Volume 7. Number 3 ---CONTENTS--- Summer 1991

TABLE OF CONTENTS

0. MASTHEAD AND TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION TO THIS SPECIAL ISSUE: "Computers and the Disabled"

2. Bringing the Mountain to Muhammad
By Norman Coombs

3. The World's Largest Conference on Disability and Technology
By Harry Murphy

4. EDUCOM's Project EASI: Resources for Barrier Free Computing in Higher Education
By Danny Hilton-Chalfen
Carmela Castorina
Darola Hockley
Jane Berliss

5. ADAPTED COMPUTERS AS LABORATORY AIDS FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
By David Lunney

6. Telecomputing for a Mobility Impaired Scientist
by Craig L. Smith

7. Please Leave Your Message: Telephone Not Necessary
By Kathryn L. Schmitz

8. Rehabilitation of Educational Disabilities
By Robert Zenhausern

9. DisABILITY Computing and the Law: What You Should Know
By Tzipporah Benavraham

10. Telecommunications, Education and the Handicapped
By Norman Coombs

Introduction to this Special Issue
"Computers and the Disabled"


Computer telecommunications is rapidly reducing barriers to the modern world for many persons with a variety of disabilities. Technology is power and personal empowerment comes with the personal computer. When linked to electronic networks, the disabled become enabled as never before. Besides opening a vast new realm of opportunities and challenges in employment, education and social interaction, this newly found power redefines both the relation of the disabled person to the world as well as to himself or herself. New power brings a new sense of identity and worth as well. The numbers of persons who have been helped and the variety of ways that they use this new technology are countless.

This issue cannot be comprehensive but does provide a broad spectrum of people and disabilities. There are also an increasing number of organizations dedicated to increasing computer access, and this issue cannot cover them all. Many are computer manufacturers like Apple and IBM, and others are special organizations created for this purpose like Closing the Gap Inc. However, all the contributors to this particular issue are in one way or another connected with institutions of higher education. You might call this the "egg head" issue as well as the "disability" issue. Some authors are, themselves "handicapped", while others work to facilitate empowering the disabled in one way or another.

The authors share two main purposes in putting together this issue of Netweaver. First, they want to spread the good news of the reduced barriers for the handicapped brought about by recent technology. They are working to spread this news to the disabled themselves, and they desire to alert future friends and employers of the disabled of what new possibilities are available. Second, They intend to broaden the audience of people who will work together to expand and maintain the increased access to society for those of us with various so-called disabilities. We plan to move closer to equal access, and we want to guard against needlessly losing what has been gained.

Both Tzipporah Benavraham and Norman Coombs are blind educators who make extensive use of computer networking. Benavraham, besides being blind, has multiple sclerosis, and is ventilator dependent. She holds a UN University PhD in political science and is an Adjunct professor at the New School for Social Research. She helped establish the disability computer laboratory at Brooklyn College CUNY when she herself sued and won access to the lab. Tzipporah has won a congressional citation of merit for her work on the Americans with Disabilities act. Coombs lost his sight as the result of throwing sticks at the age of eight. He is now a professor of history at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He uses computer telecommunications in teaching some of his courses, and this contributed to his selection as the New York State Teacher of the Year in 1990.

Kathryn Schmitz is a Duke University graduate and is now a Senior Public Information Specialist at the National Technical Institute of the Deaf, Rochester Institute of Technology. Schmitz was born deaf, and she was mainstreamed in the public school system in Maryland. Before coming to NTID, she worked in the federal government (EPA and USDA) as a technical writer. Though hearing impaired herself, computer telecommunications puts her on an equal basis with other professionals in her field. Craig Smith is a C4-level quadriplegic working as an environmental research chemist at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and School of Marine Science at the College of William and Mary. He was an active able-bodied teaching scientist prior to injury in 1976. He specializes in applications of computerized analytical instrumentation and in design and use of computerized databases in marine research.

Danny Hilton-Chalfen, Carmela Castorina, Darola Hockley and Jane Berliss are all intimately connected with EDUCOM's Project EASI, (Equal Access to Software for Instruction). EDUCOM is a national consortium of higher education institutions and a variety of technology related corporate affiliates. Project EASI was established in 1988 to address computer access needs of persons with disabilities primarily in higher education. Danny is chair of EASI and coordinator of the UCLA... lab for disabled students, and Carmela is the editor for Project EASI. Darola now works for Environment Canada and Jane is at the Trace Research and Development Center in Madison Wisconsin. Harry Murphy is the Director of the Office of Disabled Student Services at California State University Northridge. He has used this position as a springboard for impacting the world of adaptive technology for the disabled. He is the moving force behind the CSUM annual conference on "Technology and Persons with Disabilities". David Lunney is a professor of chemistry at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. When confronted with teaching a disabled student, he became involved in the problems
of helping disabled persons gain access to various types of modern scientific equipment. This led to his present involvement with the Science Institute for the Disabled.

Robert Zenhausern is a professor of psychology at St. John's University. His specialty is in the problems of the learning disabled. He believes that technology can assist these learners as well as the physically disabled students. His interest in using computer technology to facilitate these learners has recently expanded to exploring the uses of computer networks. He has established discussion lists both for the disabled learner and for those who teach them.

- Norman Coombs

Bringing the Mountain to Muhammad
Online Services and the Disabled Computer User

By Norman Coombs
College of Liberal Arts
Rochester Institute of Technology
One Lomb Memorial Dr.
Rochester, NY 14623
Email NRCGSH@RITVAX.ISC.RIT.EDU


The rapid growth of online services brings information to the user instead of the user having to travel to the information source. This fact, along with the advent of adapted computer systems, means that the user with disabilities becomes and enabled user, not a disabled user. The development of the personal computer with adaptive software and/or hardware has been one of the most liberating innovations for handicapped persons in modern times. The ability to take this new powerful tool and connect it to a modem and telephone can bring the world to serve one's needs. Computer telecommunications is rapidly providing access to numerous commercial and educational services and also to an expanding variety of information sources. These include online education, access to reference works, full-text books and periodicals, a wide variety of databases for education and business as well as online shopping services. While accessing them from a computer at home is convenient for most people, this ability provides an entirely new opportunity for the handicapped.

Online access to these services has two advantages for disabled computer users: not having to travel, and using already familiar computer systems. These online services, however, may present two kinds of problems to the disabled computer user: inconvenient user input requirements and displays that may be difficult to access by a handicapped person. These difficulties could often be overcome by more careful design: permitting alternative user inputs and by presenting display information in redundant forms. These two recommendations would do more than assist the handicapped population. By designing services with
flexibility built into them, the online service will meet the needs of the widest possible population: able bodied users with differing work styles and the disabled who have differing work needs.

First, whether visually impaired or mobility impaired, getting to some physical location to access specific information facilities can be difficult. Online access can be done from home. If the handicapped computer user requires adaptive devices to use the computer, many libraries, schools or businesses may not have these readily available. However, even when they are there and ready to use, the user may be familiar with a different brand of hardware or software. Using an entirely strange command set can be frustrating. Whereas, when accessing online systems from home, the user is working with his or her own familiar equipment. This removes one interface problem immediately.

