by Marsha Welch

Created on: December 18, 2008   Last Updated: July 25, 2011

I am a low-income individual with limited mobility, but I still wish to be a productive member of society instead of drawing upon the already stressed Social Security disability system.

I also live in a rural area, which limits my access to public computers. If a person expects to work from home online, as a virtual employee, the need for broadband access is an important one. Certainly those people with their hands out awaiting everything that's "coming to them" do not consider the burden they become on those more fortunate; however should those disabled, yet willing to work, be excluded from the opportunity to earn their own living because a few people will abuse it? I'd like to think not.

Broadband probably doesn't seem that expensive to middle-income families, but for someone on the low wage end of the scale (not unemployed), this amount is a luxury they are unable to afford. If the only cost involved was the monthly service fee, it would be too expensive for me, but add to that the cost of initial installation and it borders on the unattainable.

In my job search, I found many opportunities for which I felt I was qualified, except that I did not have access to high-speed internet. Companies don't seem to have the time to deal with those of us who have slower dial-up internet connections. Yes, I can do the same things that those with broadband can do, but the companies give hiring consideration to high-speed operators. They even state in their job postings that high-speed is required. LiveOps, a company which employs many virtual customer service operators, with decent wages, is one of the companies to which I could not apply. There were many others, as well.

Although the employment issue was most important to me personally, there are other issues which come to mind which may affect others. Education springs to mind immediately, after watching my daughter struggle to get my creeping connection to download the information she needed for a school project, and my husband wait an inordinate amount of time to connect to his web-hybrid college courses, when he was very pressed for study time. To those with limited mobility, or no access to transportation, a dependable, fast home connection to the bank, bill payment centers and shopping for their needs, such as medications, supplies and even clothing and groceries would be a wonderful option. On every news broadcast you hear "for more information on this story, go to our website." Try downloading a news video on

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