Peter op 't Hof
Hi,
I would gladly like to introduce myself.
My name is Peter op 't Hof and I was born in the Netherlands on August 8 1966.
I am blind since birth so I am quite familiar with all the struggles that are always connected to an impairment in this rapidly changing society.
I am married to Sija (a tower of strength to me), we have two children Mark and Elise and I live in a little village in the Netherlands called Almkerk.
As for my work: I have a strong background in ICT, but due to my work as a consultant giving advise to a variety of firms in different markets I have also acquired a lot of expertise in business-projects, human behaviour and all the constraining procedures surrounding different projects.
My experience with the monitoring of computer-systems and applications, my being fully up-to-date with all new developments of screenreader-technology and my wide expertise in all kinds of computersystems and databases have already proved to be very useful in occasionally helping out the Sonokids team over these past few years. I am pleased that since 2005 I have become a full member of the Sonokids team.
I work as projectleader on the continuous development of our accessible webtool MaX and I also perform accessibility scans on applications and websites on request.
As part of my work on the Max-tool I have put together a site called: www.blindict.nl
which is a more or less a technical approach to my personal struggle with all the problems you encounter when you work with computers without sight.
Also I would like to point out the passion I have for working with sound (Soundscaping),
making music, teaching martial arts and helping people with Chinese massage.
I have met John and Phia when people of the foundation Software In zicht pointed out the
existence of Sonokids to me in 1999.
At that time I was a technical coördinator of DITO. This foundation’s goal was to
develop several strategies for enabling access to websites of the public sector in the Netherlands.
My contribution to Sonokids includes projectmanagement, development of new
technology and procedures, working on the organisational structure and being a coach for all the volunteers.
Living in a world with increasing individualisation and distruction of the
group's spirit, I find my work contributing to a better environment for for example visually
impaired people.