Assistive Technology Land - Leveling the Playing Field for All Students by Keith Royer

I can speak, but I can’t type. I can hear, but I can’t see. I can see, but not very well. I can perform tasks like anyone, but I need some adaptations.

We have students, and adults for that matter, that experience those things above every day. Life isn’t always the easiest to navigate on a daily basis if you have a learning disability. A lot has changed in the recognition of what constitutes as disability. The definition of a disability itself has changed in recent times. The changes, as referenced in the article, The Broadening Definition of Disability, are as follows:

“Congress passed the ADA Amendments Act in 2008, which broadened the definition of disability to include any condition that limits an individual from performing a major life activity. Normal cell growth, for example, was included as a major life activity, and, similarly, having a history of a disability would also land an individual under the ADA’s protection. Both features of the law are important to cancer patients and survivors.

...the new definition of disability — which includes conditions such as cancer, epilepsy, diabetes and mental disabilities — went into effect in 2009…”

Students, and adults, want to succeed. It is our job as educators to make sure this happens. We are bound to put learners in the least restrictive environment. The U.S. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act defines the concept of the Least Restrictive Environment as the opportunity for a student with a disability to be "provided with supplementary aids and services necessary to achieve educational goals if placed in a setting with non-disabled peers." (Daniel R.r. v. State Bd. of Educ., 874 F.2d 1036, 1050, 5th Cir.1989)

“Assistive technologies are helping to bridge the gap for learning disabled students. AT can address many types of learning difficulties. A student who has difficulty writing can compose a school report by dictating it and having it converted to text by special software. A child who struggles with math can use a hand-held calculator to keep score while playing a game with a friend. And a teenager with dyslexia may benefit from AT that will read aloud his employer's online training manual.”

Technology isn’t always the answer, but if it can make life better...let’s use it! In the world of technological advances, more and more learning disabled people are overcoming boundaries. It is our job as educators to find those technologies, and bring them to those that need it.

I think this best sums up what need to strive for, to help those that are learning disabled:

As Karen Janowski (@KarenJan) wrote in A Letter to My Teacher:

Dear Teacher,

I want to learn.

I want to be independent, but sometimes your curriculum is the disability.

When you give it to me in paper form, I can't access it.

When text is digital, I can manipulate it. I can make it bigger, pick the right font, add more white space -- it's easier to read.

When text is digital, I can add a voice and listen to it.

I don’t have to struggle with reading each word...