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The information presented on this
website describes the outcome of work supported by the U.S. Department
of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (Grant
#H327A060066) entitled “Access Tomorrow: Using E-mentoring, Web-based
and Assistive Technologies for Increasing Achievement and Transition
Outcomes.” This grant was awarded to the Ohio State University
Nisonger Center in partnership with IDEAL Group, Inc. Any opinions,
findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material
are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of
the U.S. Department of Education. |
Given the poor state of our economy, budget cuts,
program cuts and job losses...
We need to think out-of-the-box, and work smarter, to
insure that individuals with disabilities continue to have access to the
assistive technology (AT) software they need to increase their independence,
educatability, employability, and quality-of-life.
In the spirit of supporting this important objective,
and in light of the challenges above, we suggest exploring the use of
high-quality, open source (and otherwise free), assistive technology software
found freely on the Internet. Our Access Tomorrow project did this with much
success.
Our project demonstrated that using high-quality,
portable (smart drive-based) open source
(and otherwise free) AT software can be beneficial in the following ways:
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Improves
transition outcomes for AT software users from school to school, high school to college,
high school to employment
and adult life in general;
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Significantly reduces the
cost of providing AT software to individuals who desire/need to use it;
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Enables individuals to use AT software on practically any
PC they desire/need to use;
-
Reduces
incompatibility/interoperability issues with applications currently installed
on the PC being used;
-
Eliminates
vandalism and innocent corruptions of PC-based AT software since portable AT
applications are not
installed on the PC being used. The user simple carries their AT software,
personal files, and configuration files with them;
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Eliminates licensing limitations
that preclude individuals from using AT software on any PC
they desire/need to use;
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Eliminates the problem of too
few AT software-equipped computers in schools, colleges, libraries,
community centers, places of employment etc.;
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Eliminates
financial losses due to AT software abandonment;
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Eliminates acquisition red tape;
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Eliminates installation problems;
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Eliminates the stigma of having
to use "special" PCs;
We hope this
information proves useful.
Sincerely,
Steve Jacobs
President
IDEAL Group, Inc.
steve.jacobs@ideal-group.org
Other IDEAL Group,
AT-related, websites
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