[laptop-accessibility] Low cost assistive technology

[Fernando]

Hi Andrea,

I will respond on-list in case others have the same questions and then we
can take this off the list so it does not become annoying to anyone not
interested.

I work as a consultant and the organizations for which this topic is most
relevant among my clients are Literacy Bridge (USA) and Mais Diferenças
(Brazil).  They are both relatively small organizations that are primarily
focused on the educational and social needs of developing countries.  Based
on that, judging whether responding to my inquiry will eventually impact the
lives of millions or just a handful of children, depends very much on your
own assumptions regarding what type of organizations, large or small,
actually make a difference and drive change in this world.  I believe that
the answer to this question is not obvious by any means.

The same applies with regard to the fact that it will be used in a
publication of the International Telecommunications Union.  The extent to
which anything published or disseminated by UN organizations is adopted by
any given country depends to a great extent on each individual country.  So
as usual in matters of political institutions, no guarantees can be offered.
Having said that, so little is known outside of highly technical groups
about FOSS assistive technologies, that any exposure is bound to be quite
helpful.

My own personal take on this is that there is so much need out there, and so
little understanding on the potential of FOSS assistive technologies to
help, that it pays to think big and be as thorough as possible in presenting
cases to readers.

Thank you for the address to your blog.

Best regards,

Fernando

-----Original Message-----
From: accessibility-bounces at lists.laptop.org
[mailto:accessibility-bounces at lists.laptop.org] On Behalf Of Andrea Shettle
Sent: Friday, September 26, 2008 12:43 PM
To: accessibility at lists.laptop.org
Cc: ashettle at patriot.net
Subject: [laptop-accessibility] Low cost assistive technology

Regarding the recent question on low cost assistive technology: I think
before any of us can advise intelligently, it might help to understand who
wants to know (what organization they're working for), what context they're
working in (in a developing country? Which one?) and what they plan to do
with the information (eg, will it influence budgeting and practices in a
large scale project in a developing country? Where?

If you're looking for organizationsthat might be able to advise, or more
mailing lists to join, and if the focus is on developing countries, then try
browsing the many links from my blog site
(http://wecando.wordpress.com) at the very bottom of each page.

If this information gathering process is meant to be ambitious with far
reaching implications for many children in various developing countries,
and/or the information would be widely disseminated afterwards, then
Fernando please contact me off the list (at ashettle at patriot.net) so we can
discuss whether it would make sense for me to post something about it at my
blog. That could potentially drive a handful of comments in your direction.
Andrea Shettle, MSW
ashettle at patriot.net
http://wecando.wordpress.com
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