Unfortunately, the interface problem with online materials is not always that simple. Some systems require very specific kinds of computer communications packages to function. The user may still find it necessary to own and learn more than one of these. Then, each service often has its own unique display format and differing command sets to use it. Forcing a rigid standardization on all these systems would be stultifying and counterproductive. However, the interface problem could be significantly reduced by the general adoption of these two principles: alternative input options and redundant display material. I should note that I am writing as a disabled user and not as a technical expert. The following recommendations will be based on personal experiences.

The online services I have used require two different kinds of user inputs: keystrokes and manipulating a highlight bar on the menu. When the keystroke demands the user's holding two keys simultaneously, this can be impossible for some motor impaired persons. Function keys and some other special keys are sometimes utilized by the users communications software and cannot be passed through to the online service. Controlling the highlight bar can be confusing for the visually impaired user. However, if the system allowed alternative responses, the
preferences and needs of different users could be met. A menu could permit the user either to input choices by moving a highlight bar, using a function key,selecting a number from the menu or perhaps entering the first letter of different menu items. This would permit the software designer to exercise creativity in product design and simultaneously permit the user flexibility in using inputs which are most convenient for him or her. It would also permit the use of a wider variety of communications packages by the user.

The use of redundant displays is already built into some of the above comments. A menu could display both numbered items and a selection highlighted bar. The other place where redundant output is useful is when the service makes use of a lot of graphics which may not be recognized by a speech output system. If the menu is created in graphics, it could also include some redundant, brief descriptive text. If the service is a shopping service, it could have a very short text
description of the item shown in picture form. This would not be very demanding on the software programmer, but it would make the product more accessible. There will always be some need to display maps and graphs which cannot readily be duplicated in text. While adaptive technology and imaginative design can greatly reduce the access problems of physical handicaps, it may not be able to be a total panacea. The challenge is to design the system to reduce the impact of such disabilities to the minimum.

AS a blind computer user, I have used online computing to access a wide variety of information sources. As an educator, I have taken and taught courses through the New School for Social Research in NYC which has included people from three different countries. AT RIT, I have taught online courses for half a dozen years to hundreds of students including some with physical disabilities. The modifications to telecommunication interfaces recommended here will benefit more than the handicapped. The general computer user community includes people with differing work styles and preferences. Some are visually oriented and some word oriented. Alternative inputs and redundant displays will make these systems more genuinely user friendly and more generally usable. The service provider will not only aid the disabled by such careful design, but will enlarge the total pool of potential users. On one hand, the dow Jones system has a tremendous variety of services available and still remains accessible to a broad set of computers and communications software. Prodigy, on the other hand, requires using their specialized software and is so dependant on graphics as to be totally useless to a blind consumer. By taking the needs of disabled consumers into consideration, providers of online services will not only provide a valuable social service, they will guarantee that the broadest population of consumers, regardless of their needs and equipment, will be potential users.


Acknowledgment

This article was adapted from an extended abstract submitted to the Association for Computing Machinery for a workshop on human-computer interaction and users with special needs (new Orleans, April, 1991.)

The World's Largest Conference on Disability and Technology
CSUN's Annual, International Conference,

By Harry Murphy
Director Office of Disabled Student Services,
California State university Northridge
Phone: (818) 885 2578, FAX (818) 885 4929
e-mail, HMURPHY@CALSTATE


Two thousand people from 42 states and nineteen foreign countries assembled in Los Angeles for CSUN's Sixth Annual, International Conference, "Technology and Persons with Disabilities," March 20-23, 1991. Ted Saenger, former CEO and President of Pacific Bell, keynoted the conference on the subject of "Virtuality."

The conference featured 102 exhibit stations in 17,000 square feet of exhibit space, 200 speakers and 20 simultaneous sessions. The National Council on Disability met in conjunction with the conference, holding their quarterly meeting and a national hearing on the funding of assistive devices.

NeXT, Inc. awarded their first national award for Distinguished Achievement to Persons with Disabilities to Dr. Lawrence Scadden of the Electronic Industries Association, Washington, DC. Dr. Harry Murphy, Conference Director and Director of CSUN's Office of Disabled Student Services was recognized for distinguished achievement in technology and services to disabled students by Sandra Swift Parrino, chair, National Council on Disability.

CSUN has set March 18-21, 1992 for its Seventh Annual Conference at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott Hotel. There will be two "conferences-within-a-conference," one dealing with Voice Input/ Output and the other dealing with Virtual Reality.

CSUN also announced a small group workshop in Palm Springs, California to set national priorities in the field of Voice Input/Output. This conference will be held October 1-3, 1991.

For further information, please contact Dr. Harry Murphy.

EDUCOM's Project EASI:
Resources for Barrier Free Computing in Higher Education

by
Danny Hilton-Chalfen
Carmela Castorina
University of California, Los Angeles

Darola Hockley
Environment Canada

Jane Berliss
Trace Research and Development Center

Excerpts from Paper Presented at the CSUN '91 Annual Conference on Technology and Persons with Disabilities (CSUN, California State University Northridge)

Equal Access to Software for Instruction -- EASI

Project EASI was established in 1988 to address computer access needs of persons with disabilities in higher education. EASI's founders, Krista Kramer and Nils Peterson, recognized the growing demand for development, implementation, and management information surrounding barrier free computer access on post- secondary campuses. In response to this demand, EASI's founders successfully requested that EDUCOM recognize and support EASI as one of their Education Software Initiative (ESI) projects. EDUCOM is a national consortium of higher education institutions which encourages its members to explore and share issues and information pertinent to information technology. EDUCOM's membership is a diverse mixture of computing support personnel, computing science faculty, faculty from a variety of disciplines, other professionals interested in information technology, and a variety of technology related corporate affiliates. In support of EDUCOM's mission, EDUCOM's members formed the Educational Software Initiative (ESI). ESI is a group of volunteer projects which provide members with a forum for actively addressing highly specialized or specific information technology issues. The projects conduct numerous activities including the development and dissemination of information materials. In keeping pace with the evolution of academic computing ESI has recently become EUIT -- Educational Uses of Information Technology.

Since its creation, EASI has produced and is actively disseminating two information documents. The first document, "Computing and Students with Disabilities: New Challenges for Higher Education", discusses barrier free computing issues in post-secondary education. This document also provides an overview of pertinent legislation, descriptions of computing access programs on five different campuses, and lists of resource people and articles.

The second document, "EASI Fixes", is a short pamphlet which discusses design strategies for developing accessible software. The pamphlet includes a suggestion list of specific design features for software developers to consider.

The EASI brochures were written and edited by leading professionals in the adaptive computing field, many of whom have been active participants of Project EASI since its inception.

The Current Need in Higher Education

A number of factors are making the need for information and guidance in higher education on disability and technology greater than ever. First, new legislation has created a greater awareness of the needs for equal access to educational opportunity, to the workplace, and to computers themselves. Many universities are now asking what their mandate is to provide computer access support, and what is the minimum obligation they have to meet the computing needs of students, faculty and staff with disabilities.

