I think we all can agree that access to information technology is important. As a member of the CTC VISTA Project, I gained a lot of insight into a variety of Community Technology Centers and was able to become broadly familiar with the field of Information Technology Accessibility. As my fellow VISTA’s were working on projects that helped low-income youth, ethnic groups, etc. gain access to technology, I was thinking, hey what about people with disabilities? As a person with a disability I know how it feels to be left out for this reason. Fortunately, when it comes to accessing technology, I don’t have any problems, but there are a lot of people that do. For instance, what if a person who is blind doesn’t have access to a computer and needs to use the Internet? What if a person with mobility impairment does not have the dexterity to use a mouse or keyboard? What will happen to our generation’s access to information technology as we start to get older? These are issues that need to be addressed. Luckily, we are finding answers to these questions, but you have to know where to look. Organizations like the Alliance for Technology Access along with CTCNET have partnered up for initiatives like the Connections for All Project (C4All), and they are addressing some of these very same issues.
After I completed my year and a half as a CTC VISTA at the University of Massachusetts/Boston, I received a fellowship at the Institute for Community Inclusion, which is also affiliated with UMass/Boston. I had to come up with a project that had to do with increasing awareness and services to people with disabilities, which I have one year to work on. My project is about Accessible Community Technology Centers (CTC) in Massachusetts, and I’m mostly concentrating on neighborhood centers and computer centers within housing developments. I will be contacting and meeting with these centers to assess whether their facilities, programs, and communications are accessible for people with disabilities.
I know that it is not be feasible to expect every CTC to be one hundred percent accessible – that would cost a lot of money that most CTCs don’t have. My intended goal is to produce a guide/list that includes all of the accessible CTCs in Massachusetts and the services they offer to those with disabilities. It will also include the demonstrated efforts these community technology centers are making towards their accessibility goals, if they aren’t already there.
This accessibility project will also include why it is so important for people with disabilities to have access to technology in their communities; and there are many reasons, but I will highlight three here. The first is, not everyone can afford to buy a computer for his/her home, not to mention the additional costs of assistive technology that would enable him/her to use it. Secondly, everyone should have the capacity to be a part of the community and take part in social and recreational activities. Thirdly, access to technology is necessary to perform and excel in professional and educational fields. All of these reasons are relevant to everyone regardless of whether they have a disability or not. After all isn’t the goal and mission of a CTC to provide equitable access to technology, for everyone regardless of gender, race, income, or ability.
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