'd also say, you know, expanding that Monarch ecosystem. We're we're at the point now where you should not be thinking about the Monarch as a device. It's this whole platform, you know. We talked about the multi-line JAWS capability that came in 2025. We had email, we had new apps like the Wing It app that allows teachers to draw those graphics in real time for that impromptu learning. Next year, in addition to Ebrel, we're gonna see Google compatibility, we're gonna see some great apps like PBS Kids Echo Explorer. Uh, that's a really fun game. The the periodic table, the flip over faces game, and a wordle-like puzzle game. So, you know, the value of the Monarch just keeps growing and growing and growing as we add more to it. And that means we we now have an educational platform. It's not just a device, it's a platform. And then, of course, behind all of this and you know, operational alignment to make all of these things happening and The Dot Experience opening 2026 is going to be a huge year for APH and and for our mission. We're going to be building the structure for an entire decade. So, so a lot to do, a lot to do.

Craig Meador: 13:05

Yeah, well said. Not much to add to that. It's this will be this is this is the unveiling year. This is the year of um, you know, everything are yeah, a lot of big first steps for APH this next this year, 2026.

Sara Brown: 13:24

And personally here at APH, what are you looking forward to this year? Is there any one thing that stands out that like I cannot wait for this to happen?

Anne Lancaster: 13:37

I uh there's so much, Sarah. I mean, there there's so much. And there's I think if we're hesitated, it's because like when we think about it, it's all really big, right? Um, but I also think that there's there's power into moving into a space when you're not really sure how things are gonna turn out, right? Uh there's power in that. It says we're we've got forward momentum no matter what. And you know, when we talk about the opening of The Dot Experience, I I don't even think we can begin to get our heads around the impact that that is going to create in public perception of blindness and low vision and and also in accessibility everywhere. So I, you know, I uh when I think and look ahead, I, you know, I I don't want to say it's trepidation exactly, but there's there's a little bit of anxiety there because so much is unknown. But the thing that I will say is that we we know where we're going, we know what we need to do. We may not know exactly how we're gonna get there, but we're determined to get there. And whatever barriers come up along the way, we're determined to push through them and and and see these great and lofty goals to to fruition. And, you know, you know, just looking at the Monarch, this continued growth of the Monarch platform, we know that every new capability that we add to the Monarch platform is directly going to grow what a student do can do to the point of where we can't even imagine what that impact is going to be. So it's it's really exciting. And I guess I I if I had to put it in a nutshell, what am I looking forward to? I'm looking forward to discovering the things that our imaginations can't even hold right now. That's what I'm looking forward to.

Craig Meador: 15:17

Yeah, I'm I'm looking to forward to uh a couple things. Um, of course, the The Dot Experience opening, and and that'll be uh the probably the biggest stretch of the APH mission. Um, and what I mean by that is this is The Dot Experience is designed to attract people who aren't from the field. Okay, the the whole purpose. This is our biggest outward education push because we're not doing it for the field. It's it's gonna be a wonderful uh experience for people from the field, and it should make you feel very proud of the work that you've chose to be engaged in. But the at its core and at its heart, the purpose of The Dot Experience is to change hearts and minds and to educate people, to move them beyond their beliefs about stereotypes of blindness, um, you know, to just challenge their whole thought process so that they can walk away more informed and engaged and hopefully willing to join us in uh in our movement to make the world a more equitable place. So that's that's a big thing that I I'm looking forward to. And then on a personal note, this is my last year. Um I've I've had the pleasure to be the CEO um now in my 11th year at APH, and um it has been an incredible joy to have this position, but um I realize a couple things, and that is one is I'm getting older. Number two is it is time for some new leadership. It's time for a fresh pair of eyes uh to come in and set a new vision with the team here at APH and and lead for the next decade or so. Um and it would be a very selfish thing for me to do is to come in with a short um two tur, two-year, three-year vision and say, hey, let's let's do this and and then to um um and and then hand it off to somebody else. And the reason why I say it'd be selfish because the momentum that we have with the Monarch and the the the Monarch explosion and the momentum we have with the Dot experiencing opening up and the momentum that we're carrying forward with all our other initiatives, it would be selfish for me to just sit on that momentum for three years and have the time of my life. It's it it is best for the company and best for the field, is if we get somebody who's going to be here more than a year or two years or three years and can really take this momentum and shape the future for APH for the next 10, 15 years. So I'm looking forward to that retirement. I'm also a lot of sadness is as I watch things come together and I watch events happen right now. This is this is just an exciting time to be in this field. And APH is at the forefront of a lot of the change. And to be walking away from it at this this time when the flowers coming into full bloom is a little a little sad, but it's the right thing to do.

