Israel’s House of Windows program is making computers and technology training accessible for hundreds of citizens with disabilities.
Adapting for Access
Two nights a week, Yossi S. shares his passion with the world. A 28-year old who lives in the Ramat Hadar neighborhood of Haifa, Israel, Yossi collects telephone cards. He has thousands. In the evenings, via Internet, he adds to his collection by exchanging cards with other collectors around the globe.
Though a road accident when he was seven left Yossi permanently and severely disabled, a groundbreaking program called House of Windows is enabling Yossi and other Israelis with disabilities to expand their worlds and extend their reach with the help of information technology.
Five Accessible CTCs
Launched in 2004—which Microsoft Israel dubbed the “Year of Accessible Technology”—House of Windows makes existing community technology centers (CTCs) accessible for people with disabilities. In addition to providing adaptive technology, the program offers free training in computing fundamentals along with courses in specific applications. House of Windows operates two centers—one in Rehovot, and the center that Yossi attends, in Haifa—and is opening three more. The centers serve elderly residents as well as people with autism, developmental disabilities, hearing impairments, and physical disabilities. The centers are open to the public.
“Unfortunately, in Israel there are only a few places in which people with handicaps are able to study and use computers freely,” noted Yuval Wagner, director of the Israel Internet Association, one of the organizations that sponsors House of Windows. “The (CTCs) should be of immense benefit to the handicapped population in Israel, whose need for computers in order to enjoy professional and social communication with the surrounding world is so much greater.”
Upward Mobility
Once a week, Yossi attends a computer course at the Leo Baeck Education Center in Haifa. “What really helps me,” he explains, “is the special arm rest which enables me to have control over the mouse, and the special chair which accommodates my twisted back.”
The first course Yossi took at the center taught him his way around the Internet and Microsoft PowerPoint. “I learned the basic computer skills, which opened up my world. I am now taking a FrontPage course together with my friends. It’s teaching us how to construct and build Web sites.” He says he hopes to build a site for a local organization that hosts social activities for people with disabilities.
Yossi works for “Hmeschacam,” a government organization that pays a token wage to people with disabilities who make basic household goods sold at shops throughout Israel. He hopes that the courses he’s taking through House of Windows will help him find what he calls “a proper job.”
“I would love to work in an office,” he says.
A Joint Partnership
Microsoft supports House of Windows in partnership with Access Israel, the Israel Association of Community Centers, and the Israeli Internet Association. Microsoft has made donations of cash, software, and curriculum to the project. In a country where an estimated 13 percent of the population is disabled (many from acts of terrorism), the centers are a welcome addition. Says Yossi, “These courses gave me the skills to work with computers and the confidence to expand my world and do new things.”
Find more information about House of Windows from Microsoft Israel
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