Those little ramps at sidewalk-street intersections that permit wheelchairs to easily negotiate those intersections have had an unintended consequence. Those who are older, who have difficulty stepping up and down, those who push wheeled carts, ride bikes or roller skate, also benefit from curb cuts.

Now it is time to make the Information Super Highway accessible to people with disabilities. Those ubiquitous "on-ramps" need to become accessible and barrier-free information and software "curb cuts". In the United States alone, there are more than 54 million people with significant disabilities. These disabilities vary in type and degree, visible and invisible. We can see the person who uses a wheelchair and the blind person with a cane or Seeing Eye Dog. Not so easily observed are the deaf and hard of hearing or those with learning disabilities. The information and services that computers, multimedia and the World Wide Web (WWW) have brought most of us are too often denied to people with disabilities.

Why, aside from sympathy (which most people with disabilities shun), should we, the abled, care? Ask Michael J. Fox, former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno...or Christopher Reeve, the actor famous for his portrayal of Superman. Within seconds of falling from his horse he became quadriplegic. Go To the Reeve-Irvine Research Center, Christopher Reeve, http://www.reeve.uci.edu/partreeve.html.