INTERNET AND THE DISABLED

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There are different types of disabilities; some due to genetics and some because of an event.

Disabilities overall fall under the following categories: 1) Cognitive: Learning disabilities or memory issues. 2) Physical: Amputations and deformities, or neural

damage. 3) Sensory: Visual issues or deafness. The second type of disabilities listed makes the

individual incapable of inputting to a digital device using a keyboard.

The remedy to the last category can be software like screen readers or programs that talk and mimic the shape of the human lips and mouth as the program talks and also give textual messages.

One example of such software is Peedy the Talking Parrot.

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“Ethics always create law. Law create ethics” Philip White says.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 states that all programs at school must be accessible to the disabled individuals.

Individuals can NOT be discriminated against on the account of sex, race or color; therefore all equipments must be accessible for every one.

Section 508 is about the computer information and amended in 1986 that says web access like video and online intellectual material must be made available to every one.

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Depending on the type of disability different people might need different type of help and also could be limited in different ways.

When the issue is about the Internet the intellectual material must be in a format understandable by every one.

For Blind people there should be recorded lectures or the material in the format of sound so that the hndicapped can still communicate with the digital device.

Blind people can also be web developers, but how we limit them comes from the very same respect.

Someone with visual impairment can be trained to do Java scripting or work with SQL databases, but they should be limited of working with graphics.

Working with graphics needs someone to have a good sight, and without that power no good results can be delivered.

Someone who is deaf can be trained to work with graphics and produce good graphical products, but must not be working with sound and to make music and sound for the Internet. This is analogous to a person on wheelchair teaching Jujitsu or Kung Fu.

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Helping the disabled individual not only helps the handicapped person, but it also help the non-disabled.

Making an intellectual material available in different formats gives every one the ability to have access to information in a variety of ways. Recording lectures for the blind and publishing them to the Internet is something that both the disabled and the non-disabled can benefit from.

Writing lectures in to manuscripts for the deaf helps the non-disabled review the material and have a hard of copy of the intellectual good. Making the educational data accessible to individuals with impairments also helps the non-disabled excel in the subject of the matter as well.

The handicapped because of some disabilities must not be allowed to perform certain tasks such as a blind person doing graphics for web development or a deaf person working with music.

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Philip White, Office for Students with Disabilities. California State University Los Angeles( May 13th 2010).

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