Adam Oliver loves a challenge. As head of research for innovation for age & disability and corporate social responsibility at BT he is constantly coming up with bright new ideas to help people make the most of communications technology.
In fact, it was a challenge levelled at him in 2001 that really sparked his desire to help people.
"I met visually impaired student Mesar Hameed when he visited BT on a school trip and he told me how frustrated he was because he couldn't use text messaging," he recalls.
So Adam and his team worked with the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) to develop a system that could turn SMS messages into speech. By 2002, Adam had developed a prototype and two years later BT Text was launched in the UK.
Adam freely admits that Mesar was his inspiration for what is now a popular BT service enjoyed by all. What had started as a challenge ended with Adam fully committed to create products and services for people with problems around sight, learning, hearing and dexterity - regardless of their age group.
"It's all about empowering people to do things," says Adam. "If you don't develop technology with a social need, then what's the point?"
Indeed, what is the point?
It's this kind of thinking that lies behind all of Adam's development work. Take the prototype BT Balance, for example, which uses Nintendo Wii-style technology to help people navigate their way around a computer without using a mouse or keyboard. Instead, it allows elderly or disabled people to use their computer simply by tilting and moving the small device plugged into the computer. It's a major step forward in computer design that could ultimately change the way we all interact with technology in the future.
One of Adam's current project centres on a severely disabled woman who has been able to independently communicate for the first time using e-mail and text messages. Natalie Sides - who has cerebral palsy - is now able to communicate thanks to a wheelchair-based laptop computer which she accesses by movements of her right leg.
By working closely with Scope - the UK disability organisation whose focus is people with cerebral palsy - BT has developed a "wired wheelchair" that has opened up a whole new world of possibilities for Natalie. Without doubt, it has improved her quality of life and those who care for her, giving her the kind of access and independence taken for granted by so many.
The work with Scope is part of a three year project that looks set to reap even more benefits for those with the most needs.
This work is important," says Adam. "It's about how do we use research and technology to create a better world. It's about being polite. It's all about doing the right thing. Not about finding the easiest or cheapest way of doing something. Instead, it's about how you help those people with the most needs."
Which means more challenges for the future. And the biggest challenge of them all?
"To devise a total communications client that would enable anyone to communicate with anyone else - regardless of ability or language," explains Adam. Such a device would revolutionise the way people of all abilities communicate and could empower people in ways that can only be imagined. Adam accepts that coming up with such a technology is not easy. For some people the idea of a universal communicator may even border on "science fiction".
But if it's one thing that Adam relishes...it's a challenge.