Computers assist disabled students
Campus uses latest innovations to improve facilities and academic life
By Tatiana Botton
Larry Pierce was still walking when he entered UCLA back in the 1960s as an economics student. Shortly after, however, he was put in a wheelchair because of muscular dystrophy, which caused his muscles to gradually deteriorate.
Six years ago, when he lost arm strength and finger dexterity, he started using a motorized wheelchair with a head rest and a lay back system. At that time, Pierce was unable to type on a computer.
Today, Pierce is still using that wheelchair, but because of the progress made in technology, the computer has now become his most important work tool.
Pierce, who cannot type, speaks into a microphone and what he says is written on the screen.
"This is a demonstration of Dragon Dictate and how it allows hands-free computing" flashes across the computer screen the second Pierce speaks those very words into the microphone.
Pierce uses Dragon Dictate, a voice recognition program to communicate at work.
"The program is very fast, and also very precise," Pierce said.
The program can make the distinction between words that sound almost the same, Pierce explained. It also adapts by taking away vocabulary not used and developing new vocabulary, he added.
Pierce needs one hour to train a computer to his voice with this program. He then needs a few more hours to repeat the words before the computer is ready for use.
"It used to be days, and as the system has improved, in the last three or four years, it's bound now to one hour or two," said Douglas Martin, special assistant to the chancellor on Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the university 504 Compliance Officer, who is in charge of ensuring a discrimination-free environment for disabled persons.
Pierce is one of the many that take advantage of the campus facilities for disabled persons.
He is now the assistant coordinator of ADA & 504 Compliance, which helps employees with disabilities at their university job.
Amendment 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities by recipients of federal funding. ADA, which became effective in 1990, extends these civil rights to all sectors of life, public and private.
Pierce explained that Amendment 508 of the Rehabilitation Act makes computer technology accessible to individuals with disabilities.
"Individuals under the law are entitled to 'reasonable accommodation' which are devices or services allowing otherwise qualifying individuals to perform necessary academic requirements," he said.
But computers are not only used by staff or teachers on campus. Students with the help of the university Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD) can take advantage of computers.
Computers will help students who have difficulty learning due to a disability, according to Arline Halper, OSD learning disabilities specialist.
"We have 190 students with a learning disability," Halper said.
"A learning disability is a disorder that affects the manner in which individuals take in information, organize it, retain it and express the knowledge and understanding which they possess," Halper explained. "Students with learning disabilities have average to superior intelligence, but experience a significant learning difficulty in one or more academic areas.
"A learning disability can be dyslexia, difficulties to write due to a motor problem, or problems of motor skills and memory due to head injuries," Halper added.
The OSD uses computer programs to assist those students, Halper said.
To be eligible, students need to present a psychological test that will prove that they have a learning disability.
The computing support coordinators help those who need special help. For example, wheel chair-bound students who have difficulty reaching the computer are provided with adjustable tables. The university provides a personal stenographer who types down the lecture. The student simultaneously reads what is typed on a laptop computer.
In another example, "text books are scanned in the computer that allow the student to have two modes, audio and visual, to comprehend the text," explained Daniel Hilton-Chalfen, coordinator for disabilities and computing programs at the university Microcomputer Support Office.
All these computer programs need to be prepared by specialists on campus, Hilton-Chalfen said.
Patrick Burke is one of them. He has a genetic form of cancer which caused him to lose his sight before he reached the age of two.
Burke entered UCLA as an undergraduate German student.
"I chose German only because I didn't wanted to do anything with computers", Burke said.
Now Burke is working with the disabilities and computing program at the university Microcomputer Support Office. He is one of the persons who know how to use all the equipment for visually impaired and blind students. He also trains visually impaired and blind students on the equipment.
Burke is in charge of developing Info-UCLA, the campus wide information system, for disabled people. All this equipment is located at the law library computer lab.
"I became a computer geek, " Burke joked.
But all these programs are not in heavy demand.
It is probably because the computer industry is primarily concerned with capturing the market, rather than improving users' lives, UCLA alumnus David Chang said.
Chang, who was a computer sciences and engineer student at UCLA, now works for the university Student Affairs Office technology center, where he provides the technical support.
The university is very advanced concerning the use of computers for disable persons, Halper said. "We want to keep up with technology," said Halper.
Martin said he is very proud of the work of ADA & 504 Compliance.
"Our office makes UCLA unique. We have the first office of this kind in California, and one of the first in this country," Martin explained. "We had it before the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed. (In)1986 ... Chancellor Young and I started the office, and we have been doing access equipment as a full-time job," he added.
But UCLA still has to do a lot of things, according to Chang.
The university, in many ways, is far behind some of the leading engineering colleges like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where all the dorms have been networked to computers on campus.
"Computer-wise, the leadership of UCLA is not quite there yet; a lot of places on campus should have already been wired," Chang said.
This could help disabled students, he added. "It would be a very significant change in their lives," Chang said.