The June 2010 newsletter of The Family Center on Technology and Disability is devoted to a comprehensive overview of the access technology (assistive technology) work of UW CSE professor Richard Ladner and his students.
“‘Much of the consumer technology that surrounds us can be adapted for classroom and non-classroom educational use for children with disabilities in the K-12 range and beyond,’ Dr. Ladner insists. ‘As less expensive consumer technology takes on universal use,’ he adds, ‘parents and teachers will eventually come to see that the academic horizons of many children with disabilities need not be limited to the K-12 timeframe.’ In fact, Dr. Ladner, who has worked closely with deaf and blind students for many years, sees the advent – and acceleration – of consumer apps use by students with disabilities ultimately resulting in a dramatic increase in the number of deaf and blind students achieving Ph.D. status in the years ahead. Rather than simply being consumers he envisions that students with disabilities will become computer professionals who will be creators of apps that make life easier for themselves and others like them.”
Read this terrific article here.