ATHENS, W.Va. – The American with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a Federal law enacted to ensure that people with disabilities can have equal access to facilities. According to Academic Computing and Technologies Director Timothy Barnes, Concord College recently obtained computer equipment for students with a wide variety of disabilities including vision, hearing or physical.
The computer system is designed to fit the needs of the disabled with a specially designed table, chair, keyboard, hardware and software.
The chair conforms to a variety of body types to accommodate physical disabilities. The table is motorized to move up and down and the computer has a head-tracker – a device for hand-disabled students, which works similar to a mouse. Users can breath into the tube attached to the head-tracker to let the computer click on menu items. The system has a text-to-speech capability which will read to the computer user. The system also has a speech-to-text feature, which automatically translates the student’s spoken words directly to text.
“We have several students on campus who utilize the system, and they seem to be grateful that we have this technology. The ADA work station helps disabled students become more independent since they are able to do work on their own. It’s great that Concord was able to acquire the system.”
Timothy Barnes
For more information, contact Timothy Barnes at 1-304-384-5365 or e-mail tmbarnes@concord.edu.
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Concord College Notes: The Communication Arts Department produces the College’s student newspaper, radio programming and television programming. The department also produces theatrical and musical productions. It is organized similar to today’s modern corporation with the students completing projects under both student and faculty supervision. This gives students real-world experience that focuses on accountability and responsibility.
Naomi Koyano, a student in Concord College’s Communication Arts Department wrote this press release. She is working as a student intern in the office of development at Concord College this summer. Her hometown is Tokyo, Japan. She is majoring in Communication Broadcasting. Her anticipated graduation date is August, 2000.