by Wilf O'Neill, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , and Annarella Perra, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Advances in computer technology, which benefit everyone, often have a special relevance for students with disabilities, enabling them to integrate into society and acquire skills which will equip them for the workplace through the use of ICT.

People with mobility, seeing and hearing difficulties, can be helped by such technologies in the tasks of reading and writing and, given such assistance and the goodwill needed to acquire and use it, can study languages such as Latin and ancient Greek, as discussed in the case study which follows.

While it is important that disability issues be addressed in a manual such as this, there is scope here to mention only the most important considerations of which all teachers should be aware. Problems of this nature are best tackled by all relevant agencies working together.

Today both hardware and software offer many solutions to problems presented by disability, only some of which can be mentioned here. Help with problems may be found in operating systems from Windows 95 and Mac System 7.x onwards. Those with mobility problems may find of use such features as keys filter, mouse keys, sticky keys, special keyboards (expanded, mapped, reduced), a virtual keyboard, alternatives to the standard mouse such as joysticks and mouse emulators.

For further information go to http://trace.wisc.edu/world/.