[NFBOH-Cleveland] From the President's Desk: The Federation Shares Pressing Concerns with Vispero's CEO, by Mark A. Riccobono

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Braille Monitor              January 2026

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>From the President's Desk: The Federation Shares Pressing Concerns with
Vispero's CEO

by Mark A. Riccobono

One of the responsibilities I have as President of the National Federation
of the Blind is to develop relationships with the executives of
organizations and corporations whose work has an effect on blind people.
Sometimes these are within the blindness field, but often they are companies
who do not regularly work with blind people. Vispero is one of the major
companies within the blindness field whose products have a wide reach and
whose relationship with the community of blind people is critical. In my
time as President of the Federation, I have worked with three previous CEOs
of the company. Recently, I have begun building a relationship with the
newest CEO, Ms. Rhonda Bassett-Spiers. Frequently, these relationships are
built in private meetings where I help people understand the nature of the
Federation-we are different than the many agencies for the blind that they
tend to interact with-and I strive to help new leaders know that the
Federation will always give them the straight story from blind people
whether they like it or not. It is extremely unusual for me to publish
correspondence between a new CEO and myself on behalf of the Federation
after only a couple of months. However, the extreme concern from Federation
members caused me to act swiftly to ensure that good information was out in
the public.

For context, we knew that a new CEO was coming to Vispero. Bob Ciminera
shared with me months before our 2025 National Convention that he would be
retiring. I should interject here that in late November I learned that Mr.
Ciminera passed away. He was a strong supporter of the organized blind
movement, believed deeply in the products of his company, and trusted the
wisdom of the community. Our hearts go out to his friends and family. One of
the last things I undertook with Bob was to make sure that the company got
Glen Gordon to present at our convention and to our annual banquet so we
could give Glen our Kenneth Jernigan Award. We shared the 2025 Convention
presentation given by Glen Gordon and Ryan Jones of Vispero in the November
2025 issue of the Braille Monitor. In acknowledging Glen's tremendous
contributions over thirty years, none of us could have foreseen that he
would resign from the company only three months later. And there has been
even more concerning news. Convention attendees and readers will remember
that a new feature, AI Page Explorer, was demonstrated in a video, and the
audience was told that this feature would be part of FS Companion beginning
in the fall. But upon release, this feature is not part of FS Companion and
is only available with more expensive JAWS licenses. It is specifically
excluded from the most affordable license, JAWS Home Annual. We are now told
that it was intended all along for "professional and academic environments,"
but it was demonstrated using the website dedicated to the restaurants at
the New Orleans Marriott, suggesting it was intended for general use. These
and other concerns finally got to the point that I felt we needed to clearly
document our concerns and share them directly with Ms. Bassett-Spiers. She
wrote back to me fairly quickly. I had intended to use these correspondence
to do a more personal interview with her myself for our Access On podcast.
However, after her reply she cancelled the podcast interview, suggesting
that we defer meeting until early in the new year. The extreme level of
concern among Federation members causes me to release these correspondence,
as blind people deserve straight answers. We will continue to work to build
an executive-level relationship and to hold Vispero accountable to its loyal
blind customers. Here are the correspondence from November 2025:

November 7, 2025

Sent via email

Dear Ms. Bassett-Spiers,

As you know, the National Federation of the Blind is the nation's
transformative organization of blind people, with affiliates in every state
as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. As the voice of the
nation's blind, we have a duty to alert those who offer products and
services to us when there is a groundswell of concern. This is the
commitment I have also made to you in the two one-on-one conversations we
have held.

Following feedback from many of our members who are raising new issues
almost daily, I feel compelled to formally convey to you a series of
pressing concerns regarding Vispero's direction and engagement. As the
producer of JAWS, ZoomText, and Fusion, Vispero impacts the daily lives and
opportunities of millions of blind individuals across the United States and
worldwide. With this influence comes a profound responsibility to prioritize
the needs, aspirations, and leadership of those you serve.

Pricing and Licensing Changes

While we appreciate that Vispero must operate in a manner that ensures
ongoing commercial viability, we are concerned by the limited and unclear
communication around recent changes to JAWS licensing models and pricing
structures. These changes have generated significant confusion, anxiety, and
frustration worldwide. The temporary removal of the Home Annual License
option from the website, reversed only after public backlash, created
unnecessary alarm. This decision led many to believe that a product they
used daily was suddenly out of their financial reach.

We urge Vispero to provide a clear explanation of the new pricing options
and to show respect for its loyal customers by explaining clearly why these
changes are necessary.

Erosion of Home Annual License Functionality

We are disappointed that JAWS Home Annual License holders have been excluded
from the new Page Explorer feature. Vispero highlighted this feature at our
recent national convention in July, valuing it sufficiently to produce a
video demonstrating the new functionality. It was marketed at that time as
an addition to FS Companion. At no time was there any mention that Vispero
would create different tiers of JAWS users when it came to cutting-edge AI
tools.

