"Technology is a lifeline"

Assistive Technology: Enabling Dreams

Technology has become so commonplace in today’s schools, offices and homes that we rarely stop to think about its impact on our lives. But for students with disabilities, technology can mean the difference between a full and meaningful life and one lived in seclusion from the rest of the world.

“Assistive Technology: Enabling Dreams” amplifies the message that seems to be spoken only as a whisper in most educational settings: For students with disabilities, assistive technology is not an option, it is a necessity. Voice activated computer software, wheelchairs, talking calculators and many more devices not only allow students to access their education in the classroom but also improve their standard of life.

On Guam, parallel to the sentiments shared in the video, assistive technology, or AT, is not widely available in the public schools. Students who are fortunate enough to have access to AT devices receive them during or after elementary school. Sadly, especially for students who are nonverbal, elementary school is not soon enough. Preschool programs, such as the one shown in the video, that introduce students to AT would greatly improve student achievement by allowing them to access the devices at a younger age.

AT devices allow people with disabilities to have a voice with which to communicate with the world. They provide mobility to people who would otherwise never be able to join in on a soccer game. Stories such as that of Lucas Bratcher, the Euphonium player shown in the video, exemplify how assistive technology allows people with disabilities to realize their dreams in the face of adversity. For people with disabilities, assistive technology is a “lifeline” with which they can enjoy all the things in life that we take for granted.

“Enabling Dreams” highlights the lack of awareness and planning as reasons for the absence of assistive technology in schools. This is definitely true for Guam. However, I would also add our ever-present funding issue to the list. I do not have a remedy to our budget issues within GPSS but I would suggest (if the Superintendent cared to ask me) that the school system look to tomorrow for the answers to the questions of today. That is to say, the start-up fee of purchasing AT devices may be costly but can we really put a price on the education of our children?