Implications for the Classroom and Beyond proved to be one of the Program's most ambitious and influential meetings. The forum featured demon strations of the use of communications technologies to accommodate the needs of disabled students. This type of universal design will benefit all users, not merely those with disabilities. As information technologies become more important in the workplace, the classroom, and the home, accessibility also becomes more important. The National Information Infrastructure must not be off-limits to people with disabilities.
Accessible technology has implications beyond education.
For example, telemedicine will help bring medical advice to geographically isolated people, and telecommuting will reduce chronic unemployment and underemployment among people with disabilities. The Annenberg Washington Program's most recent work in this area examines the special communications issues confronting people with disabilities when disasters strike. The report is the first step toward sensitizing the disaster response community to the special needs of people with disabilities and facilitating a dialogue between the two groups. The Annenberg Washington Program has demonstrated a longstanding com mitment to improving the use of communications to serve all people, including the 50 million Americans with disabilities. It has also worked to educate policymakers, industry officials, the press and the public about the Act and its implementa tion, and to facilitate discussions among these groups and disability organiza tions.