I read "7 Tech Breakthroughs That Empower People With Disabilities" and was excited about all seven breakthroughs. The one that amazed me the most and that I was most encouraged to learn about was the the DynaVox system. I didn't realize such a thing was possible. I had an uncle that had a stroke at the age of forty and he spent fifteen years in a nursing home unable to communicate with the outside world. We think that it got to be so depressing for him that he eventually just gave up on life and stopped eating. Just think if he had been able to participate in spoken communication using only his eyes. He would have loved being able to enter words and phrases through the use of the eye tracking systems with the on-screen keyboard which could translate the text to speech. It is comforting to now know that this technology exists for other loved ones that might be afflicted with a similar situation.

Disability.gov: Conncecting the Disability Community to Information and Opportunities has a plethora of resources for making technology accessible. I have highlighted two that I found of particular insight. The first is Accessible Media Guidlines -- they are a set of guidelines look at ways to achieve the goal of helping students learn by using adaptive and accessible technology which is so important to all educators, but especially to those of us that teach special education. The other site, IRS Talking Tax Forms, is designed for people that are visually impaired that are supposed to be easy to use -- uses Microsoft Active Accessibility compliant screen readers and Dragon Naturally Speaking Voice Recognition Software. It is great that the government is at least trying to make this part of filling out your IRS Tax Form a little easier -- I guess so they can more easily get your money from you.