Availability of things such as high-speed Internet access and the ability to create a personal website at inexpensive costs empower people with disabilities to become more independent. Internet connections with enough speed to allow things such as data and video transfers through personal websites and other forms of exchanges, as well as allowing for two-way voice transmissions, can assist in removing barriers that keep people with disabilities from fully participating in everyday activities such as education, employment, social interaction, and even civic responsibilities.

The United States Census from the year 2008 states that greater than fifty-million American citizens experience some form of disability; we represent this nation’s largest minority. America as a nation can not only benefit from the participation of people with disabilities through mediums such as the Internet and personal website social interactions – the lives of people with disabilities will be greatly enhanced through these same mediums. Text communications free persons who are deaf or hard of hearing; they are able to communicate through the Internet and their own websites, as well as captioned video on their own sites and elsewhere on the Internet.

High-speed Internet access opens up access to new services for people who experience physical disabilities. For example, online classes through a variety of community and other colleges, or the ability to consult with medical personnel or specialists in remote locations they might not otherwise be able to interact with. Through the Internet, people with disabilities have the ability to apply for jobs. Through our own websites, we can post resumes for potential employers to review. The ability to present applications and post resume’s on our own websites saves people who experience physical disabilities from having to make unnecessary trips – something I personally can appreciate.

The same high-speed Internet access provides people who are blind or visually-impaired with the opportunity to use synthetic voice or Braille displays, as well as a variety of screen readers or Dragon Naturally Speaking to communicate through their own website which they can create. These same tools can be used through high-speed Internet access for communication purposes with employers and many, many other services. Video relay services through high-speed Internet access provide people who are deaf with the ability to communicate with friends, family members and others through sign language via an online interpreter. People with learning disabilities who currently use dial-up Internet access are often discouraged from creating a website of their own, or interacting with others through the Internet, because of slow download speeds.

The need to increase the employment of people with disabilities through deployment of high-speed Internet is very great indeed. There are jobs that we could be doing from our own homes, such as a variety of administrative duties, sales, office work and more – if only we had greater access to high-speed Internet and inexpensive personal websites. I have found an inexpensive website host; the cost of high-speed Internet access is coming down. The next step is up to the employers of this nation. The economic benefits to America through savings of office space rentals alone represent a vast amount of money – people with disabilities simply must become a greater portion of the working population in America.

The ability to interact socially through the Internet cannot be understated. Isolation is something that destroys lives, I have witnessed this first-hand on a number of occasions. A simple website, social interactions with others, and friends – whether they are local or a distance away – changes lives for the better in many cases.