Reprinted from EDU, this article by Norman Coombs provides a general background to the powerful ways in which adapted computers have changed the educational and professional lives of many persons with disabilities. While it only discusses libraries within a larger perspective, it demonstrates that for many people the personal computer can be a liberating and enabling technology. For anyone for whom this is a new concept, this article will clearly demonstrate why libraries are looking to new technologies to open their facilities to new patrons. Not only can this tool provide access to a local library, but with computers becoming increasingly connected by high-speed data networks, adapted computers can open libraries and other information resources all around the world. Instead of the patron going to the library, this computing technology is an avenue to bring the information to the patron.
Reprinted from EDU Magazine. Spring 1992.
Western Civilization has had a centuries' long romance with technology and has often worshipped it as the "savior of mankind". Alternately, anti-utopians, ever since Shelly conjured up Frankenstein, have depicted it as the destroyer of humankind and human values. Technology is power and, as such, can serve many purposes. Whereas an earlier vision of the computer predicted an Orwellian "big brother" utilizing a centralized computer system to control society, the advent of the personal computer has turned this power pyramid on its head. Increasing thousands of people have a computer on their desk with as much capability at their fingertips as once was housed in an expensive and complicated mainframe. Obviously, the decentralization of power is no guarantee that the people will make good or wise use of it.
Computer telecommunications contains the potential for removing bariers to social access for many disadvantaged persons. Traditional means of helping such people have usually been paternalistic in nature. Today, more and more of the disadvantaged are asking for empowerment so they can help themselves. They want the freedom to compete with the rest of society on a more nearly even playing field.
I am a blind professor, at the Rochester Institute of Technology and I use a computer with a speech synthesizer. I regularly teach a class of students on-line with a computer conference. Most of these students have no physical handicap. Some of them, however, are hearing impaired, and some are totally deaf. I have team taught another course at the New School for Social Research, some 350 miles away, with a teacher who is confined to a wheelchair and who is both blind and partially paralyzed. On the computer screen, our handicaps of blindness and mobility make no difference.
One of the courses I teach on-line is in African American history. In that class, some of the students are White, some are Black, others are Asian and still others are Native American. Obviously, some of the class members are male and others female. All of these differences, like those of handicaps described above, become unimportant on the computer screen. It isn't that these distinguishing characteristics disappear because participants share their identities, their views and feelings freely. However, these differences no longer block communication and community. In fact, conference members often feel free to make such differences one of the topics for discussion. A student in my Black history course said that what he liked about conducting class discussion on the computer was that it didn't matter whether a person was male, female, Black, White, Red, yelow, Blind or deaf. He appreciated that his comments were accepted for their own worth and not judged by some prior steretype.
The standard myth about the computer is that it is cold, depersonalizing and intimidating, the mystical province of a few wizards. When I began utilizing the computer to communicate with students, I had no idea of its potential to change my life and my teaching. First, it began by liberating me, a blind teacher, from my dependence on other people. As I now have all my assignments submitted through electronic mail including frequent take-home exams, I have very little need for human readers. This experience prepared me to become a member of a pilot study using computer conferencing to replace classroom discussion for students in some continuing education courses. Those with a personal computer and modem could work from home or the office. This freed them from the time and bother of commuting and also let them set their own schedule. The computer conference was available on-line 24 hours a day.
We are using the conference system, VAX Notes produced by the Digital Equipment Corporation. It does facilitate a genuine group discussion without the class having to be in the same place nor having to be connected at the same time. I found it easy to send frequent short personal notes to individual students, and, in the evaluation questionnaire, the students rated my helpfulness and availability at 4.8 out of 5 points. I, too, felt I had more contact with individual students than is usual in a face-to-face classroom. This system had immediate appeal for three groups of our students. Off-campus continuing education students were happy not to have to commute. Those who had been taking mainly television or correspondence courses valued the easy exchange of information both between themselves and their teacher and between themselves and other students. The third group turned out to be regular day students with scheduling problems. This kind of flex scheduling is especially valuable for those students whose schedules are filled by laboratory courses.
Although computer conferencing had obvious benefits for me, a blind professor, I had failed to grasp its significance for disabled students in general. Only when a deaf student joined the class did I come to realize its potential. This young deaf woman said that this was the first time in her life that she had conversed with one of her teachers without using an interpreter intermediary. She further commented that this had been her most valuable course in her college experience because she could share in the discussions so easily and totally. Computer conferencing, because it avoids commuting, can be a benefit to persons with mobility impairments. They can go to school while they stay at home. The distance involved could be anything from a few miles to all the way across the continent or across an ocean. Students with motor impairments can also use this system. There are a variety of alternate input devices to let motor impaired persons use a computer even though they cannot handle a keyboard.
