Access Technology: Computer Access for People with Disabilities
Access Technology - Presenting Small Opportunities with Big Promise
"Technology access will finally get me back to the land of the living."
~Ginger, Computer Recipient, Jan. 2004~
"[The computer] has given me more freedom to exercise my ideas which are contributing to my future goals for self-improvement, self-sufficiency and future employment."
~Cory, Computer Recipient, Apr. 2004~
Since 2004, we have redistributed or recycled more than 2500 computer hardware components.
Since 2004, hundreds of individuals and families with disabilities in Wisconsin have received refurbished computers.
Since 2004 we have established computer literacy programs at four sites in Southeastern Wisconsin.
Since our beginning, we have recognized the power that computer technology could have in changing the lives of people with disabilities. We believe that computer and Internet technology can serve as "the" equalizer, bringing people with and without disabilities together to work, live and learn in our communities. Having access to this technology can offer a benefit as simple as having a means to communicate with the world to having a tool for sustained employment or continuing education.
Computers can be particularly useful for people with disabilities, who, due to the limitations their disability presents remain isolated from their communities and therefore from the typical means of socialization and communication. The Internet, a powerful technology-based tool, provides an endless stream of virtual informational, educational and social resources to millions of people every day in the United States.
Unfortunately, however, with 60% of people with a disability having never even used a computer, it is clear that this vast virtual world is largely inaccessible to the majority of people living with disabilities, the very population who can most benefit from the technology.
This begs the question then; how can we make this technology accessible to those it can benefit most? With this question in mind, we have developed an initiative called Access Technology, aimed at making information on daily living accessible via technology and making technology available in daily living.
Since our program launch in January 2004, we have granted computers to nearly 130 individuals and families that could not otherwise afford a home computer. To ensure that each recipient uses his/her new computer to its fullest, we have offered hundreds of hours of basic computer instruction. In doing so, we have provided our recipients with the means to explore such opportunities as home employment, continuing education and perhaps most importantly of all, a means to feel connected to the "outside world."
Several of our computer recipients have even taken to writing - one of which has recently completed a memoir of his childhood, which he hopes to some day publish. Others are pursuing higher education and some have even begun business plans for their own small business.