Sara Brown: 18:39

And Craig, one quick question about your retirement. You got any plans you want to share? Um going to be just enjoying life outside of APH?

Craig Meador: 18:48

You know, I have never not worked from age 12. I have always been employed. Um, you know, so I it's really gonna be interesting to figure out who Craig is when he doesn't have a job to go to every single day. Um, but um, you know, I have uh I think my my always my biggest regrets is there's only one lifetime to live. And I have probably a lot of activities and interests and hobbies for three or four lifetimes. So, you know, I I think the first year is just going to learn what it's like to slow down and focus on the things I really enjoy. I'm I have a lot of large backpack trips planned, got a lot of fishing to do, um, a lot of travel. My wife and I both really love to travel. So we're we we're just trying to figure that out. But uh the best advice we received is in your first year, make no commitments. Just kind of figure out who who you are once you hit retirement. So that's that's the plan.

Sara Brown: 19:55

All right. Well, you're gonna be living your best life, and I will definitely do a follow up podcast. With you as we get closer to your last day here at APH. My final question I always ask: Is there anything else you would like to share or say with our listeners?

Anne Lancaster: 20:12

Yeah, I know. Um, you know, change, change. And you know, Craig leaving that is that's gonna be a really fundamental change for APH and for the field. And, you know, Craig's had so many years of of wonderful service to this field, and he in many ways is the field today as we know it. And that that is a very, very big change. Um, but you know, he he's right, he's leaving at a time when we're at a pivotal moment in accessible education. Um, our technology is catching up to our imagination, and that means we we have a responsibility and an opportunity to to create that revolution in learning for blind and low vision students. And you know, it's something that APH, we can't do it alone. We really rely on our partners, we rely on our partners in technology, we rely on teachers, we rely on parents, all of us together have to be pushing toward that North Star in a time of great change. Uh, the mission is the same, though. The mission is the same, and it's a time to stay focused and to pull together and to make it happen.

Craig Meador: 21:20

Yeah, I this is not the time to contract. And you know, we're we're seeing this within um people that that we know and and admire and appreciate, but all the uncertainty during the the caused by, you know, I'm I'm just gonna call it what it is. I got nothing to lose caused by this administration, uh, as as they create change, um you know, has has tied dollars up, has tied resources up, and you're starting to feel um people saying, you know, the best thing we need to do is contract, save our dollars, save our energy, uh, hunker down, cut the programs, cut the energy, yes, cut programs, cut uh stop serving so many people. And that is such a natural reaction. And I and and I get it. I, you know, it's I'm I'm not belittling anyone for for making those decisions because I'm not walking every day in their agency. But when people who are close to the APH mission start to say that, I really get um get defensive and and I push back on that. This is not the time to shrink. This is not the time to shrink. This is the time. Um bad times come and go. I mean, we can track it through APH's history. There have been years of no increases, and way in the past, there were some years of cuts to funding. Um, but I'm thankful that the APH leadership in all those years, 160 plus years, never said, you know what we need to do? We need to do nothing this year. We just need to pull everything back in and turtle up until this storm is over. And and this is probably one of our bigger storms. So we have got to just pick up, pick, pick things up, and keep pushing forward. If we don't, we're going to lose this momentum. This is not the time to be worried about how many dollars are in the bank. This is not the time to be worried about if you've got the right personnel on hand or whether they're up to the challenge. This is the time to push and people will rise to the occasion. So that's that's that's those are my parting words for probably not my parting words, but for today. Those are the things I want to share. Not the time to shrink. Be courageous. Be courageous.

