This material is copyrighted by Richard Banks and Norman Coombs in 2002. We encourage your sharing useful individual pieces of information to help people. However, we request that you do not share the entire workshop without specific written permission.

Many of you have not previously taken a distance learning class. You will want to keep a notebook of what you learn for later use. I suggest 2 basic ways to do this. One will give you an electronic workbook, and the other will give you a paper workbook.

1. Making an online workbook:

There are 2 ways to make a workbook on your computer's hard drive. One way to make an electronic workbook is to save all or most pages that you access while online. Pull down the file menu on your browser and you'll see several save options. You can select to save an html version of the page or a text version. In either case, previously you should have made a directory (folder) on your computer's hard drive in which to store these files. Then you have to remember to save the pages regularly into that directory. You will not be able to save any of the media, just the text pages and, in some cases if you save in html, you can save the graphics too.

The other electronic workbook option is for you to have both your browser open and you word processor. You can switch back and forth and be writing notes like you would in a paper notebook. You can even cut and paste some lines from the browser window to the word processor. This way you'll have a solid set of notes which will include your own comments and insights in the workbook.

2. Making a paper workbook

You can have your printer connected and turned on while you are working online. You can print all the pages or as many as you want as you go along giving you a huge stack of paper that can be your paper workbook.

The second paper workbook will be for you to have both your browser and your word processor open simultaneously. You switch back and forth and make notes in your word processor including cutting and pasting some bits from the web browser into your word processor. Then, periodically, print what's in your word processor.

You know whether you work best on paper or on screen. Decide which kind of workbook you want and use it to help you save and remember what you want to remember for future use.

Part 2: Introduction

Hi and thanks for signing up for this workshop. We are glad to have the opportunity to get acquainted with you, and we look forward to sharing our experiences and information. Over the years, participants have taught us much of what we know, and we need to have your participation. As hard as we work to provide information, the workshop remains as good or poor as you make it. Well, let us say that we'll take the blame for what goes wrong and share with you the credit for what works.

Shortly we'll provide you a more personal introduction on a class listserv as we want to get to know each other and prove that computers don't have to be depersonalized. At that time please provide an introduction of your own on this listserv.

The workshop is divided into 10 lessons spread over 4 weeks which means we will e-mail you 2 lesson reminders each week. We will need your questions and your additional inputs. Besides your posting to the class list, please feel free to write Dick, Joe or me personally.

This workshop is provided by EASI Inc. (Equal Access to Software and Information). Excuse us for taking a couple screens to tell you about EASI. If you already are familiar with us and our activities, we won't be insulted if you skip over this.

EASI's motto:

Students and professionals with disabilities have the same right to access information as anyone else.

EASI's mission:

EASI's mission is to serve as a resource to the education community by providing information and guidance in the area of access-to-information technologies by individuals with disabilities. We stay informed about developments and advancements within the adaptive computer technology field and spread that information to colleges, universities, K-12 schools, libraries and into the workplace.

EASI's activities:

EASI primarily uses the Internet to achieve its goals and its work has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation. We have an extensive web site www.rit.edu/~easi and we conduct several listserv discussion lists where members can quickly get questions answered by others who had similar problems. EASI sponsors an electronic journal: Information Technology and Disabilities. We also make presentations at conferences, at campuses and provide consulting for universities and businesses. As you know, we provide several online training workshops. Recently we have begun to make use of multimedia on the Internet. We provide transcriptions and captions for all our media, and we have an Internet captioning service to support others needing this feature. You can learn much more at the web address above.

Part 3: Definitions

Starting off with definitions is just about as boring as it can get.....just like almost every other presentation. We're doing it just the same. It is dangerous to make too many assumptions, and yet we need a common frame of reference. We need some vague agreement on what we mean by disabilities and what we mean by adaptive technology. So we are going to talk about definitions.

