TecAccess; Small Business Success Story of the Year

For immediate release
(804) 749-8646
info@tecaccess.net

Rockville, VA - February 1, 2008-- TecAccess, an international leader in accessibility and workforce solutions, has been selected as both the regional and overall state winner of the annual "Small Business Success Story of the Year," by Virginia Business magazine. TecAccess, with its primary office located in Virginia, is featured in the February issue of Virginia Business along with other leading entrepreneurial ventures throughout the state competing in the rigorous competition.

"We´re privileged to share the stage with so many impressive businesses who have carried this honor throughout the Commonwealth," explains Debra Ruh, President and Founder of TecAccess. "Making the distinction even more important, however, is the fact that our business is so unique. We´ve created a business model in which employee with disabilities - along with disabled veterans - lead the way. By using their first hand perspective of having a disability, our associates are able to guide clients in government and industry towards more effective ways to design and use their electronic and information technology so that it is more accessible and user-friendly to others with disabilities and age-related challenges."

"Virginia Business selected TecAccess as its 2007 Small Business Success Story of the Year because of the company´s leading role in employing the disabled. It was one of the first in the country to rely on telecommuting and adaptive technologies to tap into a largely unused labor pool," explains Virginia Magazine writer Phaedra Hise in the cover story entitled "Expanding the Labor Pool." Hise adds, "The story of how Ruh, 49, started her company begins in 1998. That´s when the federal government mandated access for the disabled to its electronic and information technology, via Section 508 regulations of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Although the law doesn´t apply to private industry, there were enough government agencies to give birth to an industry niche. The new initiative came eight years after passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990. It barred disability as a basis for discrimination, prompting companies to add ramps and lower curbs to make buildings physically accessible. Today, the focus has changed to providing a virtual ramp to technology."

For these groundbreaking efforts, Virginia Business recognized TecAccess in this year´s annual competition, along with other small businesses from four regions in the Commonwealth of Virginia, at a luncheon hosted at the University of Virginia´s Darden Graduate School of Business Administration. In addition, as the winner of the state honor, TecAccess has been invited to the 2008 Virginia Business Winners Gala in February at the Jefferson Hotel in Richmond, Virginia.

TecAccess adds this year´s distinction from Virginia Business to a growing list of honors, including awards from the Small Business Administration, the US Department of Labor´s Office of Disability Employment, Lighthouse International, National Association of Women Business Owners, Greater Richmond Technology Council, Diversitybusiness.com, Women in Technology, Wells Fargo, and America China Foundation. In addition, TecAccess has been featured in the past year in US News & World Report, along with NPR and CNN affiliates. Debra Ruh, founder of TecAccess, now travels the globe addressing an international audience about her successful venture and her associates, with and without disabilities, who are making an impact.

For more about TecAccess unique and trend-setting business model, visit Our Story. TecAccess offers a wide range of services, ranging from accessibility solutions to award-winning workforce initiatives.

To obtain the current issue of Virginia Business, call (804) 649-6999 or e-mail here.

About TecAccess

Winner of numerous awards, including the 2005 Secretary of Labor´s New Freedom Initiative Award, TecAccess is an industry-leading IT firm providing Section 508 compliance and electronic and information technology (E&IT) accessibility solutions for clients in government, private industry, and higher education throughout the world. TecAccess is a certified Woman-Owned and SBA certified 8(a) and Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) committed to hiring people with disabilities.

For further information about TecAccess, please call: (804) 749-8646 , e-mail info@tecaccess.net, or visit our website at www.TecAccess.net.

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