Announcement from the Board of Dolphin Computer Access

 It is with great sadness that the Board of Dolphin Computer Access announce the passing of Noel Duffy.

As one of the foundational leaders of the Assistive Technology industry, Noel’s passion and personal drive led to the development of technologies that help countless vision impaired people lead independent lives. For more than 30 years, Noel’s continuous work with a broad range of Assistive Technology bodies and organisations helped to build our industry and shape its direction.

Dolphin CEO James Green shared:
“Noel was a passionate advocate for blind and partially sighted people facing exclusion. He broke down barriers, championed equal access and contributed his expertise to many groups and boards, including ATIA and BATA. His influence and firm belief in Dolphin’s purpose will continue to guide and inspire us. We are proud to continue his work.”   

Among his many achievements, Noel received the RNIB Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022 for his longstanding contribution to improving the lives of blind and partially sighted people.

Receiving this award, Noel was noted as the “driving force” behind initiatives to provide affordable assistive technology to blind and partially sighted people facing digital exclusion worldwide. He was also pivotal in campaigning for a UK wide service to make curriculum material accessible, leading a consortium that ultimately created RNIB Bookshare. Today, this offers over a million titles for young people to read in EasyReader, and provides equal access to education for young people across the UK.

Through the initiatives and projects he led, Noel leaves an extraordinary legacy. His work at Dolphin goes on, providing vision impaired people around the world with access to books, and the tools to read independently.

On behalf of the Dolphin board of directors, Mark McCusker said: 
“Those of us who worked closely with Noel will always remember his compassion, and generosity of spirit, his laughter and love of social company. Noel’s intellect and softly-spoken wisdom touched all of us, and he will be deeply missed.”

On behalf of everyone at Dolphin, we offer our deepest condolences to Noel’s wife Paula and their children Annie and Dara at this very sad time.

Noel and his work impacted the lives of so many people. We know that everybody who had the pleasure of knowing Noel will have their own story to tell, and Dolphin invites you all to share your stories and your tributes to Noel, to celebrate Noel’s incredible life and achievements.

If you would like to share your story or tribute, please email [email protected]