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New Study on How Internet Helps Disabled

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May 27, 2000: This message was distributed by Papyrus News, a free e-mail distribution list on the global impact of information technology on language, literacy, and education. Feel free to forward this message to others, preferably with this introduction. For information on Papyrus News, including how to (un)subscribe or access archives, see <http://www.lll.hawaii.edu/web/faculty/markw/papyrus-news.html>.

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New Study Shows Internet Helps Community Lives of Disabled

WASHINGTON, May 18 /U.S. Newswire/ -- A Harris Poll online survey released at the U.S. Capitol today confirms that people with disabilities trail other Americans in their participation in the lives of their communities -- but finds the Internet is playing an increasingly important role in reducing this gap. The survey was conducted by Harris for the National Organization on Disability (N.O.D.) and sponsored by Aetna U.S. Healthcare.

"Online opportunities are expanding the horizons of people with disabilities," Harris Poll Chairman Humphrey Taylor told the hundreds of disability advocates, leaders of national organizations, and more than 20 members of Congress attending the event. "The Internet appears to be a powerful counterweight to social isolation." Forty-eight percent of people with disabilities say the Internet has significantly improved their quality of life, compared to 27 percent of those without disabilitities. Computer users with disabilities reported spending nearly twice as many hours online and using e-mail as others did.

Brewster Thackeray

National Organization on Disability

202-293-5960

ww.nod.org (sic)

___________________________________________________________________________

Carol Boyer

Project Associate

RESNA Technical Assistance Project

cboyer@resna.org <mailto:cboyer@resna.org>

703/524-6686, ext. 309


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Last updated: May 28, 2000 in Word 2000