Paul Schroeder: 23:44

Well, I'll just say again, uh, going back to funding, 2026 is not probably going to be any easier than 2025 was. Uh, it's an election year for Congress. So the entire House of Representatives is up for election. Uh, a third of the Senate, of course, is up for election. Many, we've had a record number of members of Congress who say they're not going to run again. Um, and so there'll be significant turnover. And that's always interesting and it makes for an interesting time. But given that it's an election year, the timelines will be more stressed than ever in terms of getting funding decisions made, funding bills through. I am ever hopeful that uh we will continue to have uh the funding and hopefully the increased funding that we know we need to do the work that we want to do. The fact that we've had level funding for the last few years has certainly been a challenge uh for the running of APH, the development of products, distribution of products, and of course the services we provide. So I'm hopeful that uh 2026, even though it's an election year and even those are often harder to manage, uh, that maybe Congress will decide they can uh get appropriations done in a reasonable fashion and find some additional support where it's needed.

Jo Haas: 25:06

And and I would say that the opening of The Dot Experience in 2026 is going to be a game changer um in the field, but maybe even more broadly uh for the world. Um you know, this is the this is a chance for APH um to you know open its doors um and take the mission that that the organization has been uh diligent about delivering against for almost 180 years in you know, teaching people how to level the playing field in classrooms all around the country and seeing the potential in young people um and and you know helping to dismantle barriers and change perspectives. And now all of a sudden with The Dot Experience, we're gonna be offering, you know, the broader general public the chance to kind of grapple with that set of questions and embrace that that set of opportunities to make the world a better place. Um, and so you know, I think that 2026 um is gonna be you know game-changing in how we're going to uh to impact change on a societal level um yet again or in a continuing fashion. Um, you know, uh it's it's gonna be it's gonna be exciting.

Paul Schroeder: 27:00

Yeah, I hope 2026 stands right up there as one of those milestones. I I often think, I wish I had a way to just shatter the misconceptions of the public about blindness and to educate them about capabilities. And this will do it. This will be the place I can point to.

Sara Brown: 27:17

Jo, Paul, Craig, and Anne, thank you so much for joining me today on Change Makers.

Paul Schroeder: 27:23

Thank you.

Sara Brown: 27:25

Thanks.

Paul Schroeder: 27:27

Thank you, Sara.

Sara Brown: 27:28

I hope you enjoyed that recap of 2025 and are excited for 2026. There's a lot of great things on the horizon. Now it's time for our Tech Takeaway. Here's Jennifer Wenzel and Michael Dennis.

Michael Dennis: 27:46

Hello and welcome everyone to our newest episode of the Tech Takeaways. My name is Michael Dennis.

Jennifer Wenzel: 27:53

And my name is Jennifer Wenzel. And we hope you've had a great holiday season and are excited, just as excited as we are, to jump into 2026. And so for our first episode of Tech Takeaways for this year, we decided we would talk about something that is available on the Monarch and has been since the 1.3 update, and that is one-handed mode. So I'm going to turn it over to Michael to talk to you about why this is an important feature.

Michael Dennis: 28:24

Yeah, thanks, Jennifer. And I think some of you are actually wondering one-handed mode, what does that even mean? And why do we even need this? Um my hands are functioning both properly, but don't forget, there is also people out there who have amputees, maybe who don't have all 10 fingers, um, who do not have their second hand fully under um control through like CP, like an additional um nerve disorder, um and just things like that. Um and also it is sometimes very easy if you want to do something on your computer at the same time with one hand and do something at the same time on the Monarch, even if both of your hands are properly functioning. And that is really the reason why the one-hand mode exists so you can use the Monarch with all its great features just with one functioning hand. Um and everything actually still works out. Because if you want to type something like the letter D with one hand, maybe you get that down. But say you want to type the letter X with your five fingers or with one hand for probably very difficult. And Jennifer will explain to you guys in a little bit how this in detail works, how you can activate that mode. But this is really the reasons why APH has developed that particular mode on the Monarch, so that we can also serve people who do have only function, full function left in one hand, or even also limited function only in one hand. So we can serve those people who are still low vision or blind, like reading Braille and like using uh those high-tech products, and also being able to use it in their classroom wherever they need it at work. And uh Jennifer, how does it work?

