Friday, March 28, 2008

Free assistive technology is a budget-saving reality

Assistive technology used to be a big budget killer for many Disability Service offices, but today, it needn’t be such a burdensome service of the DSO. As a matter of fact, there are a lot of assistive technology components which are free.

If you need inspiration, take a look at the example being put in place at
Ohio State University.

Funded by a Department of Education grant, the DSO at Ohio State is providing students with USB thumb drives, which load a self voicing menu upon insertion in a computer. The student can then select which assistive technologies they want to use. The thumb drive also maintains all of the student’s settings and configurations, furthering simplicity of use.

Aside from just describing the tools that are being employed, the article has links for each of the free assistive technologies being used.

This assistive technology news is courtesy of
EDUCAUSE Connect.

EDUCAUSE is a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology.

Membership is open to institutions of higher education, corporations serving the higher education information technology market, and other related associations and organizations.

Resources include:

• professional development activities
• applied research
• strategic policy advocacy
• teaching and learning initiatives
• online information services
• print and electronic publications, including books, monographs, and the magazines EDUCAUSE Quarterly and EDUCAUSE Review
• special interest collaborative communities
• awards for leadership and exemplary practices

The current membership comprises more than 2,200 colleges, universities, and educational organizations, including 250 corporations, with more than 17,000 active members.

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