When the Home Annual License was introduced in 2018, the National Federation
of the Blind applauded the move. We believed it worked for everyone. The
unemployment rate among blind people is far too high. The JAWS Home Annual
License allows those who do not qualify for funding to use JAWS at a price
they can afford. They can become familiar with the product, which in turn
improves employment prospects. When an Annual Home License user finds work,
Vispero benefits when an appropriate license is purchased for the blind
person's workplace. This program has been an investment in the
capacity-building of blind people.

Depriving Annual Home License customers, who have paid in good faith, of new
core features is a concerning new policy that changes the implicit social
contract of this license. We call upon you to reconsider this decision and
make Page Explorer, along with future AI features, available to this
category of users.

Vispero Account

In the United States, JAWS 2026 requires users to create and sign into a
Vispero account. If it eventually becomes possible for customers to return
authorizations when upgrading computers and share settings across devices,
then users will benefit from this change. However, we are also hearing
concerns. Many of these may be addressed with clear, transparent, respectful
communication.

Some JAWS users are concerned about the amount of data being collected, such
as the name of a person's employer. We seek assurance that all data Vispero
is collecting is actually necessary for the operation of JAWS, and that
users are not being required to provide marketing data, which should be
optional, in order to use their screen reader.

Additionally, there are concerns about whether a cloud outage such as that
which affected Amazon Web Services in October may disrupt JAWS if ongoing
use requires verification that users are logged in.

We seek further clarity and assurance on these issues.

Technical Support

We are hearing from members that Vispero is no longer accepting technical
support requests via email. While we appreciate that requiring users to
submit a web form may aid Vispero through the mandatory provision of
information that can help the technical support process, email is a
ubiquitous medium. Even those who have access to older notetaker products,
whose JAWS may not be working at all, can submit a written technical support
request via email.

We invite you to reconsider this decision.

Blind Leadership

We are concerned by the apparent decline in blind leadership at Vispero that
has recently occurred. We believe that one of the reasons JAWS has become
the dominant product in the screen reader industry is that the original
company that developed JAWS-Henter-Joyce-was founded by a blind person.
There were always capable blind people, who were users of the product, in
key positions. This allowed those blind people to mentor people who are not
blind but who possessed the values and curiosity to be successful.

In recent days, we learned of the departure of Glen Gordon. Glen is a giant
in this industry who developed many of the paradigms that all graphical
screen readers subsequently adopted. Marking the 30th anniversary of JAWS
for Windows, we honored Glen's contribution at this year's national
convention of the National Federation of the Blind in New Orleans by giving
him the prestigious Kenneth Jernigan Award for his outstanding contribution.
The fact that Glen felt he must resign from the company-not because he
wished to retire, but because of a perceived incompatibility of values-is of
serious concern and one we would expect would cause considerable reflection
about the company's direction.

We also note that other blind people in leadership roles have been
redeployed into positions that appear to have less direct influence on the
products and services blind people use. We are concerned that these changes
will result in Vispero making decisions that are not informed by the
knowledge and lived experience of blind people.

The National Federation of the Blind proudly supports, and indeed insists,
that blind people help direct the products and services intended for our
use. However, multiple recent developments are creating an increasing
disconnect between leadership and the people the company exists to serve.

We are here to help. It is our hope that Vispero and the National Federation
of the Blind can continue to be trusted partners. We remain uniquely placed
to provide constructive advice based on the views of our extensive
membership across the nation. We encourage you to engage with these concerns
in a spirit of partnership and urgency. We request a comprehensive, public
response to the issues outlined above and a commitment to ongoing dialogue
with the organized blind movement.

Your leadership presents an opportunity to set a new standard for access,
accountability, and inclusion. We urge you to seize it.

I look forward to your prompt and substantive reply.

November 10, 2025

Sent via email

Dear Mark,

Thank you for your thoughtful and comprehensive letter. I greatly appreciate
the time and care the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) has taken to
share these concerns and perspectives. The NFB plays a critical role in
representing the voice and lived experience of the blind community. We value
the open dialogue we've established through our past conversations and
ongoing collaboration.

At Vispero, our purpose is to empower individuals who are blind or have low
vision to achieve independence and access opportunities.

We recognize that fulfilling this mission requires transparency,
accountability, and close partnership with organizations like the NFB to
ensure our decisions reflect the needs and lived experiences of the
community we serve.

We take the feedback outlined in your message very seriously. The issues
you've raised regarding pricing and licensing clarity, feature access,
account functionality, data privacy, technical support accessibility, and
blind leadership within Vispero directly address areas that are core to our
mission and values. 

I'd like to address each of your points individually to provide background
and context.

Pricing & Licensing

We recognize the importance of affordability and clarity to the communities
we serve. For many users, the Home Annual License has been a bridge to
independence, education, and employment. In 2018, when the Home Annual
License was launched, the subscription price for JAWS was $90 per year. The
price was increased by 5 percent in 2021 to $95, and again in 2025 by 10
percent to $104.50. This represents just two price increases over an
eight-year period.

The Home Annual License remains central to our mission to keep JAWS
accessible and affordable. Despite not being profitable, we continue to
offer it because it aligns with our mission to support the blind and
low-vision community and to ensure individuals have affordable access to
JAWS for personal use.

