Eyes wide shut

After several months of hiatus from Yahoo! Messenger, I decided to log in a few days ago just to check my offline messages. By coincidence, the only two people I was able to chat with were two of my visually disabled friends.

I used to work in a non-profit organization called Adaptive Technology for the Rehabilitation, Integration, and Empowerment of the Visually Impaired (ATRIEV). Their main aim is to promote the use of adaptive technology (or access technology) to educate blind and low-vision people and open up mainstream job opportunities for them. Having acquired basic computer skills, many of ATRIEV's graduates go on to obtain college degrees from regular universities, often in ICT-related fields. Some of them are now successfully employed in call centers, medical transcription companies, or web-based businesses.

My friends Jay and Rene are quintessential geeks, with one interesting difference: they surf the Internet, use computers and access all their features through a special text-to-speech software. With their virtuoso touch-typing skills and sometimes with the monitor turned off (they don't need it anyway!), they have become expert programmers and have even experimented with web design and adapting compatible open-source software for use with text-to-speech programs. Jay is the first totally blind Computer Science graduate in the Philippines and works from home as a web content writer, and Rene now instructs other low-vision students as a member of ATRIEV's staff. Both of them have attended and given training sessions and specialized courses on adaptive technology locally and abroad.

Although the Philippines has a Magna Carta for Disabled Persons (RA 7277) and has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) just last year, information on adaptive technology has yet to be widely disseminated among educators, legislators, policymakers, and other stakeholders. ATRIEV and other organizations working for the rights and welfare of PWDs are still contending with misconceptions and resistance to change. Schools and companies often think they have to buy expensive equipment or make extensive technical and logistical adjustments to accommodate PWDs. As pointed out by blind architect Jaime Silva, buildings and public transportation facilities do not even comply with basic legal requirements such as providing wheelchair ramps or granting discounted fares to people with disabilities. Technology, however, is constantly opening up new doors for people like my cool, talented visually impaired friends. I certainly hope that the digital divide may yet be bridged not just for the economically disadvantaged, but that ICT may help to break down the barriers caused by physical limitations as well.