iPads may be great for a number of forms of reading, but it is turning out they also make great assistive devices for the disabled. The Unofficial Apple Weblog has a story about Owen Cain, a boy with a degenerative disease who is finding the iPad is improving his life considerably. Thanks to the iPad and both specialized and general-purpose applications, Cain can read books while barely able to move his fingers.
Furthermore, the multi-purpose iPad is considerably less expensive than a lot of single-purpose assistive medical devices, which can cost between $2,000 and $6,000. Not only does the iPad offer versatility through the thousands of available apps, but it has a lot of accessibility features for the handicapped (such as screen-reading functions) built right in.
Legislation has lagged behind the state of technology, failing to offer public funding for the purchase of multifunctional devices. However, bills to address this issue are under discussion .
