Women and Technology – Part 2
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Welcome to our weekly CENMAC blog post
Women’s History Month – Women and Technology, Part 2 | by Mary Long, CENMAC Advisory Teacher
This week we share a variety of resources about women, technology and history that is accessible online. Also, we celebrate Helen Keller the deaf-blind activist, writer, journalist and ambassador who proved her disability was not debilitating.
Helen Keller, a deaf-blind activist who campaigned for the rights of disabled people. Through her work, she changed the law to make books available in braille in libraries.
BBC Teach
There is a whole host of teaching resources are available on the BBC Teach page, in celebration of women’s achievements in history. CENMAC especially like the short films that are available honouring the lives of women who have made an impact over the years.
To access the resources, including some fantastic short animations for use in the classroom, visit: www.bbc.co.uk/teach/teach/womens-history-month
Helen Keller
One of the films available profiles the life of Helen Keller, a deaf-blind activist who campaigned for the rights of disabled people. Through her work, she changed the law to make books available in braille in libraries. She also wrote many books, published worldwide, on a variety of social issues.
Helen Keller was an icon, and her determination to overcome her own disability to help others was truly inspirational. To find out more about her life, visit:
www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/history-ks3-helen-keller
Technology now, means that the difficulties experienced by Helen Keller, are becoming less of an obstacle. For example, people who have a vision impairment are able to use assistive technology to dictate their ideas or use devices to translate braille into text and vice versa. Ability Net have a comprehensive factsheet available on their website on vision impairment and computing: abilitynet.org.uk/factsheets/vision-impairment-and-computing
In the field of technology, and technological advances, women are playing a key role in design and development.
Apply to become a Technology Volunteer
Technology is empowering and it allows us independence to access information, to exercise consumer choice, to plan holidays, to enjoy global entertainment and to share our experiences.
RNIB’s technology volunteers ‘unleash this power, ensuring that blind and partially sighted people are not excluded from a connected world. Long before pac-man was eating pac-dots, volunteers were supporting people with sight loss to use technology. They help with a huge range of devices – from tablets to talking book players.’
Link to apply: www.rnib.org.uk/volunteering
RNIB’s top books for International Women’s Day
To mark International Women’s Day 2021, RNIB’s library team have selected their top non-fiction books that reveal stories of women from around the world. From We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to Bloody Brilliant Women: The Pioneers, Revolutionaries and Geniuses Your History Teacher Forgot to Mention by Cathy Newman. Click below to see their brilliant choices:
www.rnib.org.uk/connect-community/connect-lifestyle-and-leisure/reviews-about-books
Don’t forget you can share your CENMAC experiences for our CENMAC family to enjoy. Plus, sign up for our newsletter to read more about Women and Technology.