Earlier this year, we removed the Home Annual License option from our
website, requiring our loyal customers to contact us directly to make a
purchase. This decision was made after discovering that several businesses
were purchasing this lower-cost license rather than true home users. While
we recognize this may create a minor inconvenience, the process helps ensure
that the product remains available to the individuals for whom it was
designed. To support this change, we also published a blog post that
explains the different licensing options and helps customers select the
right product for their needs. I'd be happy to share this link if you would
like.

I'd like to reaffirm that the Home Annual License remains a core offering
for Vispero. Going forward, any updates to pricing or licensing will be
communicated clearly and collaboratively. We welcome the NFB's feedback as
part of this process.

Feature Access and AI Page Explorer

I understand and appreciate the community's disappointment regarding the
exclusion of AI Page Explorer from the Home Annual subscription. We intended
to design this specific feature for professional and academic environments,
where users frequently engage with complex, data-rich systems. However, we
also recognize that innovation should never feel like exclusion.

We are actively reviewing how to make AI-driven functionality more broadly
available, and we have many new capabilities planned for release across our
product portfolio in 2026. As I mentioned in our recent conversation, we
would like to work closely with the NFB and other community representatives
early in our development cycle to gather feedback and ensure our innovation
plans align with user needs.

To that end, I reached out to Beth [Braun, Chief of Staff for the National
Federation of the Blind] Friday, November 7th, to schedule a call with you
and your CTO to review our product strategy and gather your input.

As a company, we will not always offer identical functionality across all
product tiers; however, we are committed to providing upgrade paths where
possible. We have always listened to and responded to customers who contact
us with specific needs.

Vispero Account and Data Privacy

The new Vispero Account was introduced to strengthen our connection with
users and create a more unified experience. By enabling registration, we can
simplify license management, cross-device personalization, and lay the
foundation for future AI-driven features that adapt to individual user
preferences. We also share the concern about data collection and want to
assure users that only information essential to software functionality is
required. We will be publishing a clearer explanation of what data is
collected, why, and how it is protected.

We also share your concern about reliability. We are designing the system so
that temporary cloud outages will not disrupt product access, and we will
provide additional transparency on these safeguards.

Technical Support Access

We appreciate the feedback regarding the transition away from email-based
technical support.
Currently, only about 7 percent of customers use email to contact our
support team, with the majority choosing to call and speak directly with one
of our fully staffed technical support representatives, who can address
issues immediately.

We implemented the web form to help capture key details upfront and enable
our team to respond more efficiently. However, we fully recognize that
accessibility must always come first. For users who require immediate
assistance-or who may find the web form difficult to access-our call center
remains available to provide direct support.

Our goal is to ensure that every customer, regardless of circumstance or
technology access, has a reliable and responsive way to reach our team. The
call center remains our primary channel for achieving this level of service.

Blind Leadership and Representation

We share your deep appreciation for the extraordinary contributions of
leaders such as Glen Gordon, and for the generations of blind professionals
who have shaped JAWS and other Vispero products. Blind leadership and lived
experience remain fundamental to our innovation model. While some roles have
evolved as part of our broader organizational transformation, we reaffirm
our commitment to ensuring that blind professionals continue to have a
meaningful influence across our product, research, and customer experience
teams.

As reflected on our website, our leadership team includes two members of the
blind community-Matt Ater and Ryan Jones-who both play critical roles in
shaping the company's strategy, direction, and user engagement. Their
expertise and advocacy continue to strengthen our organization, ensuring
that our decisions reflect the perspectives of the communities we serve.

Looking ahead, we plan to expand our formal engagement with blind advisors,
advocates, and users through ongoing listening sessions and advisory panels.
We would greatly value the NFB's partnership in this effort. We have
developed a community outreach and engagement strategy to build stronger,
more direct connections between Vispero and the community, and I would
welcome the opportunity to review our plans with you to gather your feedback
and insights.
Additionally, as we discussed on our call, I would greatly appreciate any
recommendations you may have to help Vispero as we continue our efforts to
recruit and hire blind engineers.

Looking Forward: A More Collaborative Partnership

As I mentioned when we met, I want to, and am committed to, working
differently together-proactively rather than reactively. That means:

*	Inviting NFB's input earlier in Vispero's product planning cycles.
*	Hosting regular briefings to discuss upcoming updates and feature
roadmaps.
*	Partnering on communication to the broader community when changes
are on the horizon.

Our goal is to ensure that the voices of blind users help shape every stage
of development, and that communication around change is clear, respectful,
and transparent.

We are proud of our shared mission to empower people who are blind or have
low vision through technology. As we integrate AI and next-generation tools
into JAWS, ZoomText, and Fusion, our vision remains constant: to ensure
every user has the independence, confidence, and opportunity they deserve.

Thank you again for your partnership and for holding us to the high
standards we strive to meet. We look forward to continuing this conversation
and working more closely with the National Federation of the Blind to ensure
Vispero's innovation always advances accessibility for all.

Warm regards,

Rhonda Bassett-Spiers
Chief Executive Officer
Vispero

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