Technology helping today's citizens

Access Through Technology
By: Marti Goddard

Using technology to help meet the needs of people with disabilities
There were about 50 million disabled people in the U.S. according to the 2000 census.

This article was written in 2004 and I can tell. The pictures and the way it is set up look outdated. The point of the article is very much correct however. According to the 2000 census, there were about 50 million disabled people in the United States. Libraries all over the world had to change to accommodate these people. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 set forth many laws to make sure businesses and buildings all over the country would accommodate any disabled person wanting to use any type of facility.

With the new technology age has come new responsibility. New software has been developed to help students that are blind or deaf to be able to read and write on the computers. They even mentioned a software that is used to help students with learning disabilities read books. From personal experience, I have had the pleasure of working very closely with a group of special education students this past year. I learned a lot about this Read 180 program. The students are read a story while it highlights the words being read, much like singing karaoke, and then the students have to read the story back to the computer. The software used in schools, like the libraries, is helping to further the education and literacy of today’s students. There was one student in particular that was reading at a Kindergarten level when I first started working with the group. And by the end of the school year he was at a first grade level. Not bad for 3 months worth of hard work by teachers, a wonderful para-professioinal, and today’s technology. Too bad this poor student is an 11th grader 

There are some complications that arise when implementing some of this software. If someone is using speech recognition software, they need to be where noises are minimal and the user won’t disturb others around them. In libraries, and schools, multiple people will be accessing the computer and we need to make sure they don’t get into each others’ profiles. Voice recognition software requires users to build their own files and we need to implement a way to keep those from getting mixed up. Goddard suggests using separate zip files for each profile. I can’t help but wonder if computers will start to get slow due to all the personal files saved on it.

The Archimedes Project sounds very expensive to disabled people. The idea is to create a personalized adaptation to technology based on their needs that they can take with them wherever the go. Libraries or the ATM, it will help them to be better able to function in the world. However, if people have to pay for their own devices to be custom made to fit their needs, I would imagine it could become quite expensive.

Overall, I’m pleased that technology is being put to good use helping others to stay in the mainstream of technology so they don’t get left behind. I knew of some of the software and even hard ware (adjustable desks and computer screens and different styles of keyboards), but it was nice to find out about some of the other applications that have been developed. And also the use of the internet to help those who are home bound.