Enhancing Skills and Abilities

The Information Society is changing at a dramatic pace, in which the convergence between telecommunications, radio broadcasting and computing   - or rather, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT’s)- is generating both new products and services, as well as new ways of managing organizations.

The significant development of the ICT’s making up the so-called ‘Information or Knowledge Society´ has paved the way for the use of technologies in almost every aspect of our lives (work, school, etc.), and is slowly changing the way we work, study and use our leisure time.

The expectations arising from the use of new technologies in such matters as training and employment, access to goods and services and the development of a full and independent life may only be fulfilled if the development of the Information Society is achieved through the participation and for the benefit of everyone, which is vital to the creation of a true Knowledge Society, and where value is created as a result of the addition of skills and abilities of all members of society.

The application of new Information and Communications Technologies (ICT’s) in the field of people with special needs (people having any physical, sensorial, mental or visceral disability) plays a key role since, in many cases, the use of these new resources constitutes a necessary condition for these people to have access to education, work, communication or even leisure. In other words, there is no doubt that ICT’s do improve their quality of life by providing them with equal opportunities for their integration into society.

If technology is not adapted to the individual’s needs and abilities, or to their accessibility requirements; if in the future most of the information is processed in a way which excludes certain users, then the Information Society will become an obstacle to people with disabilities throughout the world, as pointed out by the European Forum on Disability in its Manifesto on the Information Society and Disability.

However, while the use of new technologies calls for new abilities, the impossibility of coping with them may also give rise to inequalities or limitations.  Technological barriers create a new disadvantage, a true access barrier.

These access barriers appear when a person is unable to operate a computer due to his/her physical limitations, and is therefore forced to decline to use it.

These obstacles may be overcome by specially adapted equipment – hardware and/or software interfaces – which enable users with disabilities to operate all the required functions for having access, quitting, saving documents, searching and exchanging information through the web.

All these actions require the involvement of specialized professionals (physicians, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, teachers, etc.) in such tasks as:

• evaluation and assessment of potential users on the basis of their personal characteristics, possibilities and preferences, by providing a
• selection of the most adequate interface for each particular situation, and taking into consideration the need for 
• trial and training in the use of the equipment with a view to achieving the best solution for a particular user 

It is worth noting that people with disabilities have characteristics of their own and that they may require the adoption of different technological solutions. 

If we focus our analysis on the difficulties encountered in developing countries, we find that the barriers referred to above arise from a series of factors relating to technological, economic, educational and cultural factors, of which we can mention:

• Lack of local manufacture of adapted devices
• High cost of imported devices
• Highly bureaucratic import procedures in several countries
• Impossibility for trying out the devices to check whether they meet particular needs
• Lack of specialized technical assistance in places where these devices are applied or used, which makes it hard to decide which technical application or assistance to use  
• Lack of information and training available to human and professional resources in the fields of education and health who may provide disabled persons with information on the products and applications they need.

Based on the abovementioned needs and barriers and, with the aim of mitigating these difficulties, our institution has set up a research and development department to create and generate new alternatives to make technology more accessible to those who cannot operate standard equipment.

It must be noted that to achieve this aim, Fundación Telefónica de Argentina has become our strategic partner through the implementation of TEC.A.DIS (TECnología Adaptativa al servicio de las personas con Discapacidad – Adaptive Technology for People with Disabilities) project.

1. Develop low cost hardware interfaces enabling PC access and favoring communication.

2. Donate this equipment to institutions that provide assistance to people with disabilities.

3. Make up a demo unit for interface testing and evaluation by future users.

4. Provide advice and training to health and education professionals in the use of adaptive technology.

Therefore:

• The following equipment was developed and built:

4 models of mouse emulators:

These devices facilitate computer access to people with disabilities who cannot use a conventional mouse.

They include 8 commands for moving the mouse cursor on the screen.

Cursor scrolling speed may be adjusted and therefore, when the user is able to use the device appropriately, he may speed up some tasks.

• 2 models of alternative keyboards and 1 portable communication device are being developed.                                              

• These devices were donated to public institutions in different cities in our country.

• In the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, a room has been equipped with the necessary devices so that people with disabilities may go there to test those devices and to be trained in their use. In the future, similar rooms will be developed in cities in other provinces in the country.

• Several virtual and face-to-face consultations were answered.

• Nation-wide training workshops for education and health professionals were carried out.

By the year 1996, UNESCO stated that “In the future there could be different models of Information Societies, just as today we have different models of industrialized societies. They differ in the degree in which they avoid social exclusion and create new opportunities for the disadvantaged."

Our work is intended to contribute to making the new ICT’s into accessible tools for the achievement of a society to which we can all belong.

Note: The Center for Special Rehabilitation Assistance (C.A.R.E.) is an NGO that has as its goal the assistance, advise, training, research and adaptation of work environment.