Graphic design using a computer isn't something that is that new. For years people have produced magazines newspapers and various other articles using a computer in one way or another, but it used to been the large corporation or business using very expensive equipment. Nowadays home computers are in abundance.

No longer do they play simple games but you can use them as an intelligent type writer, for home finance and computer artwork that the worst artist can be proud of. Even the games are brilliant!

It is from computer design that a whole new area of computing has emerged, that is Desktop Publishing. Computers and printers are so much smaller that it is possible type, design and print many types of publication from your desk-top, hence the name desktop publishing. A publication could be anything from a book to a newsletter to a one page design for an advert or small leaflet. In fact anything can be presented with style and impact without the need for numerous typed copies, tippex, pens, pencils, rulers or paints etc. etc.

This is also very good news for disabled people especially those who have lost arm or hand co-ordination or are paralysed from the neck down. As computer design has improved so have the ways that people can operate computers advanced, to the point where only a small head movement can operate a computer. Not only simple computers but advanced machines that are not designed for disabled people specifically, but with extra equipment can be controlled as well as any able bodied person.

This may sound very expensive but for the same cost of a good electric wheelchair a disabled person can be given the freedom to write his own letters, draw, design and use computers for many more applications. Writing complex music, accounting and architectural design are all within the reach of even the most severely disabled person.

Mark Bosanquet-Bryant