Technology and Disability

Being technologically competent has become an avenue to academic and career success. Computer technology is one of the most powerful tools available to individuals with disabilities. Technology, including computers, adaptive technology, and the Internet, can help maximize independence, productivity and participation. It can lead to high levels of success—personally, socially, academically, and professionally. As reported by successful individuals with disabilities:

• The computer helps me organize my thoughts. I can read and make improvements with ease. I can check all of my papers for spelling errors before I send them. I am a really BAD speller. (high school student with a learning disability)
• I use a combination of a palmtop note-taker computer and a desktop computer to write. Without them I'd be lost. (college student with mobility and health impairment)
• Without computers or the Net I would not be doing many things that I'm doing today. For instance, I am involved in a writing forum on the Net that lets writers talk about writing and share their pieces of literature with each other. Since I want to be a writer this has been very helpful. (high school student with Dyslexia and Attention Deficit Disorder)
• One of my two or three best friends—maybe best next to my wife—and I met on the Internet, and we are not only friends but close working colleagues. (professor who is blind)
• Technology is not a nicety; it is a necessity. Get it, learn it, and use it. (college student who is blind)

"Don't allow your disABILITY to shut you out of life; your request for Access has been Granted"

Developing Strategies While Disabled

Successful people use creative strategies to reach their goals. They look at options and make informed decisions. Successful planning requires that you know your rights and responsibilities and strengths and challenges; set goals; work toward those goals; and use tools and resources available to you. One key skill for success is self-advocacy. Being able to self-advocate requires that a young person become an expert on their disability, know what specific services and help they need, and be able to use strategies to obtain this help and support. One's life should not be defined by the assumptions of others. Insights by successful people with disabilities are shared below.

• There is a difference between being the recipient of an act (victimized) and allowing yourself to become overly affected by that act—i.e., to become a victim. (adult with mobility and orthopedic impairment
• We don't have to be victims of other people's assumptions. We are only victims if we choose not to take charge of a situation. If you are blind and someone grabs your arm and pushes you across the street and you don't say anything, but would like to, then you are letting the other person force the result of his assumptions on you. If you, on the other hand, either say, "thank you, but I'll be fine" or "let me take your arm," depending on what you would like to do, then you are taking charge and aren't a victim. (adult who is blind)
• I could never achieve anything without writing things down. Sometimes I use a calendar, sometimes a blank sheet of paper or my notebook, and sometimes the computer. But without putting my plans on paper, I am not able to get things done. I use a prioritization process. I write out everything that I need to do, including the small things like getting dressed, taking medications, and riding the bus. Then I mark the things that must get done today or tomorrow as opposed to later, and I prioritize in order of importance. The list I make is constantly changing but I get a lot of satisfaction crossing off accomplished steps. It also helps me to break down larger tasks into smaller ones. I make lists, plan how to do the things on the lists, then use the lists to motivate me to get things done. I never leave home without it! (adult with mobility and hearing impairments)
• The more often I express my needs and preferences, the easier it becomes, and the easier it becomes, the more comfortable I am, and that makes people more comfortable, and on and on and on... and somewhere in the midst of this is the need to be both polite and clear. (adult who is deaf)
• The way to preempt or erase assumptions is to tell people what you need rather than let them act out what they think you need. It is okay to say what you need help with. I think that is part of being independent. And just by being out and about and going about your normal business you also show people what you don't need help with. (adult who is blind)

"Don't allow your disABILITY to shut you out of life; your request for Access has been Granted"

Play To Your Strengths

People with disabilities who consider themselves successful generally accept their disabilities as one aspect of who they are, do not define themselves by their disabilities, recognize that they are not responsible for their disabilities, and know that they are not inherently impaired. They recognize their responsibility for their own happiness and future. Below are insights from successful people with disabilities:

