Tech Topic Connection

How has computer technology helped the disabled?

This is one of the topics I have chosen on my final blog.  There have been many uses for computers and reason for their use.  Computers have helped business increase production and managing.  They have helped people with schools and personal life situations.  Teachers had increased learning time and changed the way of teaching that is more productive.  One of the important benefits of computers and technology to is how it has helped the disabled population.  Computers have come a long way from how they are able to assist people with disabilities.  Computers have been able to help people with a limited visual disability by creating programs that are able to speak to you, so they can navigate through the computer.  In the past computers would only say or talk by telling you what program you are on or read something off a word processor to the visually disabled.  Today computers are able to help the hearing impaired and visual impaired.  This is a significant achievement in technology that allows them to work, communicate with others and to be functional to the society.  This technology has spread to smartphones and even medical equipment like wheelchairs, vehicles, and even homes.  Computers and smartphones have programs like text to speech, increasing fonts sizes, and voice recognition to help disabled people.  

"There are apps that can be used to remind people to take their medication or to highlight when their next doctor’s appointment it" (Disabled Living, 2021, The Benefits of Technology for Disabled People).  

This subjects ties into a lot of what we have learned during TEC 101.  The way developers and programmers need to build this program to interface with others.  The size of computers uses to run these types of programs, security function so they user can be safe when using this technology.  Just imagine the size of data that needs to be stored to run this program.  If computer language is all binary codes of 1 and 0's.  There are lots of codes to make computers work.  

Building programs that will help people with disabilities is a major team effort.  The developer must research what the needs of people are and what type of function the computer will do.  The programmer must develop the codes for the computer to react to the command of the user.  With technology and robots' security is a big issue.  We have watched many movies that hackers are able to control robots so what is different with computers and equipment that are run through programs and wifi, or internet.  

The next topic I chose to research is computer size, or what limitations.  One of the most frustrating things I have with computers and even cell phones are the constant changes.  Upgrades to operating systems, processing speeds, and even data storage.  Programs and software changes as computers change it at times some of the programs we use as users may not be compatible with our software.  Then some older software may not update and will not be compatible with the new computers.  This is a problem with some users.  We may not be financially stable to continue to by new updated computers.  When is enough enough!!!