On the computer vendor side, many companies need information on how their products must comply with legislated mandates to be considered for purchase by such consumers as the federal government. Increasingly, it is recognized by industry that their information technology products must be accessible.

Second, there is a growing population of students with disabilities entering higher education. This is due in part to advances in medical technology that make it possible for more students with severe disabilities to attend school. It is also due to a greater commitment by K-12 school systems to integrate students with disabilities into mainstream classes and to provide them with necessary support services to ensure educational equity.

Finally, advances in assistive computer technology now make it possible for more people to be able to realize their educational and employment aspirations. Students are able to accomplish a greater range of tasks, more independently of physical assistance from others, than before. The technological tools are available now to enable students to enter a greater number of academic fields and to be more successful academically.

Project EASI's Response

The EASI Seminar Series

In response to these challenges, EASI is now developing a Seminar Series to present at colleges and conferences nationwide. The workshops are designed for colleges that are looking for information on developing computer access support services for people with disabilities, or enhancing existing support services. The initial audience of the seminars includes: computing services administrators and computing support staff; directors and support staff of disabled student services offices; campus administrators and staff; faculty.

EASI Seminars are designed to be presented in two ways: As in-depth workshops lasting from 1-2 days, covering a wide range of technology and services in depth, or, in 1-2 hours, as an overview of the field and key issues. There will be a number of seminar modules, which can be flexibly configured to meet the
needs of a particular campus. Module topics include:

1. Introduction and Background (including disability
demographics, key legislation, and adaptive computing
awareness issues).

2. Disability Awareness and Technology Access Issues
(Sensitivity training and barriers to computer access).

3. Input and Output Technology Solutions (A hands-on look at all
major classes of assistive computing technology.

4. Computing Lab Environment (How to set up an accessible
computing lab).

5. Service Delivery (The types of technology access support
services that successful campus programs now provide).

6. Integration and Implementation (Strategies for planning an
effective computer support service and integrating it
into the institution).

7. Transitions: Issues in Education and Employment
(Preparing for key transitions from K-12 to two and four
year schools, and from college to the workplace).

These Seminars will be of interest to other audiences outside of higher education. Additional modules will be added to benefit organizations including computer manufacturers, government programs (including Tech Act states), employers, primary and secondary schools, and disability advocacy organizations.

EASI Seminars presenters will come from regional colleges and organizations around the country. Campuses interested in having EASI present the Seminar Series may contact the coordinator of the EASI Speakers Bureau, Harrison Frolick, (of IRND, an ADA consulting firm), at 305-772-8963.

Other EASI Activities

EASI is responding to higher education's need for information and guidance on assistive computing technology in a number of additional ways:

EASI presents papers and workshops at a number of national and international conferences. These conferences represent professionals and interested parties in several fields including assistive computing technology, disabled student services,
academic computing services, and computer engineering. These conferences also facilitate communication between EASI and other professional associations, sometimes establishing a framework for collaborative efforts. EASI has a speakers bureau, and interested organizations and associations may contact EASI for workshops and presentations.

EASI is establishing several working groups to respond to specific information technology access needs in higher education. For example, our newly formed Online Resources Work Group addresses the increasing importance of online information and telecommunications in instruction, research and employment. This work group will advise EASI and coordinate efforts along a number of fronts, including: making EASI information available online; establishing liaison with other online services for coordination of efforts; developing resource information on how campuses are responding to, for example, the need to provide access to online information data bases (such as library catalogs); answering inquiries regarding methods of providing access, such as models of distance education through telecommunications. EASI has established an electronic document service of pamphlets and other items helpful in achieving computer access which is available via anonymous ftp from the internet using the command, ftp UM.CC.UMICH.EDU or ftp 35.1.1.43 and changing to the subdirectory EASI. For further access information contact Ray Farha: internet Ray_Farha@UM.CC.UMICH.EDu or Norman Coombs: internet NRCGSH@RITVAX.ISC.RIT.EDU, bitnet NRCGSH@RITVAX.

EASI Membership

EASI welcomes the participation of people who are actively involved in assistive computing technology and services, as well as those who are looking for more information on this rapidly growing field. EASI participants come from higher education, the computing vendor community, and a range of public and private organizations, including government. Given the importance of transition issues as students with disabilities move from K-12 settings into higher education, EASI also welcomes participation from people in primary and secondary school settings. People interested in participating in Project EASI, and/or being on the mailing and electronic mailing lists, may contact the project at the address below.

To Request EASI Publications (ascii versions available):

EUIT Program
EDUCOM
1112 16th Street, NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
Telephone: 202-872-4200
Via Bitnet: EUIT@EDUCOM

To find out more about Project EASI, or to be added to the mailing and electronic mailing lists:


Danny Hilton-Chalfen, Chair, Project EASI, or
Carmela Castorina, Editor, Project EASI
UCLA
Office of Academic Computing
Microcomputer Support Office
5628 MSA
405 Hilgard Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90024-1557
Telephone: 213-206-4839
TTDD: 213-206-5155
Bitnet: CSMIDHC@UCLAMVS;
Internet: CSMIDHC@OAC.UCLA.EDU

Project EASI gratefully acknowledges the generous financial and organizational support provided by EDUCOM and EUIT.

ADAPTED COMPUTERS AS LABORATORY AIDS
FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

By David Lunney
Department of Chemistry and
Science Institute for the Disabled
East Carolina University
Greenville, NC 27858 USA
CHLUNNEY@ECUVM1.BITNET

Copyright (c) 1991 by David Lunney. This document may be copied and distributed freely so long as it is reproduced in whole and contains this notice.


I. Introduction

Most of the computer adaptations that are discussed on net-works and in the print literature are intended to give disabled people access to the same computer tools that non-disabled people use in business and education: word processors, spreadsheets, data bases, and so on. Access to these tools can give disabled people educational and employment opportunities that they never had before; it is with good reason that the personal computer is so widely regarded as the most liberating and empowering device yet developed for people with disabilities.

But if in addition to adapted human interfaces the computer is fitted with suitable interconnections to the physical world, a new universe of possibilities opens up: an adapted computer with data acquisition capabilities can make the laboratory accessible as well as the office. Most laboratory measurements are now done with instruments, and access to instrumental measurements can help to make scientific and technical careers more accessible to people with disabilities. The computer can acquire data from instruments and sensors, control experiments, and assist in the analysis of data. An adapted computer with a data acquisition system does not solve all the problems for every disability, of course. A person who cannot perform manual operations may still need some help from an assistant. And, as we shall see later, a visually impaired person may need data analysis tools that can substitute for visual graphs. In short, the adapted data acquisition computer cannot remove all the barriers encountered by disabled people in a laboratory, but it can lower a lot of them.


