One
will never fully comprehend the beauty of assistive technology until they find
themselves needing one. I have two nephews who have Down-Syndrome. One of them
dropped out of school at a very young age and the other is still in school, but
he is struggling. Assistive technology has improved so much since the days I
was in primary school. These improvements have made huge impacts on the lives of
many of the disabled students and workers alike.
My
nephew dropped out of school back in the early 1990’s because he could not take
it anymore. He did not receive any assistance from the school or his parents
because both parties lacked the funding. He was placed in a classroom with
other students who did not have any disabilities and was expected to be able to
keep up with them. On the other hand, my younger nephew is in primary school at
the moment and he is thriving. The school was able to provide assistance in
terms of basic things like bigger pencils to more advanced materials like
computers and other technological devices.
The difference in how well these two people did in school reflects the
amount of assistance they received. This
shows that assistive technology is necessary and greatly appreciated.
Furthermore,
the rate at which inventors are progressing in creating these new assistive
technologies is astounding. When I was in primary school, we were amazed when
we saw a remote controlled wheelchair, computers, and many more. Today, there are
computers with voice recognition so people can take notes or write a paper
without having to touch the keyboard. There are brail keypads that allow the
blind to type. There are so many different technological advances today that
were not available a few years ago.
Today,
students with disabilities are able to do the same work as the other students
in the same class because of assistive technologies. For instance, in the video shown during the google+ conference shows examples of
students like Susanna Martini who use assistive technology to pursue a higher education
and live normal lives. Susanna herself
states that she would not be where she is today if she did not have the
assistive technologies that are available to her. Computers, remote controls,
and much more technological advancement have made life easier for many of today’s
disable students.
Conclusively,
advancement of assistive technology has made life a little easier for people
with disabilities. They are now able to do many of the things other people do
instead of just watching from the sideline. Children are able to participate in
classroom activities using their specialized instruments. Having these instruments allow student an equal
level of learning as everyone else. Disabled students are able to learn on
their own and become less dependent on other people. I absolutely love the idea
that disabled students can explore and learn more things today than they were
able to years ago.
Refrence:
1. Jefferson Parish Public School System, Addressing Survival Skills for the 21st Century. 01March2012. <http://sped.jppss.k12.la.us/sped-assistive-tech/>
I'm really glad your nephew, who is still in school, has the encouragement and help that your other nephew lacked. However, I'm sad that your other nephew dropped out because of the fact that the school was unable to provide him with what he needed. If only he had what your other nephew has, then life would have been so much different for him.
ReplyDeleteFantastic choice of image. That would work great in a powerpoint presentation as an image backdrop. Images can really convey a lot of information simply. Great post - thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete