Social Inclusion and Independent Living: the Role of Technology Marta Gil

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Social Inclusion and Independent Living: the Role of Technology Marta Gil

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Wednesday, 10 February 2010 09:10

{mosimage}"If for most people technology makes life easier for people with disabilities technology makes things possible." Mary P. Radabaugh.
What does it mean to have "independent living" in a productive society and characterized, among other attributes, such as the "Information Society"? One possible answer to this broad question is: to lead a life with autonomy means being able to make choices in all spheres of life, from the clothes you wear or the food you want to eat up to play its role in society. According to the current concept - called "social model of disability" - the failure is not in people, but rather the consequence of the obstacles in the physical and human environments that surround them. The company can "deficientizar" more or less a person, to promote conditions for access - or not.

The independent life is made possible by the provision of services and assistive technology, which can mean the difference between dependence and independence, so well summarized by Mary P. Radabaugh, the initial quote.

The technology, in the broadest sense of the term, also reaches people with disabilities, making their lives possible, independent and honorable citizen, goals for which all strive.

Information

For the long awaited independent living a reality, a prerequisite is to have access to information, which can be defined as the knowledge that forms an action. Therefore, it should be current, complete, and come from a trusted source.

But, just having information is not enough: they need to be moved, creating attitudes, encouraging decision making and adding other information. It is the dynamic character that characterizes it.

The information circulating in various media, which increasingly are intertwined: newspapers, radio, television, Internet, social networking, mobile and other almost "requiring" us an update constant, a constant learning of new terms, and buttons keys. "Interactivity" and "connectivity" are the words "cool.

We must therefore be able to produce, store and where to seek knowledge, which grows and changes every moment. We are "bombarded" by data, news and information continually. How to separate and identify what is necessary for our consumption? How to manage efficiently the knowledge? This bombing informational requires learning of another kind of reading, more selective and demanding.

Learning to manage this avalanche of knowledge is not an easy task, as we know. But not impossible.

Knowledge: how to manage it?

One of the keys is to share, to create mechanisms for disseminating and stimulating exchange. Here comes the Internet, which enables communication channels free, fluid and fast and signals the end of an era in which knowledge occupied a privileged and restricted function.

The second key is to know what knowledge to be shared. We believe that should be prioritized that meets the needs of the User and that assists in understanding the world around him, their specific reality.

Learning is something that goes beyond the spatial limits of the classroom and the time limits of educational background, it becomes constant activity and, above all, enjoyable and exciting. No more we do it around a campfire, as before, but ahead of the small screen, alone or in virtual meetings and face, with the support of Internet, more and more interactive. This process requires a profound change in our values and attitudes.

Internet and ICTs

From the mid-90 the expansion of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) 1 case, following the popularization of Internet, which goes beyond the academic environment and becomes a place of fast movement of information and virtual meetings.

However, the Internet opens, too, the concept of "digital divide" or the digital divide, which means that by not having access to the virtual world, become "infoexcluídos", with serious effects on their opportunities for education, professionalization, culture and leisure. The exclusion can be by limitations socioeconomic, cultural, age or condition of disability.

There are many initiatives to reduce or eliminate these limitations, such as application development, software and construction sites following the standards of digital accessibility.

Universalize access implies democratization is necessary to enable users to act as providers of content assets in circulation, with responsibility and sense of citizenship.

The production of information, transport and access to it are issues that need to be considered in the development of ICT. The lack of accessibility standards in one of these aspects makes any User, whether or not disabled, unable to produce, deliver or absorb information - a fundamental condition to live with dignity and understanding today's society, where information is a Human Right.

It is essential that the disabled person to fully exercise their citizenship and be inserted in today's world, learn to handle the computational tools appropriate to their condition and can surf the net in a friendly environment without encountering obstacles in the virtual world. Furthermore, it should identify and select the information you are required in each situation, and any User. The citizen is one who knows choose. And you can do it because it has access to knowledge.

Rights to Access, the Information, Education and others are guaranteed by the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which enters the deficiency in the level of Human Rights 2. Brazil ratified the document in an equivalent constitutional amendment (Legislative Decree 186/2008), which means a huge step towards the full exercise of citizenship.

1 TIC: All technologies used in the capture, processing and dissemination of data, information and knowledge, aimed at decision-making by senior officials and / or private. The term is quite broad. A book can be a technology for storing and transporting information. Obviously, our focus here is technology dependent on networks of micro devices processed.

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