IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2017 - 14

appreciated by Assistive Technol-
ogy Professionals, Rehabilitation
Engineers, and Computer Scientists
alike. Although Petrick identified
that the Brands were both teach-
ers, she fails to highlight their elite
background; Mr. Brand was able to
stop working for one year to become
trained in computer programming,
while the child's mother was able
to leave teaching to work with the
Center for Independent Living (CIL).
Those with less financial resources
would have been at a disadvantage.
What does disability rights legisla-
tion have to do with computer tech-
nology? In Chapter 1, Petrick seeks
to answer this question using five
historical themes that encompass
the shift from a caretaker model to
a rights-based model. She discusses
early disability legislation, disabil-
ity activism, and how the computer
industry, with IBM as a case study,
considered the development and
potential benefit of computer tech-
nology for users with disabilities.
She argues that the achievement of
disability rights was enabled through
digital technology generally and spe-
cifically through computer technol-
ogy, eventually adopted into what
we now call the PC. However, the
nexus between these concepts of
disability rights and computer tech-
nology is not always well articulated.
I question the interchangeability
of the terms Petrick uses, namely,
"technological accommodation" and
"computer technology," which leads
to ambiguity and requires a repeat
reading for clarity. Nevertheless, she
provides a historical narrative on the
development of computer technol-
ogy prior to the PC, while including
a detailed history on the variety of
stakeholders involved.
Chapter 2 explores how the early
PC became a consumer item facili-
tated through disability activism.
However, this process was delayed
as assistive technology with maxi-

14

mum capability was financially out
of reach of the average user and the
PwD was rendered nearly invisible.
Critical to the promulgation of dis-
ability rights, with a primary focus
on accessibility, were continuous
discussions on how persons with
different kinds of disabilities/impair-
ments can functionally use a PC.
Frank Bowe, disability studies schol-
ar and activist, with a keen interest
in providing oversight on devices
for use by PwD advised that "Per-
sonal computers should be made
accessible while technology is still
in its infancy, so that barriers did
not have to be removed later." As
such, Petrick, later recognizes dif-
ferent strategies used to make the
PC adaptable to individual needs as
the use of the LOGO computer lan-
guage which used graphics instead
of words for those with certain cog-
nitive deficits. Until the mid-1980s,
Petrick argues that the "design of
personal computers was embedded
with assumptions about what kinds
of people would be using them,
and computer technology evolved
that left people with certain kinds
of disabilities unable to use off-the-
shelf products easily." She highlights
that a hierarchy of disability existed
then and those with severe disabil-
ity could not be catered to without
placing the device into a high-priced
niche market. This reality unfortu-
nately still exists.
In Chapter 3, Petrick provides
close details on the alliance formed
between the DCCG and the Apple
Computer Company, which served
as an effective platform for com-
municating accessibility. Together,
Brand, representing the DCCG and
Alan Brightman, a disability activist
in the employ of Apple, founded the
National Special Education Alliance
(NSEA). This organization functioned
at the national level facilitating
knowledge transfer and exchange
of expertise in accessible computer
IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

technology targeted at the needs of
disabled persons. Petrick flip flops
in her analysis of Apple as a corpo-
rate entity in addressing the needs of
PwD. On one hand she argues that
Apple's engagement with the DCCG
followed the charity model yet on the
other, Apple "had both an interest in
and resources to commit to creat-
ing such an organization." She later
highlights that the engagement with
this local entity was mutually ben-
eficial since it alerted Apple to the
needs of their consumers and the
partnership created a direct path-
way for these exchanges to occur.
On the other hand, NSEA's prima-
ry stakeholders - local disability
groups around the United States -
were being listened to, probably for
the first time by a major computer
developer and had the opportunity
to articulate how the technology
would best meet their needs.
The Growth of Accessible Com-
puter Technologies in Chapter 4 was
enabled by legislative changes - the
passing of the Technology-Related
Assistance for Individuals with Dis-
abilities Act of 1988 (Tech Act), and
the American Disability Act of 1990.
Petrick advances that the increased
availability of computer technology
enabled PwD among other things to
"have greater control over their own
lives and otherwise benefit from
opportunities that are taken for grant-
ed by individuals who do not have
disabilities." She succinctly connects
the availability of disability legislation
to a stronger sense of cultural identity
among PwD.
Chapter 5 focuses on the shift
to the graphical user interface (GUI)
from the old fashioned line com-
mands required of Microsoft's DOS
system. If you are a non-technical
person like me, the pleasure of not
having now to recall the exact com-
mands was appreciated when they
were replaced with the simple act of
pointing to an item of interest on the
∕

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