II. Previous and Present Work at East Carolina

Robert C. Morrison and I first became interested in the problems of disabled students in the laboratory in 1977, when a blind chemistry student brought the problems to our attention. We decided to use high technology to develop a flexible, micro-computer-based aid that could give visually impaired college
science students independent access to accurate measurements performed with scientific instruments. With support from Special Education Programs in the U. S. Department of Education our research group has developed a system of microcomputer-assisted laboratory instruction for visually impaired college chemistry students (1-4). Since everything needs an acronym, we call our system the Universal Laboratory Training and Research Aid, or ULTRA. The present version of the ULTRA consists of a quasi-transportable (20 kg) data acquisition microcomputer with speech output, keyboard input, and a variety of analog and digital inputs and outputs. It can be interfaced easily to both scientific
instruments and sensors (pH probes, resistance thermometers, etc.), and we have developed an extensive package of software that can give visually impaired students independent access to most of the instrumental measurements encountered in freshman and sophomore chemistry laboratories. The system uses a speech synthesizer to present instrument readings as synthetic speech; in
addition to speech, the system can output tones of varying pitch to enable the user to locate maxima and minima in experimental data (a very old technique). The present version of the ULTRA is built around the STD bus, for which a fairly large number of board-level products are available; the machine is essentially an industrial-strength data acquisition computer that talks and whistles.

The ULTRA can also be adapted for other disabilities: for example, we added a voice recognition terminal to an early version of the system so that it could be used by students with upper limb disabilities, and we have written software for some voice-controlled laboratory experiments and a voice-controlled calculator (5). The current version of the system could also be adapted for breath control by adding an STD pressure sensor board and writing appropriate software.

After we had worked with the ULTRA for a while we found that although it could give visually impaired students better access than ever before to instrumental measurements, there were situations in which the experimental data were too complex to be presented conveniently as spoken numbers or as rising and falling pitches. We needed a means of presentation which would enable visually impaired students to perceive patterns in data, and to get the kind of quick overview that a sighted person gets from looking at a graph. Taking our inspiration from a landmark article by E. S. Yeung on auditory presentation of multivariate data (6), we set about developing schemes for representing complex data patterns as complex sound patterns. We have now developed a few effective methods for presenting multivariate data -- especially data from infrared spectra -- as recognizable and fairly memorable musical patterns, using a computer-controlled music synthesizer.

We are continuing and extending our work on auditory presentation of data under a grant from the National Science Foundation. We are again using infrared spectra simply because they are a convenient source of information-rich data. In our present work we are using artificial neural networks to extract information on molecular structure from the spectra; this approach gives results that are roughly comparable to those obtained from an expert system. Our next step will be development of schemes to map the network's output vectors into auditory parameters. The use of neural networks gives us a great deal of flexibility because a suitable network can be "trained" to map any input vector into any output vector, and the output vector can then be used to control a variety of auditory parameters. Our final scheme therefore will not be limited to infrared spectra, but will be capable of mapping any sort of multivariate data into sound patterns. (Readers who are interested in auditory presentation of data should consult Ref. 7 for an excellent review of the subject. Ref. 8 gives an overview of our approach to auditory presentation of data, including some things that we tried that didn't work.)


III. Future Possibilities

Modern scientific instruments are more often smart than dumb, and a well-designed smart instrument can be controlled by an external master computer: if the master has suitable adaptations a disabled user can control most aspects of the instrument's operation from his or her personal computer (with suitable software, of course). For a person who is unable to perform sample manipulations, some help from an assistant may still be required. But in the future, laboratory robots will be able to perform the manipulations. Laboratory robots are now in the early stages of their evolution, and their level of performance is sure to improve with time.

We have not been able to find a manufacturer who would be willing to build the STD version of the ULTRA system for a number of reasons. We intend to solve part of that problem by porting some of the ULTRA's software to the ubiquitous IBM PC and its clones. At the time we designed the STD version of the ULTRA very few serious data acquisition products were available for the PC, while about 2000 board level products were available for the STD bus. Now, the situation is reversed. The STD bus is in decline, and the IBM AT bus has become the most widely used bus for industrial data acquisition and control systems. It now would be possible to replicate all the ULTRA's important functions on an AT platform.

Also, IBM has introduced the Personal Science Laboratory (PSL), a flexible, expansible, modular data acquisition system intended for school laboratories. The PSL can accommodate several kinds of sensors, and is simple to program because it communicates with its host computer through a serial port. In educational laboratories many of the functions of the ULTRA could be performed by a PSL and PC system equipped with suitable speech output.

IV. Acknowledgment

This article was adapted from an extended abstract submitted to the Association for Computing Machinery for a workshop on human-computer interaction and users with special needs (New Orleans, April, 1991.)


V. References

1. D. Lunney, and R. C. Morrison, Journal of Chemical Education, 58, 228 (1981).

2. D. Lunney, R. C. Morrison, M. M. Cetera, R. V. Hartness, R. T. Mills, A. D. Salt, and D. C. Sowell, IEEE Micro, 3 (4), 19 (1983).

3. R. C. Morrison and D. Lunney, Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness, 78, 418 (1984).

4. R. C. Morrison, et. al., Personal Computers in Chemistry, P. Lykos, ed., 164-176, Wiley-Interscience, New York, 1981.

5. R. C. Morrison, et. al., Journal of Chemical Information and Computer Science, 24, 271 (1984).

6. E. S. Yeung, Analytical Chemistry, 52, 1120 (1980).

7. S. P. Frysinger, "Applied Research in Auditory Data Representation," Extracting Meaning from Complex Data: Processing, Display, Interaction, Edward J. Farrell, Editor, Proc. SPIE 1259, 130 (1990).

8. D. Lunney and R. C. Morrison, "Auditory Presentation of Experimental Data ," Extracting Meaning from Complex Data: Processing, Display, Interaction, Edward J. Farrell, Editor, Proc. SPIE 1259, 140 (1990).

David Lunney
Department of Chemistry and
Science Institute for the Disabled
East Carolina University
Greenville, NC 27858 USA
CHLUNNEY@ECUVM1.BITNET
919-758-6453 919-757-6713

Telecomputing for a Mobility Impaired Scientist

by
Craig L. Smith
Virginia Institute of Marine Science
School of Marine Science
College of William and Mary
Gloucester Point, VA 23062
Email: SMITC@CHES.CS.VIMS.EDU


Introduction

Education and careers in the sciences for mobility impaired individuals are made increasingly more possible as computers, especially personal computers, become more affordable and available. Although levels of mobility impairments range as widely as personalities, the personal computer offers equal access to receive information, to create and communicate ideas, and interact with other physically remote contacts in a variety of useful and rewarding ways. The personal computer is a common input/output device that can be readily and usually inexpensively tailored to suit even the extremes of individual impairments.

I personally use a mouthstick to type, and need only minimal keyboard and software aids to work effectively, but laser pointer devices, sip-n-puff switches, or voice command interpreters can provide higher-level interfacing. What is really effective is connection of my personal computer to other devices (usually other computers), where it acts as a gateway for data flow between systems. I have been using multiple direct serial interface connections on separate lines to operate the most sophisticated of analytical instruments (including multiple gas chromatographs and mass spectrometers) by remote login to their dedicated computers, and to the time-shared central computer that runs our outside network connection. Progress is underway to install local area network interconnection for the data-collection instruments to the many personal computers. This will not only enable actual unattended machine gateway operation and allow considerable reduction of present spaghetti wiring scheme, but also permit faster intercommunication by more users, and through a router connection, direct access to the outside network.