Comment by Coombs: As a historian I realize that so-called primitive peoples assign almost magic to words. We frequently think that in our modern times we have progressed beyond that. Yet, words do have power and frequently solicit strong responses. Many primitive people believe that if you know their personal name that you have power over them. I often sneered at that, but now I notice that when I talk to a car or insurance sales person, they pull out some paper to record some of my stats including my name. Thereafter, they keep using my first name. "Now, Norman, which kind of policy did you need?" or "What kind of car does your family have now, Norm?" and I feel their tenticles wrapping around me.

Today, we worry about being politically correct. We males have to be careful if we talk about "the girls at the office" as that often sounds demeaning. When is it proper to use girl, woman, lady, Ms. Or Mrs.??? Similarly, we have to choose between handicap, disability, different ability, differently challenged and probably half a dozen more. We too act like some words have magic power and become nervous when the "wrong" words are invoked.

So, we probably agree today that disability or disabled is the term that is in vogue. We also agree that it is poor taste to say "disabled person" but better to say "person with a disability." We still may need a definition. The one reason that sometimes a definition is important is that, when there is legislation about the rights of the disabled, you need a definition to know exactly who qualifies for these rights. It isn't always obvious. Not only are some disabilities invisible and not obvious, but I believe we need to recognize that in the real world there is not a line separating the able and the disabled. The line is actually a continuum with the totally able at one end and the totally disabled person at the other end. Most of us are somewhere in the middle of that continuum.

Is someone using glasses an able person who wears glasses or is that person disabled using an adaptive device--glasses? Most will assume the person is not disabled. However, as the person's sight goes worse and worse, the glasses get thicker and more expensive. You have probably seen people with extremely thick glasses almost like goggles. By that point, you probably feel the person is disabled and is using an adaptive pair of glasses.

I understand that our hearing tends to reach its peak at age 11 and gradually declines after that. I have noticed recently that most people can pick out the lyrics of a song on the radio better than I do. I hear the sound easily, but I believe that I am missing the high pitches especially the sounds of letters like 's' and 't' making it hard to clearly hear people. I may strain to hear or cup my hand by my ear. Hardly an adaptive device, and while I don't think of myself as deaf or hard-of-hearing. I am moving along that continuum and not entirely happy about it. Getting old isn't all fun, but it is better than the alternative. . . ha ha ha!

In another lesson we will talk a bit about legal definitions and any legal protection or special assistance.

For now, I want to focus on any functional disability, major or minor, permanent or temporary which technology can compensate for or which it can transcend. A person with a broken wrist which is temporary is usually not thought of as a disabled person. However, adaptive computer technology can be helpful to this person. Even a non-disabled person using glasses may be helped by it. My wife has bifocals. She has to look through the bottom of the glasses to read the monitor, but the monitor is level with her eyes. So, she points her head as if looking at the wall near the ceiling to read the computer and HATES it. Enlarging the text on the screen with screen magnification would let her use the computer without glasses and without getting a stiff neck.

What then is this adaptive technology which can help people with disabilities or with temporary functional problems?

Adaptive computer technology, put simply, is any hardware and/or software that modifies the computer so that it can be used or is used more readily by someone who could not use it otherwise or who could not use it readily without modification.

Some people prefer the term 'assistive technology'. That is also quite appropriate. My personal view (which you may not share) is that adaptive means we adapt the computer and that assistive means we assist the user. If we adapt the computer, we are implying that the computer is at fault and needs to be improved. If we use assistive, we imply that I need help because I am at fault and need improvement. If computers were truly designed with universal design in mind, their interfaces would accommodate everyone without assisting the person or altering the computer. I like to think that the computer is at fault because the adaptive technology could have been built in originally and then adaptation would not be needed. That is why I like the term 'adaptive' technology. The computer is so versatile that with better design, it could accommodate a much broader spectrum of the population. Designers talk about the computer human interface by which they mean making the computer so it is user-friendly rather than forcing the user to fit the computer. Better design would make adaptations unnecessary. Maybe I am just being argumentative.

Yes, there are a host of other non-computer devices that help people with disabilities at home, school and work. Our workshop will focus on adaptive computer technology only and not touch on these other amazing tools.

