Welcome to Promoting Accessible Workplaces with Assistive Technology. We're excited to journey with you as you learn about the fascinating world of assistive technology software. Its innovations and developments throughout the years, and how you can use commonly available assistive technology software to promote accessibility in your workplace. Before we can learn how to promote an accessible workplace, we must learn what assistive technology is and where it came from. The assistive technology act defines assistive technology or AT as something that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities. That's simple enough, but what can that something be? That is where the innovation and ingenuity of assistive technology comes in. Assistive technology can be something as simple as a wheelchair, as complex as artificial intelligence, and anything in between. Any piece of technology that helps a person with a disability live a healthy and fulfilling life, can be labeled as assistive technology. So where did assistive technology come from? The first wheelchair can be traced back to hundreds of years ago, but the start of modern assistive technology came with braille. Braille was invented in France in 1824, and recognized by the French government 30 years later. A way to read for visually impaired people existed before braille, but it was slow and inefficient. It required visually impaired people to trace raised letters on a page, having to feel each stroke on a letter before deciphering the word. What made braille innovative was the fact that it gave visually impaired people a way to read at a speed similar to how a visually-abled person would. This concept is what pioneered modern assistive technology. Disabled people should be able to live and perform tasks as easily as abled people. Throughout the 1900s, significant strides were made with assistive technology, the first audio book, the first speech synthesizer, and the first transistor hearing aids, all came before 1950. The second half of the century saw the first Braille Typewriter, the Kurtzweil Reading Machine, which was the first computer program to recognize printed letters. The sip and puff wheelchair, and the introduction of speech synthesizers in computer operating systems. Each one of these innovations in assistive technology helped drastically improve the quality of life for disabled people. Alongside strides in the technology itself, the US made history in this period with impactful legislation to help provide disabled people with assistive technology. The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was the first law in the United States to prohibit discrimination, based on disability in employment, public, and government setting. The act was expanded upon with the Telecommunications Act years later. Which stressed the importance of screen captioning, alternate text for images, and various other ways to make web content more accessible to those with disabilities. This trend continued into education with the Individuals with Disability Education act. This law provided guidelines for evaluating and identifying disabilities in school children at no cost to their parents. It also required schools to provide special education needs to any child they evaluated to have a disability. Perhaps the most influential and the most well known legislation to support disabled people is the Americans with Disabilities Act, commonly referred to as the ADA. You've probably heard the term, ADA accessible, when it comes to things like wheelchair ramps or handrails for buildings, but the ADA extends far beyond that. The ADA mandates accessibility and accommodations for those with disabilities in public facilities, employment, state and local government services, transportation, and communication. This comprehensive civil rights legislation is responsible for many of the accommodations we see provided to disabled people every day. So where are we today? Assistive Technology software is everywhere. Smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktop computers are loaded with features to make their product accessible to those with different disabilities. Every commonly used work or home application, operating system, and peripheral has assistive technology. There are a great number of assistive tech features that you may have never even heard of, and there are features you probably knew existed but had no idea are assistive technology. You may be wondering, if assistive technology is so prevalent, why is it so important to learn about? In fact, if you are a non-disabled person, why do you need to know about assistive technology at all? There are many answers to that question. To get us started on exploring them, meet, Jeff, Jeff is an able-bodied worker in a well known company. The company, like many others today, is making efforts to prioritize inclusivity in the workplace. Jeff''s administrators are leveraging courses like this one in order to raise awareness among its workforces. Jeff has been assigned this course as part of that initiative. Let's take a minute to hear Jeff's thoughts on this. Listen, I'm not an insensitive guy, I'm all about diversity and all that. I think it's great that companies are trying to be more inclusive today. And all this background on assistive technology is actually pretty interesting. But do I really have to take a whole class on it? It's not like I'm ever going to use any of this information. I'm fortunate enough not to need any of it, and I'm grateful for that, believe me. But I just don't see the value in learning about something that doesn't affect me. We'll hear more from Jeff later. For now, let's consider his viewpoint, Jeff's outlook reflects able-bodied privilege. Able bodied privilege is defined as, unearned and invisible social advantages held by people who are able-bodied over people who are disabled. Having able-bodied privilege doesn't make Jeff a bad person. However, it could mean he has a limited scope of understanding when it comes to how other people experience the world. He may take for granted that the shared spaces he occupies are easily accessed by everyone. Jeff may not realize that he works with people every day who need assistive technology to experience the same ease of communication and workflow that he does without the use of such tools. Because of this, Jeff may also be unaware of opportunities he has to be of help to his disabled friends and coworkers by leveraging assistive technology he has constant access to. That is the advantage of assistive technology software today, it exists to bring people together and bridge gaps in abilities. Assistive technology strengthens collaboration and communication to everyone's benefit. This is the reason it's so important for everyone to learn about and participate in its use. Unfortunately, in a day and age where more assistive technology features exist than ever before, they are not always widely discussed or well known. This lack of discourse around assistive technology has more impact than some may realize, particularly in work and educational settings. If you are a disabled person, there could be tools available to you to benefit your work and quality of life that you are not aware of. If you are an employer or classroom instructor, there may be opportunities you could be leveraging to use assistive technology. To properly accommodate disabled team members or students, and improve their overall performance, regardless of your position or role. Everyone should learn about assistive technology in order to be a helpful resource to their disabled peers. Many abled people even find assistive technology helpful in their own daily tasks. Our aim in offering this course is to provide an awareness of assistive technology tools that are built into some of the most popular and widely available software products in the world. We envision a world where disabled persons are not only empowered to seek the assistance they need and are entitled to. But are supported by employers, instructors, and peers who also understand AT and can participate in its use to enrich work environments for everyone. Over the next four weeks, you will learn about, assistive technology features that are built into popular Internet browsers to promote accessibility in web surfing. How to navigate commonly used operating systems like Windows and MacOS using accessibility tools. How to use accessibility tools to navigate commonly used applications like Microsoft Office 365 online, Microsoft desktop applications like Outlook and Teams, Adobe applications, Google Docs, and more. How to create content in your workplace or school environment that is accessible to people with disabilities. Buckle in, and get ready to embark on your accessibility journey.