Expanded Potentials by Network

The connected computer serves me as pen and notebook for data collection, and as calculator and word-processor for many other needs, most of which are identical to those of able-bodied scientists. For me, the computer-centered environment has enabled me to efficiently do work that would never have been attempted 20 years ago, simply by alleviating the need to physically transport my body to various locations. Although I seldom work at home, it is by choice and not by necessity. The truly breath-taking extension of my computer-centered environment has been my recent connection to the Internet network and through the myriad gateways of communication possible to other systems throughout the world.

Access to the means of communicating information over such a broad range has brought me renewed vigor and interest in many subjects about which I had previously dropped because I had not been able to keep easily abreast of current thought. A very significant impact is the diminished need to cope with many loose bits of paper, or turning pages that won't stay turned on books I can't budge. Major aspects of the now invaluable network services offered are remote access to library information, electronic journal and newsletter publications, and ability to participate in electronic discussion groups and communicate readily by electronic mail. I have exponentially expanded my level of communication, as these are all types of new educational opportunities from which I had felt excluded. Library information ranges from catalog search and reading abstracts to occasional full text retrievals. Many governmental agencies, particularly the National Science Foundation, not only provide, but also encourage use of electronic communication for announcements, publication requests, and more.

Look to the Future

I am extremely fortunate to be a member of an academic community that makes my network interface possible. Regrettably, this opportunity is available to relatively few individuals. Most of the general public is restricted to local BBS services, or prohibitively (to many) expensive commercial information servers that provide little or no options for true and full access to the international network systems. Future accessibility to the broader educational system (sub-University level) looks promising, and exposure of this powerful communication medium to students at younger ages may create an overwhelming demand for affordable access to the network by the growing population of computer-literate citizens outside academia. It can be a continuing source of education both formally through local or distant course work, and informally by self-directed or "osmotic" learning processes.

Rehabilitation of Educational Disabilities
A History in Three Parts

By Robert Zenhausern
Department of Psychology
St. John's University
Jamaica, NY 11439
Email: drz@sjuvm


Part I
The Past

Everyone has heard the horror stories from the past about how the insane were beaten, the deaf considered retarded, and many other disabled individuals "abused" in one form or another. The past is not entirely gone, however, for at least one rather large segment of Handicapped Community, the Educationally Handicapped.

Learning Disability may be the only handicap in which the afflicted individual is held responsible for the problem. No one says to a blind child "If you try harder, you will be able to see." Rather we make accommodations in recognition of the specific disability and provide alternatives approaches. We rehabilitate by teaching them to reach the same goals as the non-handicapped using alternative approaches, e.g. Talking Books, Closed Caption, and Computers.

The LD child, on the other hand, is often accused of being lazy and not paying attention. The child is told,"If you work harder, you will see it". Only recently has there been grudging acceptance of the need to accommodate the LD individual. On the elementary and secondary levels, for example, there have been accommodations in terms of increasing time to complete tests. The type of accommodations used in Learning Disability, however, have not always served to improve the education of the LD, but seem more cosmetic. The aim seems to be to allow the children to "pass" by giving them lower goals rather than maximizing their potential.

Accommodation may have come late, but Rehabilitation barely exists. Rather than Rehabilitation, the Educational Community has stressed Remediation, the process of giving children more practice at what they cannot do. An interesting contrast can be seen in the use of technology in Rehabilitation for the Blind and Remediation for the Learning Disabled.

Rehabilitation of the Blind can range from the High Tech solution of Voice Box Synthesizers that allow the Blind to communicate internationally across the Computer Networks to the No Tech assistance of a Seeing Eye Dog. High Tech Remediation for the LD child is all too often the substitution of computer drilling for the traditional workbook. Low Tech Remediation is the workbook without the computer.

There is a need for less Remediation and for more Rehabilitation. Less on drill and more on creating alternative approaches to learning. There is a growing recognition that perhaps the term Learning Disabilities should be replaced by the term Learning Differences. Tom Holloway, for example, of project Chatback spoke about the Center for Learning Differences in the UK. In the May log of Altlearn@sjuvm (log9105) there is a discussion on the nature of Learning Disabilities that was punctuated by some heated discussion. There was considerable disagreement on many issues, but all participants agreed on one thing: an LD child must be taught in the way he or she can learn and it was up to the educators to find that way.


Part II
The Present

This section of the paper will illustrate some specific alternative approach in Education with which I have personally been involved. The cases will be presented in a framework of increasingly higher levels of technology. The emphasis will be on the Computer Networks.

Alternative Approach 1 -- No Tech

Markman and Zenhausern (1989) found that about half the children in a mainstream class and 85% of LD children can not use verbal rehearsal to learn material and the classic "Cat, C A T, Cat" actually interferes with learning. An alternative strategy is to teach such children to learn rote material by imaging the letters or numbers and retrieve that image when it comes time to recall.


Alternative Approach 2 -- Low Tech

The Direct Access Approach to reading is based on the finding (Kalisky, Zenhausern, and Andrews, 1990) that most children we have termed reading disabled cannot learn to read using the traditional: convert the written word to its sound and from that sound get meaning. The Phonetic Disabled reader has difficulty with the first step, converting the written word to its sound. The Semantic Disabled reader can convert print to sound, but that does not lead to meaning. Direct Access is an alternative approach: if a child cannot read by converting the printed word to its sound and then its meaning, then teach the child to read by going from word to meaning to sound.

Direct Access at simplest level involves Low Tech in that words and corresponding pictures are on separate index cards. As soon as the child learns to pair the words and pictures the child understands the word. The words and pictures cards can be arranged in different sentences and the child can write stories without having to create every letter and can concentrate on ideas.


Medium Tech

There is a type of reading disability where children can "read" aloud fluently, but have not comprehended what they have just read. We all experience this from time to time, but these children have this problem on a chronic level. They, especially, have been called lazy or inattentive and punished for their handicap. These are the children who can learn to read using the Direct Access approach, but for whom there is an instantaneous "cure" through the use of a Medium Tech alternative procedure. Let the child read aloud into a tape recorder and then play the recording back. The child will have comprehended the written words. If the child then follows along in the book this alternative approach can help children teach themselves to read.


A Myriad of Alternative Approaches -- The Computer Networks

The function of the Computer Networks is communication. This can range from simple email and file transfer between colleagues, to Distance Learning and Special Interest groups. My own work in reading disability has led me to develop the Direct Access approach which is pilot testing in New York City and is already established in North Carolina. I am also working with Rita Dunn the moving force behind The Learning Styles Network who teaches at St.John's University in New York. These interests led to the creation of Altlearn@sjuvm.bitnet, an electronic list devoted to the development and use of alternative approaches to learning for all children. One of the more interesting contacts to emerge from that list was from Jim Sinclair, a high functioning autistic. Not only has Jim provided unique insights into the conscious thought processes of autism, but he has developed the equivalent of the seeing eye dog, for the developmentally disabled and autistic. The Social Signal Dog can have such diverse functions as watching over a low functioning individual to signaling when a high functioning individual needs a reminder.