Like others who use computer communications, I discovered that it liberates more than the physically disabled. Students became free to share more of themselves than in a classroom, and shy students found themselves less inhibited. Once students got over any initial computer phobia, many shy students found it easier to share this way. Where there is no stage then there is no stage fright. While some educators prefer to keep the teaching process academic and objective, others are convinced that students learn more and better when they become emotionally engaged in the process. I was surprised and pleased to find my classes sharing experiences about their families and themselves. In a discussion on welfare, one woman in her twenties confessed to being on welfare and described her feelings about it. In a Black history course, students described personal experiences as victims of racism. White students admitted to having been taught to be prejudiced and asked for help and understanding. Black students shared that they had prejudices about various shades of color within their own community. As a teacher, I often felt that I was treading on privileged ground. These were experiences I had never had in the 29 previous years of my teaching career. The students, themselves, became aware of what they were doing and usually began to discuss their interaction as one of the class topics. They appreciated that they were sharing in an unusual way and thanked me for creating the opportunity for them.
Freedom to speak one's mind is a two-edged sword. Computer communications is infamous for people making thoughtless and irresponsible attacks on one another, often known as "flaming". In my experience, happily, there has been almost none of this. First, the teacher has the opportunity to set ground rules and, more importantly, an emotional and professional atmosphere. Second, a computer conference is different than electronic mail. Once a mass mailing has been sent, it is irretrievable. While the contents of a computer conference are posted publicly for all its member to see, a message can be removed. On very rare occasions I have removed a posting before it was read by most of the class. Usually, I prefer to leave controversial material on the conference and utilize it as a group learning experience. Actually, most students seemed intuitively aware of the potential for misunderstanding and, before criticizing someone, they frequently asked questions to be sure that they understood what had be meant by the previous author.
Am I suggesting that computer conferencing and allied technologies will become the "savior" of American higher education? Not really! It is only one teaching methodology among many. Most students would not choose to pursue their entire college degree using computer communication. However, it will have a growing significance in special situations. First, it's asynchronous format is a way to solve scheduling conflicts. Second, it permits students living in remote locations the opportunity to get a quality education from a reputable institution. Third, when moderated carefully, it provides a safe setting for students to share their feelings on controversial topics. This can be helpful in courses related to sensitive social issues. The teacher can continue to focus on academic content while the class may explore its relevance to their personal lives.
Finally, I am personally excited about the ability of computer networking to provide more equal access to education and information for many persons with physical disabilities. In the fall of 1991, The Rochester Institute of Technology and Gallaudet University in Washington will conduct an experiment involving two courses: one taught from Rochester and the other from Washington, DC. Students from both campuses will be enrolled in both classes. While some use will be made of videos and movies, class discussions and meetings between a student and a teacher will all be done with computer telecommunications using Internet as the connecting link. Some students will be hearing impaired, and one teacher will be blind. In the future, such systems could include learners from anywhere with an Internet access.
Computer communications has other important implications for both the print handicapped and those with motor impairments. Library catalogs can already be accessed from a personal computer and a modem. Soon, growing numbers of reference works will be available on-line also. While the copyright problems are complex, it seems inevitable that large amounts of text material from periodicals and books will also be accessible on a computer network. I still have vivid memories of the first time I connected my computer to a library catalog and found my book was really there. It was only a year ago that I had my first personal, unassisted, access to an encyclopedia. Not only is this technology liberating to those of us who have physical impairments, but in turn, it will help to make us more productive members of society.
Not all handicapped persons rush to join the computer world. Many have become dependent on human support systems. Some of the hearing impaired students in my classes were very slow to become involved. Sometimes, independence is frightening, and handicapped students may need special assistance to get started. One such student complained that such a computer course would be good for someone who had more self discipline than he had. Another problem is cost. While the personal computer has decentralized power and is seen as a democratizing force in society, it works mainly for the middle class. Unless there is a deliberate policy to the contrary, such technology will leave the under class further behind.
Visually impaired computer users, at present, have one growing worry. They fear that graphic interfaces and touch screens may take away all that the computer has promised to them. Recenly passed federal legislation has tried to guarantee that future computer hardware and software be accessible to all the physically disabled. However, there is no real mechanism to enforce this. Besides, voluntary awareness and cooperation by computer providers is a far better approach to the problem. Educom has established EASI to work within the academic community for software access, and it is having an important impact on voluntary compliance. Others believe that adaptive software and hardware can be produced which can adequately interpret graphic interfaces for the visually impaired.
Physical disabilities serve as an isolating factor in life. They also create a tremendous sense of powerlessness. Computer communications, however, serves to bring the world into one's home and puts amazing power at one's fingertips. Not only can this empowerment liberate the handicapped to compete in society more equally, but the sense of power changes how one feels about oneself.
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