Not only is the use of technology to help diverse learners
access content; it is the law. The Assistive Technology Act of 2004 (National
Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities, 2009) enable individuals
with disabilities access to assistive technology that allows them to fully
participate in work and school. The act
is based on the logic that, “any development in mainstream
technology would have profound implications for individuals with disabilities
in the United States,” (National Dissemination Center for Children with
Disabilities, 2009).
The NICHCY website (http://nichcy.org/laws/ata#purpose)
lists examples of technology that is “low-tech”, “medium-tech”, or “high-tech”,
but seeks to improve access for individuals with disabilities. I expected to
see the following on the list:
-wheelchairs, scooters, canes
-augmentative communication devices and speech recognition
devices
-hearing aids, prosthetics
I did not immediately think of the following with regards to
allowing individuals with disabilities functional capability in daily
activities:
-flashing smoke
detectors, lever doorknobs
-taking ATMS
Visit the site! You
may see some things on the list that you may never have even considered.
Likewise, using technology to allow all learners access to
mathematics has benefits for the average learner, but often even more so for
the learner with a disability. With assistive technology, words and speech is
clearer, movement is smoother and quicker. Don’t many students benefit from
user-friendly interfaces and the reduction of barriers? The diagram below (Rose,
D. et al., 2005, p. 509) describes this
interplay between the two schools of thought, logically married to achieve the
same outcome; student success!
References
National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities.
(2009). Assitive Technology Act. Retrieved
from http://nichcy.org/laws/ata#purpose.
Rose, D., Hasselbring, T. S., Stahl,
S., & Zabala, J. (2005). Assistive technology and universal design for
learning: Two sides of the same coin. In D. Edyburn, K. Higgins,
I understand when you talk about your first thoughts when thinking about accessibility. I tend to jump to examples like that as well. I know for me, that comes for them being the most overt and less frequent. Wheelchairs and AAC devices meet specific needs and are not as ubiquitous as a lever style doorknob. Also really liked the insight about universal design, my thoughts would not have went there if I had not read this post, and the connections you made were awesome.
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