Assistive Technology for the Blind
In 1956, Patricia Weaver was born three months prematurely. She survived, blinded for life. She went to a special education elementary school where she was taught to read and write Braille. Later she was mainstreamed into public high school and eventually graduated from a public college with a double major in music and Spanish. Mrs. Weaver is one of the over 40 million people in America with a disability. Joseph Lazzaro, a computer expert and blind himself, defines disabilities as "any permanent condition that seriously impairs a major life function like seeing, walking, talking, hearing (6)." Unfortunately, not everyone with a disability is as successful as Mrs. Weaver. There is hope, however, for these 40 million people. With the passing of the American Disabilities Act and other laws as well as the invention of new assistive technology, Americans with disabilities successfully compete with others. The American Disabilities Act, passed in 1990 during the Bush presidency, granted civil rights protection for people with disabilities. Many supporters of the ADA hoped only to put an end to discrimination but this law did much more. Under the ADA, employers are required to provide "reasonab
"Fulfilling America's Promise To American with Disabilities." 7 April 2001 http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/freedominitiative/freedominitiative.html. "Accomodating The Applicant or Employee Who Is Blind or Visually Impaired." American Foundation For the Blind 7 April 2001 http://www.afb.org/info_document_view.asp?documentid=800. Nather, David. "Disabilities Act First 10 Years And the Challenges Ahead." CQ Weekly 30 Lazzaro, Joseph J. "Talking Windows Apps and Websites." Byte 3/20/2000 (2000). · JAWS (Henter-Joyce, Windows platform) supports text-to-speech and Braille display output. This program works with most Microsoft programs including Internet Explorer and Office. Another thing that non-disabled people take for granted is surfing the web. In a March 2000 study conducted by the Disabilities Statistic Center at the University of California in San Francisco found that 11.4% of people with disabilities have the ability to connect to the Internet from home compared to 31.1% of people without a disability (Nather 3). With web sites becoming flashier to attract the normal user, usability has gone down for the blind. Surfing a text-based website is very easy for a blind user equipped with a screen reader, however, a graphical site may be impossible for them to see. Some problem areas are web sites with text buried in bitmap files and flash animations (Machrone 1). Web developers should offer a text-based site in addition to the flashy ones that most of us see or follow guidelines laid out by the World Wide Web Consortium. This group from MIT offers guidelines for webmasters to follow so users with assistive technologies can surf the site! · Screen magnifying systems, for visually impaired users, use both hardware and software to magnify the screen display. Users can customize the magnification to their own preference. Other options include the ability to invert the screen display to show dark letters on a light background reducing eyestrain. In addition to already existing laws new proposals are constantly being offered to further help people with disabilities. The New Freedom Initiative presented by George W. Bush last year is one of the new proposals that may become law. One of the main points of this proposal increases access to assistive technology. More funding for research and low-interest loan programs for the purchase of assistive technology remains an essential piece of this legislation. If this proposal becomes law, Americans who have slipped through the cracks will receive help. Unemployment for people with disabilities is at 70%. In a Harris Survey conducted by the National Organization of Disability found that 72% of these people want to work ("Fulfilling America's Promise" 1-6). New laws and amendments to existing provisions must be added until everyone with a disability has the same opportunities as their non-disabled counterparts.
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2166
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)
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