Old Computers And New Dreams

Not everyone loves computers. Ann Landers, for instance, worries that too many men and women are starting affairs on-line. Anti-technology groups fear the mind-numbing potential of computers. And how about that Unabomber? Enough said.

But even die-hard computer skeptics might rethink their views were they to meet the disabled men, women and children who were once doomed to silence or who experienced immense frustrations trying to communicate with others.

Meet the disabled engineer who can do all his work via computer. Meet the child with cerebral palsy who cannot speak but who can press a picture on a screen to relay a message. Meet the quadriplegic woman whose voice-activated computer turns on the television and answers the phone.

Computers have opened up the world of work - and school - to people with disabilities. It has allowed them to socialize with others - sometimes without even leaving home. In the Sunday Spokesman-Review, writer Julie Titone described the machines - and the people - at this new frontier. People such as Dorothy Haenle.

Haenle is a full-time volunteer for the Easter Seal Society in Spokane. She matches old computers with the needs of the disabled. Haenle, a retired occupational therapist, saw firsthand how computers opened new worlds. When she worked for the Spokane School District, she met a boy who could not speak or use his hands. Computers helped him ask questions, finish his education. He recently graduated from Eastern Washington University.

Easter Seals now has 82 computers to loan out to Inland Northwest residents. Andrea Swenson, age 9, has benefitted from the program. She has cerebral palsy and very limited movement, but she can operate a computer by nudging a switch next to her head.

The Easter Seals’ computer loan program has a waiting list, of course. That’s where the rest of us come in.

If you have an old computer standing idle in an attic or a basement, find out if it can be put to better use.

Easter Seals, or other organizations that help people with disabilities, might be able to find your old computer a new home. Color Macintosh computers and IBM-compatible machines that operate Windows are especially desirable. But you never know how a creative mind can use a discarded computer. (Here are the numbers for Easter Seals - 328-9350 or (800) 214-8731).

So dust that old computer off, get it back into circulation. Help open up a world of ideas for someone who needs it more than words can ever say.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Rebecca Nappi/For the editorial board