There is a good electronic pamphlet about adaptive computer technology which you should read. You may even want to print and share with colleagues.

Part 4: E-mail and Internet istservs

Over the years, subscribers to this workshop have said that one of its most important features has been to show them how to use the Internet and to find things for themselves. The old saying that it is better to teach someone to fish than to give them a fish is still true. Therefore, many of these lessons will include information that will help you help yourself.

Some years ago, Dick Banks and I wrote an article about the continuing importance of e-mail. While you hear mostly about the World Wide Web, people actually make more use of e-mail than the Web. Take a look at our article:

E-mail: Your on-ramp to the Internet

Listserv Discussion Lists

There is a special e-mail feature that we want to bring to your attention: listserv discussion lists. These are lists of people belonging to a mass mailing list which is dedicated to discussing some particular topic. The discussion is facilitated by a piece of software called a listserv which receives your mail and then mails it out to dozens or hundreds of people on that discussion list. Most of you probably know all about this.

Our reason for bringing it to your attention is because a good discussion list is an extremely powerful tool to help you get specific answers to questions from someone with actual experience with it. I have frequently asked for information from a listserv and, within a couple hours at the most, got the information I needed. It is easier than reading a poorly written software manual! There are discussion lists dedicated to disabilities and computers which can do more than anything else to keep you current on what is happening in this field.

EASI has 2 Discussion Lists We Want to Tell You About:

1. EASI which is a discussion list about disabilities and information technology

2. axslib-l which is a list to help librarians make library facilities more accessible

When you want to join a list, you need to know 2 things: The name and the address of the listserv that operates it. With this information, you then write a one line message to the listserv asking to be subscribed to that list. After that you address your e-mail to the discussion list to have it spread to the other participants.

The easi discussion is on listserv@maelstrom.stjohns.edu and to subscribe, send mail to listserv@maelstrom.stjohns.edu saying:

Sub easi (and your first and last name)

Then you would send your actual mail to the discussion at easi@maelstrom.stjohns.edu

Axslib-l is also at listserv@maelstrom.stjohns.edu and send mail there saying:

Sub axslib-l (and your name)

The other thing you will want to know about lists and that is how to get off of them. Send mail to the list address the address starting with listserv in its address (listserv@maelstrom.stjohns.edu) In that mail say:

Unsubscribe (and the name of the discussion list like easi or axslib-l)

I should also say there are some lists run by different software packages with slightly different commands than that used by listserv. The most popular is listserv which we have explained here. There is also a system, listproc, which has very similar commands for the most common actions. Another one, majordomo, tends to be a little different. We will not plague you with all these details here.

It is a good idea to keep a copy of the information you receive when you sign up for a listserv. Because different lists have slightly different commands, unsubscribing can be different for various lists. When subscribing, it is common to get a mail message describing the commands for that particular list. If you have this information in a handy place it can be useful.

There are a number of other commands you can send to the listserv to get archives of past discussions and other activities. Some of these lists have the ability to receive the mail in a digest version. This can be helpful when you get a lot of mail and want to skim it quickly. If any of you want to know more of how listservs function, ask us for more information.

Assignment

We want this workshop to be interactive, and we require your involvement and participation. For lesson 1, we request that you do the following three things:

1. Send e-mail to the listserv discussion and introduce yourself. Briefly tell about your professional position and something personal about yourself so we know you both as a professional and as a person. Learning among persons is more meaningful and enjoyable.

2. Tell us about your favorite listserv discussion if you belong to one.

3. At least briefly, subscribe to one of the lists mentioned in this lesson. Stay on for at least 10-12 discussion mailings to arrive and get a feeling for the nature of the list. It is important when you join a list to see if it discusses anything that interests you. It is important to see if the people seem reasonably pleasant. It is also important to evaluate the noise-to-content ratio. By that I mean how many junk messages are there compared to how many useful content mailings. You have to figure out your own tolerance for junk to know which lists to stick with and when to get off the list.

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