A social support revolution is taking place in the United States and it is firmly dealing with the issue of independence to people with disabilities and their acceptance in society. This is being brought about by Pacific Diversified Services , an integrated work and community inclusion agency as they describe themselves. What got me writing today is the technological side of societal integration for people with disabilities. Yahoo!’s ‘accessibility lab’ , started in 2008, is committed to understand how children and adults with disability use personal computers and access the Internet. These two come together in examples of PDS’s clients who, despite their disabilities, are able to use the Internet with considerable ease thanks to products churned out by programmes similar to Yahoo!’s accessibility lab. The example of Sally Harrison who is developmentally challenged, as told by Lisa Giraldi, executive director of PDS , throws some light. Sally uses Facebook with increasing frequency, almost daily now, which she says has helped a lot from her initial low self esteem days as a PDS client. Giraldi uses the term ‘social equalizer’ to explain the open nature of communication these people can enjoy on social networking websites. Victor Tsaran, project manager at Yahoo! accessibility lab , says, “With social networking, you can create a shield around you so people don’t judge you first by your disability. That is a big one for me.” Victor is blind but betrays his disability by skillfully browsing the Web. Products showcased at the lab include Web pages with coding in pictures so descriptions of what might be seen on monitors was spoken aloud by “screen reader” programs used by the blind. Software let people with varying degrees of paralysis control computers with a tap of a finger, a puff of air, the turn of a head or the clench of a jaw. These are, no doubt, laudable efforts at making people with disabilities a little more comfortable. My concern extends a little beyond the virtual world and into the real one. Consistent efforts made by organizations like PDS should crop up far more than Yahoo!’s labs because we need an acceptance from people at large which revolves around empathy and not sympathy. We should not need a reason like “a social networking shield” because at some level it stands out like a massive failure on our part as a society and as a culture. At a recent Search Summit held in Chennai Rajiv (WATBlog Founder) had the opportunity to me Raghava Satish a visually challenged online marketer who had some strong views on accessibility of the web. He updated us that Worldwide, 750 million people have a disability and three out of every 10 families are touched by a disability. In the United States alone, the estimated 62 million disabled persons – 10.2 million who are blind – have a purchasing power of 175 billion dollars. Now apply these kind of metrics to India and you will see the opportunity. All in all technology can make a difference to lives and its important that it does that! Looking for a Social Media Agency? Try WATConsult – India’s Leading Social Media Agency Related Posts BCG Reports 237 Million Internet Users In India By 2015 – Possible? Ranking Search Results Via Behaviour On Facebook Through New Patent Facebook’s Hyderabad Office Inaugurated – Google vs Facebook Battle Comes To India Product Review: Trill – Free Twitter Client For Nokia The Verdict – Facebook Overtakes Orkut In India

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