Big Computer Pals is a rehabilitation program that develops electronic relationships among the handicapped via Computer Networking. The Bicompal@sjuvm.bitnet list serves as a "personals" listing for the development of the relationships which usually are continued using private email. The beginnings of many fruitful relationships are archived in the Bicompal logs, but perhaps the most dramatic involves Nelson from rural Nottoway, VA. The story began with a description of Nelson by Anne Pemberton, a teacher of LD students, and a forceful and fluent advocate of computer networking. She described a 16 year old part Cherokee LD student who was good with his hands and already in trouble with the law and "challenged" John Carson to be a Big Pal for Nelson. John Carson taught welding and metal working at a High School in Darwin, Australia and as soon as Nelson heard that, he was at the terminal writing his first letter. For the first time, he was concerned with spelling and grammar. Mike Burliegh of Project Chatback teaches language disordered children and asked Nelson if he would like to be a Big Pal to those children. Not only did Nelson jump at the chance, but he also encouraged his classmates to join him and tutored them on computer access as well as grammar and punctuation. Nelson has gone from failing to grades of 85 and is well on his way to becoming a productive individual.

Another example of the power of the Networks in dealing with Educational Disabilities is less dramatic than Nelson but significant in its own right. It concerns four classes of Emotionally Disturbed Fourth Grade students in a special school in New York City. These children started writing messages immediately and within the first two weeks there were two very positive notes. The first was the obvious improvement in the spelling, punctuation and format of the messages sent by one of the children. The second involved a message by one of the children that he hit his teacher. The responses to this were sympathetic and the child said he felt bad that he did it. The teacher said this was the FIRST TIME the child had expressed any remorse.

The final example is one of an emerging international project, Chatback which was mentioned in conjunction with the story of Nelson. Chatback has been in existence in the UK for five years and only recently has had Internet access via guest accounts at St. John's University in NYC. Chatback is involved in many projects and I want to mention two of them. The Breakfast Table II Project is a continuation of a project where children from disparate areas wrote about what was on their Breakfast Table. The Time Capsule Project will create a physical time capsule in which children and teachers will decide to leave the children and teachers 30 years from now.

Part III
The Future

The Future of Rehabilitation in Educational Disabilities may be indistinct, but at least two basic principles are sharply defined. First of all, an educational disability must be considered in the same way as a sensory or physical disability. Rather than trying to change the disability, we must provide alternative ways for the LD child to reach the same goals as the child who does not have this handicap. We must recognize that the approaches we use in teaching are a means to an end and not an end in themselves. If a child cannot learn the way we are teaching, it is up to us to create a way for that child to learn. Second, all levels of Technology must be integrated into creating alternative approaches and access to the Computer Networks must be as much a priority for Educational Disability as for any other Disability.

Please Leave Your Message: Telephone Not Necessary


By Kathryn L. Schmitz,
Senior public information specialist
Division of Public Affairs
National Technical Institute for the Deaf
Rochester Institute of Technology
One Lomb Memorial Dr.
Rochester, NY 14623
Email: kls43441@ritvax.bitnet


Liberation from the telephone probably is the greatest gift of computer networks to deaf people (and perhaps others as well). Computer networks connect every user, deaf or hearing. The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), with its population of deaf and hearing students, faculty, and staff members, has an excellent computer network, the VAX system, which consists of six mainframe computers linked together.

The VAX system offers deaf and hearing colleagues a variety of communication modes that do not involve the telephone: electronic mail (e-mail), VAX Notes, and VAX Phone. Sharron Metevier Webster, systems analyst in the department of information services of the National Technical Institute of the Deaf (NTID), one of the nine colleges of RIT, is a daily user of the VAX system.

"The VAX system is wonderful," says Webster, "because it makes us all equal and helps me do my job right without having to depend on a co-worker or the New York Relay Center (NYRC) to make the call for me."

Like Webster, Dr. Gerard Buckley, chairperson of NTID's summer career exploratory programs and outreach development department, is deaf. However, their work environment still is communication-accessible even though few RIT offices beyond NTID are equipped with telecommunication devices for the deaf (TDDs), which many deaf people use to communicate via the telephone. Eliminating the need for specialized telephone equipment, the VAX system connects thousands of deaf and hearing faculty and staff members and students to one another on campus as well as to countless other computer users around the country via BITNET/Internet.

Electronic mail probably is the most popular communication feature on the VAX system. E-mail enables people to write and send letters, memos, and other information on the computer without ever handling a piece of paper. E-mail users can read and reply to their mail at their leisure, using their time efficiently and avoiding telephone tag. Buckley, who must communicate regularly with more than 25 colleagues individually and in groups, is an enthusiastic user of e-mail. "It's a good way of communicating," he says, "because I can notify several people at the same time."

He points out that this technology is useful outside of RIT because it can be implemented in many employers' computer networks". Many companies eager to hire deaf individuals are concerned about communication," he says. "E-mail represents an opportunity for these companies to take advantage of technology that allows deaf professionals to participate in the mainstream of the business world."

Buckley also uses VAX Phone whenever possible. VAX Phone is a feature that enables up to six users to "converse" simultaneously on the terminal screen; the screen is split horizontally by the number of users, and each user can read what the others type. "If we can get large numbers of professionals to use VAX Phone," says Buckley, "access for deaf professionals on campus will be greatly enhanced." Webster also frequently uses VAX Phone, but points out that for successful contact, both parties must be logged onto the VAX system at the time a call is initiated. "Not everyone uses the VAX system regularly or often," says Webster, "so in emergencies, I would use the telephone."

Another VAX feature that enables users to read what others type, though not simultaneously, is VAX Notes, an electronic bulletin board. VAX Notes is a collection of individual conferences, each discussing different topics ranging from American politics to deaf culture to philosophy to women's issues. Readers can review and reply to notes posted by others at their leisure, disseminating information and stimulating discussion. "Deaf people tend to be the last to get information," says Webster. "VAX Notes can provide fair access to information for everyone, and it's a good way to bring people together and clarify issues."

"I think our challenge is to remain innovative and creative," adds Buckley. "We should share how we use this technology to create new and exciting opportunities for deaf people."

I began working at RIT two years ago as a Senior Public Affairs Specialist for NTID which requires me to contact hearing and hearing impaired people around campus and elsewhere. Before that time I never had the opportunity to enjoy the resources available through computer networking. Being deaf myself, I also can't use the telephone without either a TDD or the help of another person. Since hooking up with RIT's VAX system, I have become much more independent and self-sufficient in doing my work.

Along with Buckley and Webster, I encourage everyone, deaf and hearing, to use electronic mail and bulletin board systems as a fair way of communicating and sharing resources with all.