• My personal opinion about disabilities is that everyone is disabled. It just so happens that there is a certain group whose disabilities are more obvious than others. (high school student with mobility and visual impairments)
• My parents helped me learn to accept responsibility for myself by treating me the same as my siblings. They gave me the same punishments and chores, and they expected me to do well in school. (high school student with speech, hearing, mobility, and orthopedic impairments)
• Do not make people feel sorry for you or pity you. Get people to view you as an able person who is capable of anything within your reach if the doors of opportunity are open. (graduate student with a hearing impairment)
• Clearly disabilities can be obstacles. However, they ought to be focused on as obstacles which problem solving can surmount. Sometimes trade-offs do exist. I once wanted to go into biochemistry, but my lack of fine-motor skills and general distrust of lab partners made me realize that I wanted something I could do on my own—hence, history-philosophy. Perhaps I could have found adaptive technology to help me in biology and chemistry, but I had other loves as well, so I went for them. Admittedly, I rerouted, but for those who are determined to be biochemists and such, most obstacles can be overcome by abilities. (college student with mobility impairment)
• Focus on the ABILITY in disability more than the dis. If we can do that, then we are more apt to succeed. Also, know your limits. If you don't know what you can or can't do, how do you expect other people to know? Plan for success by using more of the cans than the can'ts. (college student with mobility impairment)

"Don't allow your disABILITY to shut you out of life; your request for Access has been Granted"

Expectations

Below, successful young people and adults with disabilities share their views about how they set goals and maintain high expectations:

• A combination of people and events has helped me maintain high standards. This all started during the summer months when my mother and neighbor friend pushed me to improve my academic skills. At the time, it wasn't high standards that I was working for, but rather escaping embarrassment. For me, I wanted no one to know I had a disability and would have done most anything to hide it. Summer study sessions provided a stepping stone for future success in high school and college. Success builds upon itself. This was my start to expecting to do well in school.
• I'm just stubborn and I refuse to lower my expectations. (college student with a mobility and orthopedic impairment)
• My parents helped me maintain high expectations for myself. They taught me never to say "I can't" at anything I try. (high school student with cerebral palsy)
• My mobility teacher made me confident in my ability to learn, which has helped me maintain high expectations. (college student who is blind)
• My parents expected me to do as well as other students without disabilities, if not better. My parents actively sought help for my hearing impairment in the forms of speech therapists, audiologists, and teachers to make sure that I had an equal chance in public schools. Before choosing a new house, my parents did a lot of research on the local schools. (college student who is deaf)
• My brother and sister had one single expectation that determined my success: I was not treated differently in any way because I could not see. (computer scientist who is blind)
• I am still in the process of learning to stretch but I start by identifying what I can already do, what I am comfortable doing and feel good about. Then I say to myself (sometimes in writing) I can do more. I can do better, what is it BEYOND what I already can do that I want to be able to do? Then I write down goals or ideas and make efforts to stretch myself. (adult with hearing and mobility impairments)
• Very early on, I became the stubborn guy I am today. "Can't" wasn't in my vocabulary, which, of course, was helped by a set of parents who offered me opportunities to do most of the things everyone else did and encouraged me to set very high standards. By now, I do realize that everyone has a path in life that their unique set of talents and lack thereof gives them. I will never be mistaken for an athlete. However, knowing what talents I do have, I press myself to be the best historian, philosopher, and writer that I can be. (college student with a mobility impairment)
• I set personal, academic, and career goals by knowing where my limits are and working around them. If someone says I can't do something, and I haven't tried it before, that just makes me more determined to prove that someone wrong. If I fail, at least I tried. That's what counts. (college student with mobility impairments)
• One of the main reasons people do not set high expectations is fear of failure….; Start by having achievable goals that are not long-term. Develop week long, achievable goals that lead to success. Build on each success and make each goal a little higher. Think of it as a metaphorical high jump. You cannot set the bar too high in the beginning or you just set yourself up for failure. (adult with hearing and mobility impairments)

"Don't allow your disABILITY to shut you out of life; your request for Access has been Granted"