A Must For Persons With Disabilities A computer is becoming a necessary tool for everyone, the numbers of homes with computers is rising everyday, and folks who cannot master a computer are accessing the information available on the internet and e-mail by using their television or telephone. Those with disabilities are finding more and more reasons why they need to become part of the Internet community. Some find jobs online, others persue careers via telecommuting. Some find medical and other information related to their disabilities. Some take classes online that would be formidible if they had to go in person. Some find friendship, romance, and companionship for lonely hours. Some participate in volunteer efforts online. But what do you do if you can not get a computer because of lack of funds? How do you bridge the gap to access The Information Highway? ESF has the answer. ESF Computer Recycling And Distribution Project Once you have the computer, then you need to determine if its user needs to adapt the computer in order to use it competently. The Blind need screen readers. The Deaf need captions to sound recordings. Persons with mobility impairment need specialized switches and voice recognition software. People who have cognative or learning disabilities may need a graphically rich presentation instead of plain text, or text may need to be broken up and scattered over a computer screen for easier reading. Many people are helping persons with disabilities to gain access to their computers. Equal Access to Software And Information The Trace Center Most Windows Software costs a great deal of money, and if you need to adapt a computer because its user has a disability, you can run into thousands of dollars of expense. ESF is proud to offer an alternative solution to this dilemma. In our continuing search for means by which persons with disabilities can access computers and the Internet, we have begun exploring different operating systems to see if a different OS would make access easier. ESF is proud to support Linux the Open Source method of software creation. The Open Source method makes the source code for a program available to all, it can be modified by any competent programmer, and the code and the programs are free for the asking by downloading off the Net. ESF believes that this type of free enterprise will help persons with disabilities access computers and the Internet. The ESF Linux Project As well as web sites, you may wish to join some discussion lists where users, vendors and rehab personnel discuss different aspects of accessing computers and the internet. To see a list of these discussion lists, follow the link below. A list of web sites, discussion lists and more that are useful to persons with disabilities To contact us: Enabling Support Foundation Robert Ambrose, President E-mail: ambroser@ma.ultranet.com Dr. Robert Zenhausern, Chief Information Officer E-mail: mailto:drz@enabling.com Website by Thomas T. Panto. Comments and Suggestions to: mailto:ttpanto@bellsouth.net