The role of computers in promoting independence for adults with learning disabilities: a forgotten history?

In the late 1980's and early 1990's I worked in two mental handicap hospitals in Staffordshire and two Adult Training Centres in Shropshire.

Bagnall Hospital where I used to work

My job was to use computers to help people with learning disabilities gain social and life skills such as shopping and travelling safely.

BBC Microcomputer with Touch Screen

This was a time when people with learning disabilities were moving out of big institutions into group homes in the community.

It was also a time when many people thought that computers could be really powerful tools to help people with learning disabilities improve their independence. 

Now thirty years later when life-story work is growing and many people with learning disabilities are talking and writing about their experiences of living in institutions, I have noticed that there are few, if any, stories about computers.

I think this is very strange and we need to ask some important questions about this:

Have we forgotten about the role that computers played in the lives of adults with learning disabilities in the 1980's and 1990's?

 Were computers as helpful in the past as researchers thought they would be or did they have very little influence on the lives of people with learning disabilities.

What can we learn from the history of computer use and experiences that can help us understand and develop good practices in supporting people to use technologies today?