MITS Freedom Stick--Making Computer Use More Accessible

Ira Socol, a colleague of mine who has been working on his Ph.D. at Michigan State University, has a theory--Toolbelt Theory--which he has been blogging on for several years at SPeEDchange, his blog.  He's currently working with Michigan's Integrated Technology Supports (MITS) on this possibility. The idea, which I am probably oversimplifying, is that people who need to have certain adaptations made in order to access content on a computer, should be able to carry their tools with them. In essence, the tools, stored on a USB flash drive, would allow them to customize any computer to their needs. He's currently working with Michigan's Integrated Technology Supports (MITS).

Picture of 3 flash drives. Source: secretarydpu.wordpress.com

Well, he's finally unveiled The MITS Freedom Stick, adapted and improved from a Scottish suite of applications stored on a flash drive. The MITS Freedom Stick is "designed to provide students with information and communication access on any computer using a Windows or Linux operating system."  The best part about this "toolbelt" is that nothing needs to be installed on any computer, it's all self-contained on a 4 gigabyte (4GB) USB flash drive which you provide (and can be purchased for under $20).  The applications can be downloaded for free, at the MITS website.  There are instructions for customization at the link, and there's room on the flash drive for storing the files created by the user.


This suite of tools became possible through a collaboration between MITS, the Regional Support Center – Scotland North and East, the Mozilla Corporation, and Mozilla Education.
With netbooks available for under $300, this brings basic computer accessibility down to an incredibly affordable range for students in upper elementary and middle school, and beyond.   What impresses me is that this means that there are few excuses for students with learning disabilities to be unfamiliar with the tools housed on the MITS Freedom Stick by the time they enter college. Parents and teachers will need to be prepared to become skilled users of these tools, to help reinforce their learning. The hope that I have for this suite of tools is that it will enable more students to become independent of others' help earlier, so that a less steep learning curve is required of them when they reach post-secondary education.