The Impact of ICT on a Person with Special Needs

The Impact of ICT on a Person with Special Needs

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Andrea is 11 years old and is in Year 6 of St. Francis R.C Primary

School in the south east of London, Peckham. She likes to go swimming,

play with her dog and have friends over. She been in four plays and

has even received two standing ovations. She has travelled abroad to

many places such as Italy, France, Belgium and Germany, next summer

she hopes to go to Scotland. Like most children her age, she is

interested in many things and can do a lot of things, but the

difference between them and her, is that Andrea can't walk, she has

spina bifida and uses a wheelchair to get around.

Spina bifida is an inherited disease. Someone born with spina bifida

has a opening in their spine, a healthy spine is closed to protect the

spinal cord, a bundle of nerves that send messages back and forth

between your brain and the rest of your body. The messages tell your

muscles to move so you can go such things as kick a ball or lift up a

pencil. The messages tell you about the sensations on your skin, you

know to pull your hand away from fire. When a baby is growing inside

its mother, the spine and spinal cord are developing. But sometimes

part of the spinal cord and spine don't grow the way they should,

leaving an opening where the spinal cord may stick out outside the

body. When this happens, a baby is born with spina bifida. Because of

the opening in the spine, the nerves of the spinal cord may be

damaged. A spinal cord that's damaged may not be able to do the

important job of getting messages to and from the brain. These

messages may not be able to get through if a person has spina bifida.

The person may not be able to move their muscles the way other people

do, this is called paralysis.

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