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Norman Coombs was a history professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology 20 years ago. A blind man who used a computer mainly for speech synthesis, he directed his students to email their assignments to him. In electronic format, the material could be read to him by computer rather than relying on a human reader, and he could respond by email.

This made the educational process easier for him and faster and more efficient for both teacher and student. Eventually, with a grant provided by the university, his idea of using a computer as a communication aide for education blossomed into a pilot program that incorporated a teleconference component into his Modern American History class. Email replaced office visits, and teleconference-ing replaced classroom lectures.

The newly formatted course opened the door for those who did not have easy access to the campus to participate. Over time, new components such as Captioned Video (allowing the course to be taken by deaf students) were added to the online course. Coombs discovered that the newly created program allowed both blind and deaf students to interact in “classroom” activities in a way that felt both more personal and less arduous.

Online education classes are exploding in popularity. More and more schools are offering an ever-widening range of virtual classes. Students with disabilities have reaped the benefits. Richard Allegra, the director of Professional Development for the Association on Higher Education and Disability, says that “Anecdotal information suggests that online education classes for students with disabilities are most beneficial simply by nature of being flexible. The classes meet people’s schedules. If someone is at home mostly or doesn’t keep regular working hours, then online classes seem to work well for them. Also, the amount of course material that is offered in alternative formats has increased greatly.”