Assistive Technology

I grew up in a home where one of the children was physically disabled. He is a paraplegic and lives life in a Wheelchair. We grew up in the world before the Americans with Disabilities act and we had parents who made sure that our lives were just as “normal” as could be. They went out of their way to be sure my brother went to regular educational classrooms, did things that other kids did and enjoyed every advantage life had to offer within our means. For us, that meant hauling my brother, wheelchair and all up and down stories of stairways, carrying class materials for him, sewing pouches that fit on the back of his chair so he could carry his own classwork and ultimately, even ferrying classwork back and forth from school so he could “attend” class by a rudimentary intercom system that the students carried from class to class at the middle school one year when he was home recovering from scoliosis surgery.

So much has changes since the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s when we were raised. Now, “universal design” almost guarantees that my brother will have access to virtually any building, but in particular public facilities. It would be unheard of today for high school students to carry their friend upstairs in his wheelchair every day to class as was the case when he went to high school.

As a result of this childhood experience, I have always been keenly aware of accessibility issues and I am glad that there are measures in place to be sure that those with needs above our own are thought of and planned for in advance.

Libraries have always been a place where folks can come to find enjoyment, entertainment, literacy skills, adventure, information and assistance. These days technology has changed what it means to access these items and accessibility has gone beyond just making the structure of the building accessible. Now the information and entertainment themselves require that we make sure they are accessible for all. Adaptive and assistive technology items like software to help the hard of hearing or seeing or hardware to help those who physically need altered equipment are becoming readily available and libraries are no exception to the public entities who are rising to the need. Items such as screen magnifying or reading software, touchpad or trackball controllers, and on-screen keyboards are perfect examples of ways to create accessibility for computers. Other items in the library make communication and navigation possible. Things like closed-captioning, magnifiers, audiobooks, Kurzweil readers (print scanners, which read material audibly) and Braille equipment are all items that make the library a great even playing field for everyone.

My brother recently retired from teaching at the High School level in Beaverton Public Schools. He taught in an era of change and improvement for those with physical and mental handicaps. What a great thing that he has been able to live independently and has been able to take mostly for granted like I do that he can also access buildings as well as technology that make life “normal” for him just as anyone else.

John Burke, Neal-Schuman Library Technology Companion: A Basic Guide for Library Staff, fourth ed. (Chicago: Neal-Schuman, an imprint of the American Library Association, 2013), 145-53.