New Frontline Initiative on Technology

Advances in technology are creating greater autonomy for people with disabilities, and also some challenges for the professionals supporting them.

The new issue of Frontline Initiative offers direct support professionals (DSPs) information about the latest digital tools that assist people with disabilities to live more independently and raises awareness about the digital divide leaving some of them behind.

"As part of a survey ICI conducted during and after the COVID-19 pandemic about technology usage, DSPs reported varied amounts of employer support for learning about and using technology. This issue highlights the important role DSPs play in making technology accessible so that people with disabilities can use it to live as independently as they want," said Julie Kramme, co-editor of FI.

Articles in the issue emphasize the importance of employers being open to explore and learn about new technologies and making those technologies available to staff, Kramme said. Articles also discuss disparities and injustice in access to technology, including access to augmentative and alternative communication (AAC).

"This is a problem for all of us that never gets talked about," author Bob Williams writes in his article. "Technology can help end the exclusion and isolation that silence imposes. But there is no substitute for people who listen and make a great effort to understand a person who most others ignore."

Read more about technology and the new Frontline Initiative.

Published by the Institute on Community Integration (ICI).