DisABILITY Computing and the Law: What You Should Know

By Tzipporah Benavraham,
Adjunct Professor
New School for Social Research
Email: bitnet zippy@sjuvm or zippy@bklyn


Computer accessibility has many faces , and access for a person with a major life impairment is a matter of both legal definition and personal resolve. The miracle of access to the printed word has been revolutionized for disabled people through the use of the computer. Miracles are occurring daily in elementary and secondary schools, as well as in colleges and businesses. To watch a quadriplegic input computer data by use of an eyeblink switch inspires a smile. To see a blind person read braille just output from a computer, or to see a deaf person use a telephone with a TDD (Telecommunications Device for the Deaf) brings new personal dignity. All this would have been science fiction a few short years ago. Yet today the wonders of technology are enabling many to achieve new, personal independence. However, as in all tangible things, law and regulation has indeed found its place in this world of computer miracles. With the rule of law comes questions concerning access and affordability. Many laws and responsibilities have come forth from this technological development called the adaptive computer. In this article, I will discuss the key legal points of this human interface to technology for the disabled.

Most people think of laws as frightening things that lawyers argue about in ornate halls of justice. However through law comes the greatest possibilities for technology access for disabled persons. Here are the key laws: Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, section 508 of Public Law 99-506 concerning electronic data processing for disabled federal employees and the Education of All Handicapped Children Act.

Americans with Disabilities Act

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is the most significant legislation concerning disabled persons ever in the history of the world. This 102 page law contains elements concerning employment, housing, public accommodation, and telecommunications. It requires that "reasonable accommodation" be made to provide access for handicapped persons, and this includes computer technology and telecommunications. Employers may have to place disability work stations in businesses where disabled will work. Or TDDs may be required for deaf to have access to the phone lines. Public accommodation may include the spectrum of libraries having talking terminals for the print disabled for access to their computerized technology. In all places a computer is placed, access for the disabled may indeed become an actionable issue if there is no accommodation under this law. Thus an airline with a computer terminal for information for their passengers may indeed be required to provide voice synthesis access for blind persons, or a hotel may be required to have a TDD for a hearing impaired person to use. The net effect, however, will not only be an empowerment for the disabled, but may well be lower cost for all as more people are mandated to use this law in the future. However, since most of these laws will not be in regulatory form until 1992, what they will mandate is not clear YET.

Section 504

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, concerns "non discrimination on the basis of disability in federally assisted programs". Before the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, this 1973 law as amended was the only civil rights provision for disabled persons. It only allowed what was called "reasonable accommodation" and only applied in those programs for disabled persons that received Federal money. However, that did include educational programs receiving federal funding. This act also contains the official definition of a handicapped person.

Handicapped persons means any person who has a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more major life activities, has a record of such an impairment, is regarded as having such an impairment. The phrase: "Physical or mental impairment" means any physiological disorder or condition, cosmetic disfigurement, or anatomical loss affecting one or more of the following body systems: neurological; musculoskeletal; special sense organs; respiratory, including speech organs; cardiovascular; reproductive; digestive; genito-urinary; hematic and lymphatic; skin and endocrine; or any mental or psychological disorder such as mental retardation, organic brain syndrome, emotional or mental illness, and specific learning disabilities.

As you see, many common ordinary people you know are "handicapped" under this definition. Section 504 gave the legal shape and format to these issues.

Section 508

Section 508 of Public Law 99-506" Electronic Data Processing for Disabled Federal Employees" was the start of another array of laws concerning disabled persons and technology. It required the administration, in consultation with the electronics industry, to develop and establish guidelines for electronic equipment accessibility designed to insure that individuals, who were federal employees, with handicaps can use electronic office equipment with or without special peripherals. A rather remarkable policy document called the "COCA Bulletins" has been written by the Clearinghouse on Computer Accommodation concerning this. The bulletins present guidance to Federal managers who are unfamiliar with the application of computer and related information technology to accommodate users with disabilities and provide for their access to information. For further information, contact: Susan A. Brummel, Director, Clearinghouse on Computer Accommodation, Room 2022,
18th & F Streets, N.W., Washington, DC 20405.

Education of All Handicapped Children Act

Children with disabilities also are afforded "reasonable accommodation" in their education. The law states that schools must provide "special education and related services". The new phrase was "related services", and its meaning has been clarified in several court cases. A rather significant court ruling came on this point from a child Tatro, who needed a catheterization to attend a mainstreamed school. In the case before the Supreme Court of the United States, "Tatro v. State of Texas, the Supreme Court decided that an array of items are indeed "related services". This has been widely interpreted to include both computers and adaptive hardware where this is suitable. Disabled children have also been afforded such services as "augmentative speech" devices and "hearing aid loops" in what is called their "individual education program".

In The case, Board of Education V Rowley mainstreaming WITH RELATED AIDS AND SERVICES (such as the FM loop) is mandated by the court. AS a result, children can and do receive an array of technology for their disabilities in the mainstream educational setting. The Rowley decision establishes technology access for disabled children as a legal right.

In the case, United States v University of Alabama, the education law was extended to include higher education. The decision stated that the recipients of Federal funding are required to ensure that students with disabilities are provided auxiliary aids, including taped texts, interpreters for students with hearing impairment, readers for students with visual impairment and classroom equipment adapted for use by students with manual impairments. Hence if all the class must learn statistics on a computer as an example, and a student requires a voice synthesis device to perceive the screen independently, the college is obligated to provide the device free of charge to the student. Otherwise, it is an actionable offense under US Civil Rights law.

"Reasonable accomodation" and the Courts

In the arena of employment, the issues of "reasonable accommodation" for the disabled is an important concept both for the handicapped person and for the employer. Businesses and other institutions, public and private, worry about being compelled to spend large amounts of money on one person and also about making extensive alterations to their facility or to their operations. The law recognized this as a problem, and it tried to address these concerns with the "reasonable accommodations" phrase. It has been up to the courts to clarify what is and is not "reasonable". In the case, Gardner V Morris, the court said a "reasonable accommodation" should not be oppressive to the employer. The numbers of the employees in the company, the nature and cost of the particular accommodation, and the nature and size of the employers business all are taken into account. The details of what the law means is a subject of continual refinement and clarification in the courts.

CONCLUSION

Laws have further enabled the use of technology by disabled persons in many ways. As the enablements become greater and as technology progresses, we may see yet more laws and regulations. The legal commitment to establish and maintain equal access to computers and other technology has helped smooth the way into this exiting new world for many handicapped people. They perceive it as a "helping hand". For businesses and institutions who have sometimes been compelled to make adaptations they wanted to avoid, this legislation can be seen as an extra burden.

Happily, many of these facilities have found these adaptations to be beneficial. Often, the changes have served to make all workers more productive. Increasing access for the handicapped has often made the technology more accessible to everyone. Further, disabled workers usually turn out to be grateful and faithful employees, and the opportunity to enhance the lives of such people makes the providers feel that they are doing something worthwhile while still meeting their own needs.

In brief, adaptive technology has enabled disabled persons for many years, in an array of ways. Law both quantifies and also stipulates the use of technology by disabled persons. It is obvious that an array of thoughtful laws and judicial decisions have made this technology available in an increasing quantity. Knowing this legislation will assist you to work within the law and also assist you in liberating the lives of future employees and students.

For further information, either send email to me or contact EDUCOM's Project EASI, (see article elsewhere in this issue).

