The BCS Assistive Technology Specialist Group

Welcome to the new Assistive Technology Specialist Group!

The new Assistive Technology Specialist Group is dedicated to furthering the practice of Assistive Technology in the UK.

The ATSG is now in the process of formation, furthering the important work of the disbanding BCS Disability Group. We are dedicated to providing a place for professionals to meet and discuss issues, to encourage good practice and the use and development of Assistive Technology, and to encourage communication between professionals, developers and actual end-users.

We have a blog where we post articles giving in-depth information on AT and links to new AT developments, a wiki where you can find reference information on AT (and contribute some!) and a Mailing List where you can see our discussions and join in the conversation, including searching our archives.

If you've read all that and are interested in joining then please see How to Join. Welcome to the Group, and let's make things better together!

Contact Details

Alasdair King
alasdair.king@bcs.org.uk
Tel: +44 7983 244 131

Mailing list

Subscribe to the BCS Assistive Technology Specialist Group using Google Groups. Just enter your email address into the field below. Alasdair will confirm your membership.

Email:

Visit this group

You send emails to the list by emailing bcs-atsg@googlegroups.com. Alasdair will have to approve your membership (for spam, security and accessibility reasons.)

You can also:

Join the list by emailing bcs-atsg+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Leave the list by emailing bcs-atsg+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com

About the Group

The new Assistive Technology Specialist Group exists to foster the development and use of assistive technology.

The objectives of the new group are:

To provide a place for people who work in AT to talk to each other at a professional level.
To encourage IT professionals to use and develop assistive technology.
To foster constructive communication between practitioners and users of assistive technology.

The Assistive Technology Specialist Group is:

A confidential place to meet users and practitioners and discuss issues between professionals. Meet other people in the industry and user groups.
A place to find out about AT from the professional and technical perspective. Find out how things are done or should be done.
Somewhere you can find practitioners and users speaking to each other as equals. Understand where the "other side" is coming from.

The Assistive Technology Specialist group is not:

An end-user support group. We won't help you install Flash.
An assistive technology development group. We won't develop any AT.
A political group. We won't discuss models of disability or social policy.

In practice, this means that we'll discuss AT problems and solutions, exchange emails, present at conferences and trade fairs,support research and development, and try to help people and practitioners.

Join the Group

If you are already a BCS member, simply login to the members' secure area of the BCS website and select the Join Specialist Groups link. You will be able select the groups you want to join (a maximum of five). There is also an ATSG Group in the new Network section of the BCS website, which you can join without being a formal ATSG member: ATSG Network Group on the BCS website.

If you are not a BCS Member, then we will respect the previous open-door policy of the old Disability Group while we transition to the new Assistive Technology Specialist Group. Get in touch and we'll set up your membership for 2009, with the proviso that you might have to benefit from the wonders of BCS membership next year! The easiest thing is to email Alasdair at alasdair.king@bcs.org.uk

You can of course join the BCS right now.