How Technology can Improve the Lives of People with Special Needs

As our world continues to progress to being even further dependent on technology, and incorporating what technology and social media has to offer to us into our lives every day, we forget that not everyone has the capability to understand themselves the benefits it brings into our lives. People with developmental disabilities or special needs are often unaccounted for in many aspects, and because many of them are dependent on their caregivers, parents, and teachers, they do not have the independence to seek out technology usages on their own. Media and technology have the power to greatly impact the lives of individuals with developmental disabilities. Increasing the presence of technology and media into the lives of people with special needs can open them up to an entire new world of independence and creative learning and enjoyment. It offers social outlets, independence in education and online usage, as well as many educational aspects in the classroom. 

This is an image from the short documentary on technology and the lives of people with developmental disabilities.

People who have developmental disabilities are a part of this media era, and teachers and parents alike need to learn more on how to incorporate and teach their child or student how technology can help advance or make their lives better. It can allow for individuality and independence, as I have seen my sister finally being able to order her own groceries or toys online, and even watching videos on how to read and learning to sound out letters better. Along with this, social media is providing an answer to many of the issues of isolation in the special needs community. People are able to communicate with their friends online when they cannot always tolerate the overwhelmingness of seeing people in person, and it also allows for them to connect with people on social media, instead of constantly feeling left out of the lives people without disabilities live. Being able to pick what they are watching, watch youtube videos about their disability, and even just looking at the photos their peers are sharing on social media, all provide possible opportunities that are not available if they are not taught how technology and media can be utilized to improve daily life.

Wendy Lavarre discusses how technology and social media have greatly improved the life of her daughter with special needs.

 Because people with special needs are often dependent on the people in their lives to help guide them, this documentary I created discusses the importance of helping your child or student learn to use technology in order to build connections and learn. The opportunities with social media and technology are endless, and are only going to become even more incorporated into our lives and provide more types of entertainment or education opportunities as the world progresses, so that is why it is so meaningful to become educated on this topic and find out how you too, can help teach your child these means of becoming independent and connected in the society we all live and function in. This documentary is about my family and my sister with special needs, and how we have seen technology change and impact her life in so many positive ways, so that people can connect to it and understand firsthand the positive aspect of our technological life and how we can only help our siblings, children, peers, and students grow and develop skills utilizing what there is out there online.

You can access the short documentary here: https://vimeo.com/658715985/423edee7d0