Telecommunications, Education and the Handicapped
The North American Perspective

by
Norman Coombs
College of Liberal Arts
Rochester Institute of Technology
One Lomb Memorial Dr.
Rochester, NY 14623
Email NRCGSH@RITVAX.ISC.RIT.EDU

This article is adapted from a paper delivered at the Second International Conference on Computers for Handicapped Persons held in Zurich, Switzerland, Dec. 1990.


Computer telecommunication has been used at the Rochester Institute of Technology, (RIT), to reduce barriers to learning for the physically handicapped. I am a totally blind professor of history, and I have been using electronic mail and computer conferencing to increase my contact with students. Originally, I required students to submit their written work using electronic mail rather than using paper copy. This permitted me to do away with most of my human readers. I use a desktop computer and a speech synthesizer and connect with the school's mainframe with a phone and modem. Not only did this permit me to do my work without assistance, but I could work at times of my own choice. Submitting work through electronic mail held some advantages for the students as well. I now make it a habit to grade and return the work within 24 to 48 hours. Quick feedback through electronic mail helps students evaluate their progress better.

The National Technical Institute for the Deaf, (NTID), is on the RIT campus, and this technology has enabled me to communicate with hearing impaired students without a human intermediary. The first time I used electronic mail for submission of student work, one of the students was a deaf woman. She had a question on my grading and so sent another message to me with her question. After several electronic exchanges, she stated that this was the first time in her life that she had "talked" to a professor without using an interpreter. Both of us felt that this gave us an immediacy that was missing in face-to-face communication.

Five years ago, RIT introduced the use of computer conferencing into its telecourses to provide a more interactive component. The content is delivered through broadcast videos and through print texts. Computer conferencing and electronic mail provided easy and rapid contact between the teacher and students and among the students. Class members who had their own computer would access the school mainframe from home using a modem. Some part-time students were able to use a computer where they worked during lunch hour or after work to do the same thing. Others had to travel to a computer lab on campus to access the mainframe using a terminal. In all cases, students could do so at any time of the day or night as the system was available at any time and the conference system was asynchronous. This created a kind of flex time approach to learning. The school main computing facility is a cluster of Digital Equipment Corporation VAX computers. The computer conference software is VAX Notes also produced by DEC.

I was one of the first teachers to try this system. Faculty from the fields of computer science and engineering seemed to be locked in to thinking of the computer as a computational device and were slow to grasp its use as a communication device. As a Blind history professor, however, I had discovered computer mediated communication as an educational tool. Although the use of this system to include deaf students in class discussions had not yet occurred to me, one of the deaf students saw the potential and begged to be admitted to the class. Although the students were told in the course of our discussions that I am blind, and the woman said that she was deaf, we all quickly lost any awareness of these differences. Computer mediated communications let us all meet on an equal footing. Those persons who became deaf as adults and who have good English skills but weak sign language skills have found this format extremely useful. One young woman said that she was able to participate fully in a college class for the first time.

In the fall of 1991, RIT and NTID are jointly planning a pilot project with Gallaudet University a liberal arts university for the deaf located in Washington DC,which will deliver courses using captioned videos, movies and interactive computer conferencing. The classes will include a blind professor and both hearing and hearing impaired students from campuses more than 400 miles apart in the same class. Separate copies of the video materials will be available on each campus, but the class discussions and the communication with the professor will be done over a long-distance computer network. The pilot will include two courses, one delivered from each site. One course will be on African American history, and the other will be on cinema and the deaf culture.

This project will transcend both physical handicaps and physical distance. The technology will also permit a flex time learning in which each student can work at his or her own pace and time. Simultaneously, it will provide a unique setting for mainstreaming. The advantage of mainstreaming through telecommunications is that the differences between the able-bodied and the disabled disappear.

Telecommunication technologies have the potential to open educational access to other disability groups besides the visually and hearing impaired. A wide variety of single switch devices permit persons with severe muscular impairments to access electronic data and telecommunications. (See the other articles in this issue.) Not only do such devices open work opportunities for the mobility impaired, but they also reduce barriers to accessing education. Tzipporah Benavraham has been teaching courses on computers and the handicapped at Brooklyn College. She is both blind and wheelchair bound. Telecommunications has permitted her to interact with her students while also reducing the necessity for her travelling to campus. The New School for Social Research in New York City offers an online course on adaptive computer technology for the handicapped with her as its teacher. Computer mediated communication allows her to work from home, and students with a computer and modem may connect from anywhere. The course is handled by Connected Education, headed by Paul Levinson, which operates several online courses for the New School.

Several computer bulletin boards scattered across the continent are devoted to providing materials and assistance for teachers. Some of these include items related to special education. These systems are of special value in thinly populated rural districts. In some cases these focus on gifted special education concerns, and in other cases they aim at serving the needs of underprivileged and handicapped persons. Both the state of Montana in the western United States and the province of Saskatchuan in Western Canada are examples of rural areas with computer networks which give special attention to the teachers of the handicapped.

Big Sky Telegraph is an online cooperative computer conferencing system affiliated with Western Montana College and serving rural schools and communities in that state. It strives to fill the needs of a diverse set of interests including rural health networking, disabled interests, women's groups, rural economic development, global ecology and agriculture. Big Sky Telegraph provides circuit riders who will travel across Montana to train persons at rural schools, libraries, chambers of commerce, and various other organizations to both receive and provide online information. It reaches out to help the physically disabled in at least three ways. It gives online access to services which might not otherwise be available to such persons. Secondly, it provides conferencing and electronic mail facilities permitting handicapped persons who are isolated to meet and share. Thirdly, it includes an online resource center for special education teachers. They can exchange materials and experiences. In Canada, the province of Saskatchuan is developing a rural network with many of these same facilities and aimed to fill similar needs. Such systems bring together communities and persons who are otherwise remote. The Saskatchuan system is presently networking some two hundred hearing impaired persons through its electronic mail system. Many of these individuals have felt extremely isolated both because of their geographic location and because of their handicap. There are several networks which are intended to connect these regional systems. Kidsnet is located on Bitnet and Internet and links mainly teachers. On a more grass roots level, Fidonet and Fredmail link thousands of bulletin boards together. Fredmail has aimed primarily at linking students and schools. although none of these have had an emphasis on the needs of the handicapped, they obviously can be utilized in that way.

Data telecommunication contains the promise of reducing barriers to information for persons with a variety of handicaps. This could increase their access to education, research and employment in the near future. This new empowerment should also transform their sense of self worth and self reliance. This last feature could become the most important result of all. However, there are at least two pitfalls which could easily undermine many of these benefits. In spite of the ways in which computers have enhanced the lives of some handicapped persons, there is always the danger that new developments in hardware or software might prevent the handicapped from continuing to use these marvelous tools. The increasing shift from text displays to graphics poses a difficulty for the visually impaired, but careful design could include their needs while increasing the use of graphics.

Finally, in the United States, school funding patterns could leave out those who could benefit most from computer use. Funding usually goes to those schools where the most advantaged students are enrolled. Unless a conscious decision is made to
provide the necessary equipment to schools with the greatest need, new technology may increase the gap between the haves and the have-nots. Instead of reducing barriers to equal education, computers in education might raise the fences even higher. Technology alone will not change the educational situation. It will require a socially responsible use of that technology.