Week Three - 9/13/10 - 9/18/10

Image from http://edschool.csuhayward.edu/departments/ted/instruction/howe/5500/AT/contents.html 

Accessibility and assistive technology are two areas that are near and dear to my heart.  I spent a week this summer getting ADA training in this and nine other areas. As I mentioned in my wetpaint posting, I am the parent of a child with high-functioning Autism.  Without assistive technology, I truly believe that my daughter would not have made the advances that she has made.

I have used a number of things to aid her, including  computer programs (Reader Rabbit, Jump Start Typing), audio books and magazines (from the Library of Congress), and enlarged keyboards.  Her successes have come one step at a time and her knowledge of the computer programs/assistive technologies that are out there are crucial to her successful transition to adulthood. 

One of the most beneficial assistive devices that my daughter has utilized has been closed captioning and I was surprised to read in Carol Simpson's book that captioning technology is "in the gray area" (89) in terms of copyright legalities.  My daughter is not hearing-impaired but watching closed captioned programs (both at school and at home) helped her learn to read.  I understand why copyright is an issue for any form of technology, I just wish there was way (in a perfect world) that if someone was helped by closed captioning or any other form of communication for that matter, that they could do so without having to jump through hoops. 

I have seen firsthand the positive effects that can come from non-traditional (and obviously non-copyright-friendly materials) and it makes me nuts that some times copyright itself can be a barrier to access.