Absolutely agree with your comments, and yes it is not just the lack of access to the technology and the internet – there is also a need for adequate funding to provide local training and support. Web 2.0 and virtual world technologies are opening up new opportunities as well as leading to a new kind of digital divide. That is why we need to leverage as much support as possible to ensure that these issues are articulated in our responses to the National Productivity Commission Inquiry. It is an agenda I am pursuing in collaboration with several service providers and I know this is a concern of high priority for these groups.

Cheers

Denise

Thanks for sharing your concerns and experiences. As Robert has mentioned, the prize money from this award sponsored by Telstra will be used to further our research into improving accessibility to such technologies for people with disabilities. Our research has certainly identified the benefits of Web 2.0 and virtual worlds for people with disabilities as you so rightly argue. Similarly, our research has identified many barriers to people with disabilities including accessibility issues and affordability of both hardware and internet services. Our research, reported in the paper published in TJA reports on some of the solutions we are developing to address the accessibility issues. The funds from the award will be reinvested into this research to improve outcomes for people with disabilities as well as enabling us to progress other avenues of research regarding affordability issues. As Robert also mentions, we hope our ongoing research will enable us to present compelling evidence of the issues facing people with disabilities for consideration at the national level, including submissions to the PC Inquiry.

Thank you for sharing your experiences and for raising such important issues.

Best wishes

Denise

If you build it, they will come…