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The course, put together by Enable Ireland and Microsoft, is aimed at enhancing the quality of life for people with physical disabilities through the use of assistive technologies. The students who are to graduate on Monday from the course are teachers and therapists who will offer the course to other learners.
"Really what this course has been about is training the trainers -- the people who will be working with the students and who will be demonstrating the advantages of technology for them," a Microsoft spokesperson told ElectricNews.Net.
Assistive technology enables people with disabilities to gain access to the same education, employment, communication and leisure opportunities as their peers. On Monday the graduates will be able to demonstrate some of the benefits to be gained through technologies, such as head-switches and on-screen keyboards, which can be used to operate a computer, power a wheelchair, or remotely turn on a television or a light switch.
Both Microsoft and Enable Ireland are understood to have invested significantly in assistive technology services in recent years.
According to the spokesperson, Microsoft has functioned as a corporate partner to Enable Ireland since October 2000 and has been supporting the charitable organisation financially, technically and through employee volunteers. Microsoft has provided up to EUR127,000 in support since then.
Directed by the community affairs department within Microsoft, employees from different parts of Microsoft have been allowed to take on tasks such as developing Enable Ireland's Web site and designing a training CD for the course. Content from the CD will eventually be used as an on-line training resource.
Other Microsoft employees helped organise a race day in September for Microsoft employees' families and friends which raised approximately EUR5,257 for Enable Ireland.
Enable Ireland, formerly Cerebral Palsy Ireland, is one of the largest national providers of services to people with physical disabilities.
More information on assistive technologies is at the Enable Ireland Web site.
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