Abstract:
The concept of adaptive and assistive technology is not a new one. Historically, print-enlarging devices like eyeglasses were probably a first step in the direction of assistive technology in connection with books and libraries. It is not a coincidence that eyeglasses remained extremely rare from their invention around the year 1000 as privileges of the wealthy until the invention of the printing press when they filtered down to a larger number of people.
Fast-forward 1000 years from the first eyeglasses to contact lenses, a fraction of the size, a fraction of the weight. Still, they had only one use: to assist vision. Many of the new assistive and adaptive technologies are combinations of technologies addressing not only one disability like vision or hearing, but several. Instead of mechanical aids, they are now combinations of mechanical and electronic aids. One single machine like a computer running Windows XP can aid the vision impaired by magnification or Braille, the hearing impaired by amplified headsets and visual cues instead of aural cues, the mobility impaired by alternative input devices like trackballs or joysticks, and the learning disabled by having text read aloud through Optical Character Recognition.
One of the best, simplest and cheapest pieces of assistive and adaptive equipment in libraries today is the screen-enlarging software. ZoomText is one of these, but there are many different companies that make similar products. They are all easy to use, have good tech support, and are upgraded regularly (Mates 2004). Text may be magnified up to 32x, colors can be adapted, font size can be adjusted, and a different cursor may be chosen. Price range for this technology is $500 to $700.