Jennifer Wenzel: 30:18

So let me also just quickly mention um that this mode also exists on the Mantis and the Chameleon. And it works similarly on those products as well. So if you have questions about that, you can check with the user guide of those products, or you can contact us and we can help you with that. But how it works on the Monarch is to activate the mode, you would use the backspace or dot seven key and the zoom out key, which is the little oval key on the left side of the Monarch just above the keyboard, and it has a raised minus sign on it. So you would push those two together. And when you do that, your Monarch will ask you if it's if your speech is on, or it will show in Braille also, um, to confirm that this is what you want to do. Do you really want to go into one-handed mode? And you would hit enter on, you'd navigate to okay, and you'd select that with the enter key, or you could point and click on okay. There's a couple ways you could do that. So once you are in the mode, keys can be pushed in any combination. So for instance, if you're doing the letter X, like Michael mentioned, you could do the dot one and three keys together if you wanted to, or you could do dot one and then dot three, or dot three and then dot one. And then you could do the four and six keys together, or you could do them separately, but you could also do them together with the space. So space is what tells you that this is your letter, that your letter is done. So you can use space separately at the end, or you can use it with your last key combination, whatever works for you. So you're going to enter the dots for say a letter X and then the space, and that will put the X there. Or it will navigate to a spot in the main menu. So if I was at the main menu and I wanted to do W for word processor, I could do dot two, and then I could do dot four and dot five, and then I could do six with space, and that would bring me to word processor. If you want to do a command that needs a space, so like um uh space with all six dots to get to the main menu, for example, you can you need to use the space first. So you hit space and then you do your dots, and then you hit another space to show that that's a command with space. Or if you're doing like space with E to get out of something, you could do that. So it is a very powerful feature. All of the commands that you would normally do can be done this way. Um, and of course, your D-pad arrows work like they usually would. And if you wanted to use like dot four with dot one to navigate or something, I mean dot four with space to navigate, you could do that using four and then I mean space and then four and then space. So that can all be done. You can navigate however you would like. Um your panning keys would operate the same. Um, and so you are able to use everything you need to in one-handed mode. Now, if you want to exit one, oh, one thing to mention is this will stay in effect until you get out of it. So even if you power your Monarch off and you power it back on, it will come up and tell you that one-handed mode is still active. Um, the way to exit one-handed mode would be to use the backspace and the zoom out key together again. And again, you will get prompted to confirm that you want to get out. Now, the one thing to remember is that you're in one-handed mode. So if you're going to do the enter command for the okay, and this would be in any kind of context in that one-handed mode, if you're using enter to select something, you're going to need to do space after the enter or space with the enter to confirm that that's what you're trying to press. So you would need to do space with enter or enter and then the space, and then you'll be out of the one-handed mode. Make sure that you're focused on the okay. Generally, it comes up there by default, but you want to make sure your little focus symbol is on the okay when you're trying to get out, not on the cancel, because if it's on the cancel, of course, you will not get out of one-handed mode. So back to you, Michael, for some final thoughts.

Michael Dennis: 34:41

Uh thank you, Jennifer. And I think one thing I also want to mention while you were talking about this, Jennifer, the one-hand mode can also be very useful for people who are maybe not able to um use one of their hands due to a short-term injury, like a broken hand, broken finger. So it has a lot of uses and a lot of good reasons um why this mode actually exists. And Jennifer just told us the very simple way um how it works and how great it also functions, that you can put everything in in the order you you want to, which makes it very easy for everyone in that moment to use. Um, so this is what we're explaining today in our tech takeaways to you. And we're looking forward to our next episode in February. And if you have any feedback or any ideas you would like us to talk about, please feel free to send an email to changemakers at aph.org. And my name is Michael Dennis.

Jennifer Wenzel: 35:39

And I'm Jennifer Wenzel. And just as a sneak peek or preview teaser, we're hoping to talk in our next episode about new features that will be released in the next Monarch update. So stay tuned.

Sara Brown: 35:55

Thank you so much, Jennifer and Michael, and thank you for listening to this episode of Change Makers. I hope you have enjoyed it. Do you have any questions about this episode or podcast topic suggestion? Send them my way by emailing me at changemakers@aph.org. As always, be sure to look for ways you can be a change maker this week.