The Family Center on Technology and Disability

Meet Emily S. and learn about her successful use of assistive technology

Traveling to all fifty states is a goal that many people set in their lifetime. Twenty-year-old Emily S. set that very goal for herself, but she wanted to do it by the time she was twenty-one. She achieved her goal more than one year early when she traveled to her last state, Hawaii, in January, 2006. Traveling is one of Emily’s favorite things to do. She has been to thirty-eight countries including living in Geneva for six months! When asked to name her favorite of the places she has visited, Emily responded that everywhere she has been was beautiful, but if she had to choose, Alaska was her favorite state and Scotland was her favorite country.

Living in Geneva helped her figure out which path she wanted to take in the future. She lived there for six months as her father, a geography professor at Kent State University, was teaching abroad. She fell in love with the language while she was there and had an overwhelming desire to understand it. She studied hard and became fluent in French, and mastered enough Spanish to carry on a conversation in that language as well. She wants to keep expanding her language skills and is currently working towards her Bachelor’s degree in French translation. After her undergraduate work is complete, she plans to attend graduate school to pursue a Masters in French translation. Ultimately, she would like to either work for a corporation translating contracts and instructions or become a freelance translator.

Emily is about a year and a half away from earning her degree from Kent State University where she is part of the honors college. As a Junior, she is taking full advantage of all that college has to offer and is very involved in life on campus. She serves as the webmaster for Mortar Board, a senior honor society with emphasis on scholarship, leadership, and service. She is also a member of the language honor society, Phi Sigma Iota. Emily has been an active member of a Relay for Life team since first coming to the university. Relay for Life is a twelve-hour walk that raises funds for cancer research, a popular event on high school and college campuses across the country.

Two additional programs that Emily participates in reflect her desire to advocate for the rights of people with disabilities. She is the student representative for the Faculty Learning Community on Disabilities and a part of the Learning Community on Assistive Technology (AT). The latter Learning Community is just being formed and they are currently working on identifying a mission and vision statement based on the existing assistive technology needs and problems that exist on campus.

Emily is passionate about ensuring that the rights of people with disabilities are met. This stems from her self-advocacy skills, which were instilled in her from an early age. She was always taught the importance of self-advocacy and considers herself fortunate because she had parents with strong knowledge of the resources available. Her self-advocacy skills are continually strengthened by learning from her mother, who is a parent mentor and works with families who have children with disabilities to ensure that the school district provides them with the services to which they are entitled. It was these self-advocacy skills that helped her have a fairly easy transition from high school to college, an experience that many students have difficulties with, both with and without disabilities. The ease of her transition was also a result of her academic readiness. Emily had the opportunity to take some college classes while still in high school so she was not surprised by the workload when she arrived at the university her freshman year.

Emily’s transition to college was also eased by Kent State’s willingness to provide her with AT devices that facilitated access to things around campus. The school provided her with a proximity reader, which allows the doors on campus to automatically open as she approaches. Residence Services also provided switching devices that allow her electronic, keyless entry into her dorm room.

In addition to the tools that were provided to her by the school, Emily had technology devices that she brought with her to college. She has been a long time user of AT, receiving her first power wheelchair at the age of two. She was the youngest individual to receive funding for a power chair from private insurance at the time. Over the years she has tried various pieces of AT and has kept what works for her. Now she is using the voice activated software Dragon Naturally Speaking, which aids her when she is typing papers and chatting on the Internet. To assist her when taking notes in class, Emily uses Mobile Notetaker, a device used to store handwritten notes in digital format so that they can be uploaded later to a computer. It has proven to be very helpful when it comes to keeping up with the professors’ notes. A tape recorder can also be used for this purpose. Emily uses text-to-speech software that allows her access to textbooks without the struggle of turning pages. This software presents the information to her in an auditory format which is great because she is an auditory learner. Some of her textbooks are also available on CD or DVD. She is looking forward to a switch that is soon going to be placed on her computer that will allow her to reboot the computer without having any actual physical contact with the machine. She has been able to use a computer for school work since she was in the first grade, when her school provided her with one for dedicated use.

Emily especially appreciates being able to use widely-available, well-supported consumer technologies, such as computers, I-pods, voice activated cell phones, and the Internet. If you walk around any college campus in America, you will see students talking on their cell phones or listening to their I-pods. These devices offer Emily common ground with her peers. The Internet has opened up a whole new world to her. She is constantly chatting on the Internet with her many friends. The Internet has been a place where people don’t see her as having cerebral palsy, but rather see her as a friend to chat with. Technology has been a huge part of Emily’s life and has really helped her access the world around her with as few barriers as possible.

With all of her classes, her activities, and her travels, Emily has still found time to work. This past summer she was asked to work with the local residential home for children with severe disabilities. She helped the home’s professionals evaluate various technologies that could help the residents produce music and artwork. This work experience deepened Emily’s understanding that technology can help people with disabilities in all aspects of life, even in recreational activities such as these. Her commitment to technology continues to be seen in everything she does.

For a twenty year old, Emily has accomplished an extraordinary amount. There is no doubt that she is going to cherish every moment of her last year and a half of college and will take the world by storm when she graduates. She will take her love for language and traveling into her future career and she will always have technology to help her overcome barriers that may arise.

If you have or know of a child/teen who has experienced success through the use of assistive technology that would like to be featured, please contact us at agutierr@aed.org.