BY HEIDI
ULRICHSEN
Rob DiMeglio is one of thousands, perhaps millions, of disabled
Canadians who benefits from 21st century technology.
Although almost completely blind, DiMeglio  can make use
of technology to read and use the Internet.
"I use a screen reader for the computer and a Kursweil reader
(an optical charater recognition program) to read handouts and
memos," says the man, who works as a computer trainer at the
Independent Living Resource Centre (ILRC) in Greater
Sudbury.
The centre provides support for people with disabilities to
remove barriers so they can lead independent lives and
contribute to society.
DiMeglio and about 50 other people gathered at Tom Davies
Square last Thursday for a celebration in advance of the
International Day for People With Disabilities, which took
place Sunday.
The awareness day, which is sanctioned by the United Nations,
aims to promote an understanding of disability issues and
mobilize support for the dignity, rights and well-being of
people with disabilities.
The theme of this year's event is the increasing role of
technology in the daily lives of people with disabilities.
DiMeglio, 31, was able to see when he was younger, but because
of a retina condition, his eyesight slowly faded when he was in
his 20s. He now gets around with the help of his guide dog, a
black Labrador retriever named Gabe.
Finding employment as a blind person has been frustrating, he
says. He is able to work at the ILRC because of assistive
technologies.
Earl Black, who uses an electric wheelchair because he is
partially paralyzed, also uses assistive technologies.
He has a hands-free cell phone with voice recognition
technology so he doesn't have to press buttons or hold a
receiver, and his wheelchair is much more advanced than it was
in the past.
"Before, you'd be uncomfortable in your chair and you'd have to
lay down in bed within eight hours," says Black, the special
needs co-ordinator at Laurentian University and chair of the
ILRC.
"Now, with the new technology and space-age material put into
the wheelchairs, you can sit longer and tilt the chairs in
different directions so they're more comfortable. There's also
shock absorbers."
Assistive technologies allow disabled people to graduate from
university and college and get good jobs, says Black.
The alternative is living on about $1,000 a month on Ontario
disability, he says.
"The technology that is available today makes people with
disabilities more independent, but also more employable," Black
says.
"If you give students the computers and technology that is
going to accommodate them in the classroom, they can get their
degree and a job. They can take the laptops out with them to
their place of employment."
In the 17 years Black has worked for Laurentian, he's seen many
disabled students go on to have successful careers.
He brings up the example of Aaron Marsaw who went blind in 1985
because of a brain tumour and cysts behind the optic nerve. He
has only two percent peripheral vision in his right eye.
Marsaw earned a BA from Laurentian in 1996 and attended the
University of Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship.
He returned to Canada to pursue a law degree at the University
of Toronto and was called to the bar in 2002.
Marsaw now provides legal counsel to the Department of
Indian Affairs and Northern Development.
Like Black and DiMeglio, Marsaw uses assistive technologies to
do his job, including screen reading software and the Kursweil
reader.
"Aaron comes back to Sudbury once in awhile and talks about his
life living with a visual impairment," says Black.
"Technology makes Aaron's life much easier. He doesn't have to
depend on magnifiers. He can have books read right back to him.
He can do more in an hour than he could five or six years
ago."
