Information Technology Jobs Show Promise for Workers with Disabilities
From: Monster.com - 12/2004
By: Allan Hoffman

Workers with disabilities face a number of challenges in finding work,
especially due to the fact many employers do not know how to accommodate an
employee's disability. But according to disability experts, the IT industry
holds promise for workers with disabilities because of the variety of
technologies being used to help people cope with disabilities both at home
and in the workplace. IT workers, along with IT departments and employers,
may be among those most willing to push for technologically advanced
solutions, say advocates for people with disabilities. Some employers are
learning about these technologies as older workers develop disabilities, says
Vicki Hanson, co-chair of ACM's Sprecial Interest Group on Accessible
Computing (SIGAccess). "It's really the aging workforce that has people
concerned these days," she says, referring to the growing number of older
workers with visual impairments, hearing loss and other disabilities. "They
want to keep those workers on the job, and that opens the employer's eyes."
Often, the worker informs the employer about accommodations. "Employers on
the whole aren't as aware of what they can or should do," says Hanson, who
also is manager of the accessibility research group at IBM's T.J. Watson
Research Center. "Often they rely on the employee." Efforts are under way to
bring more workers with disabilities into IT and increase awareness of how
employees with disabilities can be accommodated with use of assistive
technologies. 

http://technology.monster.com/articles/itdisabled/