October 12, 2008. Dilemmas, challenges, and Opportunities

After reading the chapter from Living in the State of Stuck (what a great title!), two things stood out for me. The first was the author's assertion that AT is usually abandoned when the user's input is not considered. On the surface, this should be very obvious. After all, I would only buy a car that I wanted - and isn't a car a type of AT? My preferences would be very specific, and I would be quite vocal about them. However, many of our users/clients/students do not have the capability to state what they want. How do we know that something is the best fit for these individuals? This is an aspect of AT assessment that must be very difficult.
The second point (under service delivery) was the stated need for a backup system. Again, this seems to be self evident. After watching the video in class of the young man with very advanced computer skills but no physical ability, or the woman with ALS, I wonder how they must feel when their systems are not working. Are financial and technical supports always available to such extensive users of AT? And how do they communicate that their systems ARE in trouble. It seems a double nightmare to have that freedom and then have it not available.
Overall, I found the reading instructive and interesting and enjoyed the constructivce use of examples by AT users and their different modes of access.