According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, there are some 48.9 million Americans with disabilities. Based on the 1990 U.S. Census, there are 13.2 million Americans requiring assistance in instrumental daily activities. Computer technology is bringing new hope to the disabled.
Safko International Inc. is a company which develops technology for the disabled, and president Lon Safko says that we are all only "temporarily able bodied" and so will need some sort of assistance at some time in our lives. The company undertook ten years of research and development and sought input from more than 1,000 disabled individuals and rehabilitation centers to develop a system that allows the disabled a level of independence.
SenSei is a complete computer system providing hands free access to computer technology, and this allows individuals able to move only their head to make phone calls, control their environment, lock and unlock doors, type, read books, and use other commercial software that allows them to return to work. This system can be used by businesses and educational facilities to bring the disabled back to work or school, which also helps these organizations comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The system costs $7,900, and the software can be purchased separately for those with a Macintosh computer (Disabled abled, 1995).
Computer technology makes it possible for the disabled to continue working in a number of ways, and telecommuting, or working by computer from home, is one of those ways. Glenn is a 37 year old mentally disabled man who uses a wheelchair, but today he has a job as a data entry clerk at his local Sounds Easy Video store because of a Windows based PC and a computer bulletin board. He is one of 35 mentally and physically disabled people who regularly participate in an innovative computer "habilitation" program run by Mobius, Inc., a nonprofit o...