Today’s blog is from June Olsen, a writer for Online Schools. Take a look at her work at Schools www.onlineschools.org/education-debate/contributors/.

Veteran Schooling and Assistive Technology

For many US veterans, the adjustment back to civilian life is not easy. After the hugs and tearful reunions subside, the hard realities of a competitive job-market set in. For those coming back with new injuries and disabilities, the the move into full-time work, enrolling in school, even an online university, or simply accomplishing mundane, everyday tasks becomes exponentially difficult.

The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have resulted in proportionately fewer American casualties on the battlefield than in past wars, according to The Huffington Post. Advances in medical treatment have aided medics in keeping soldiers alive despite severe and complex injuries. Once the injuries are healed, however, veterans must readjust with bodies that have completely new challenges, and more those who are used to being at their physical peak, this can be difficult. To aid these veterans, tech companies now have an assortment of products that help veterans accomplish many goals that, a few years ago, few would have thought possible.

Microsoft has been one of the companies offering many advanced technological options for wounded veterans. An article from Microsoft News Center details the story of Jonathan Kuniholm, a veteran who understands the struggles that many face when returning home with new disabilities. On New Year’s Day, 2005, Kuniholm’s US Marines Reserve unit was ambushed near the Euphrates River in Iraq. The attack killed one of his fellow soldiers and left Kuniholm with injuries necessitating the amputation of his right arm below the elbow.

Kuniholm is a PhD candidate in bio-mechanical engineering at Duke University and a partner at Tackle Design Inc., in Durham N.C. He is also instrumental in Tackle’s Open Prosthetics Project, with a goal of creating innovative prosthetic devices and publishing those designs online, so that people around the world can use, customize or improve on the designs. In the Microsoft News Center article, Kuniholm asserts that despite massive leaps in prosthetic leg technology, there hasn’t been significant improvement in arm prostheses in about 20 years. “Standard components are made using mass-manufacturing techniques, and the most common hand designs have been made since the First World War,” according to Kuniholm.

While advances in assistive technologies are making them more useful than ever, with high tech comes an increase in price as well. According to Popular Mechanics, an artificial limb can cost upwards of $100,000. In order to offset the cost to veterans, the US government and the VA support offer alternative financing programs. These programs provide funding to offset the cost of assistive technology ranging from prosthetics and eyeglasses to speech correction and training in one-handed typing. According to the VA, “Where feasible and medically necessary, the VA with purchase, make or repair the item in question for eligible veterans as part of outpatient care or when the veteran is receiving hospital, domiciliary or nursing home care in a vA facility.”

Prosthetist and below-the-knee amputee Rick Riley suggests that despite all the technology, the success or failure of assistive technology is, in the end, dependent on the disposition of end-user. For veterans still suffering from PTSD or simply struggling with the pressures of returning to education or the workforce, this may be the greatest hurdle of all. Chase Clark, for example, is a veteran whose story was detailed in University Business who sustained battlefield injuries that left him severely and permanently injured. Clark is a landscape architecture student in Idaho, who thanks assistance programs for his ability to focus on schooling. Due to emotional trauma, he refuses to go into detail about his injuries, though he eventually accepted physical therapy and assistance with vocational rehabilitation that has allowed him to pursue his degree.

Advancements in technology have helped save soldiers’ lives on the battlefield and are allowing them to readjust to society better than ever before. New communication technology has even allowed veterans like Kuniholm to share his progress in disability assistance with a global audience. With advancements that are increasingly user-friendly, the anxiety and challenges that come with body-altering injuries will hopefully continue to diminish, allowing our veterans to pursue any quality of life they choose to pursue.