Assistive Tech, Module Four

The links on netiquette this week were basically things that seemed like common sense to me, although I was surprised at the frequency of the recommendation to utilize smileys and emoticons. I guess it's because I view email on par with letter communication, and for me, internet correspondences are more formal and it would not be appropriate to use emoticons or abbreviations. I think I will share the information with my students, and when I am in a media center, netiquette will be the first thing I teach my student users.

As far as etiquette and awareness goes towards interacting with persons with disabilities, I feel fairly confident. I did well on the quiz, since the biggest thing to remember is the "person first" philosophy, which I try to apply in my interactions with all people. It was a bit of a wake up call to see the comment against distracting aide dogs without their owners' permission: that's not something I've thought about before, and I am one of those people who will coo over a cute dog when I encounter it on the street. I need to be more aware of this in general, I suppose, and check with the owners first (whether the owner has a disability or not!)


I wanted to mention a few of the websites I have found that deal with assistive tech:

VISUAL

This link has a really great visual (heart-shaped) for understanding assistive technology and the circular nature of advocacy and assistive tech.


FAMILIES

This site provides a guide to families to help them understand and implement assistive technology for a loved one. While the site is mostly text based(making it hard to read for long stretches), there is a lot of information provided.