Current technologies can make the disabled productive

Current technologies can make the disabled productive

By Zatni Arbi

JAKARTA (JP): About 13 years ago, as a candidate for the civil
service, I was required to undergo a general medical evaluation.
Because of my very limited eyesight, the doctor who signed the
official evaluation result wrote a comment that went something
like: "This person is not fit for highly professional jobs."

On that day back in 1985, I had already had to wait several
hours at Persahabatan Hospital before she saw me. She finally
showed up in the afternoon, although she was supposed to have
started work at 9:00 in the morning. She quickly reviewed the
results of my tests, then scribbled that comment. I was already
so tired and so fed up that I didn't bother to read what she had
written on the report, which was in any case sealed in an
envelope. It was only later that I found out that she had
condemned me as useless because of my albinism and related poor
vision.

Even today the common perception is that disabled people are
totally incapable human beings that are totally depend on others
for their survival. Incidentally, a great article in the November
issue of Home Office Computing features Laura Micklus, who
suffers from cerebral palsy and is confined to a wheelchair.
Laura works as an assistive technology counselor and a grant
writer. She writes for the West Haven Disability Resource Center
in Connecticut, USA.

Not only has she thoughtfully designed her workplace, she has
also chosen her tools carefully, from the cordless phone to the
notebook computer. She uses an IBM ThinkPad 385CD in conjunction
with DragonDictate 3.0 and NaturallySpeaking Deluxe, two leading
voice recognition programs, and Microsoft Office 97 and Intuit
Quicken. With these tools, she can be as independent as most of
us able bodied individuals. Her only assistant is Ike, a well-
trained dog that will pick up the cordless phone if she drops it.

What Laura proves is that current technologies can empower the
physically disabled and make them productive. Voice recognition
programs, such as the ones she uses, enable people to put their
thoughts and ideas into writing without a lot of physical effort.
They can dictate their letters, articles and stories, leaving the
computer to transcribe their speech. There will be errors, of
course, but intelligent software such as NaturallySpeaking also
learns as you use it so that errors are minimized over time.

Voice synthesizers, such as the one developed by Ray Kurzweil,
can now read text so that Stevie Wonder can easily read books
written by Mark Twain, for example. The eyepiece computer display
monitor found in today's wearable computers will also help those
with severe myopic conditions.

The range of products that can help the disabled has increased
substantially from the time I first met Dr. Edward Flynn, a
Honolulu Kaiser Permanente's poor vision specialist who helped me
find the right reading glasses less than a year after I received
that memorable review from the doctor. Freedom of Speech, which
is completely unrelated to our current reform movement, provides
tools and devices that can help people with disabilities to lead
a useful life (www.freedomofspeech.com). They have devices such
as Braille displays, voice-switch activated optical character
readers and computerized screen enlargers. For those who cannot
move their hands, there is also a foot-operated mouse from Hunter
Digital (www.footmouse.com).

And, of course, there is the godsend Internet that allows
these people, who are mostly immobile, to work from their homes.
The only thing that matters now is the perception of the general
public, who must be educated so they come to realize that
physical disabilities do not mean hopelessness and dependence on
other people's kindness. The fact is, many illustrious people
throughout world history have had some kind of disability. The
long list includes Albert Einstein, Thomas Alva Edison, Alexander
Graham Bell and Walt Disney. If you want to get a more complete
list of these people and the disabilities they had or have, just
go to http://www.delphi.com/disable/.

Unlike technologies for the masses, technologies for the
disabled are not as well-marketed. You have to search far and
wide for them. But again, thanks to the Internet, it's no longer
such a demanding task. Abledata, for example, provides a database
of 24,000 products for the disabled from 3,000 manufacturers
around the world. This site is maintained by The National
Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, which falls
under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Education

Augmentation Communications provides an extensive list of the
manufacturers of devices for the disabled (www.augcomm.com). For
"physically challenged" children, you can go to the site entitled
Enabling Devices (www.enablingdevices.com).

One of the Web sites that you should also visit is
www.humanware.com. This company markets all sorts of assistive
products that enable blind people to work, including a portable
Braille note taker, a speech synthesizer called Jaws for Windows,
and Keysoft Productivity Software. The latter is a suite of word
processing tools that includes a spell-checker, a calculator and
an appointment book.

The bottom line is that with the help of today's technologies
and the realization that being born with a physical imperfection
does not equate with incompetence, many disabled members of our
society could actually undertake useful, important and rewarding
work. And that doctor of mine should hold her tongue the next
time she encounters a patient with poor vision.