AS somebody with a disability that badly affects my handwriting, I was appalled by the bigoted and ignorant remarks by CT Riley (HAS, May 5) about the use of IT in schools.

How well I remember my school days in the Sixties; the agonising struggle to get things down on paper with pen and pencil and having to tearfully leave home on Sunday night to go to a special boarding school on the outskirts of Newcastle.

Today, a child with a disability similar to the one I had would be issued with a laptop computer rather than sent away from home and treated like a leper like I was.

Having the use of a computer enables me to get things down on paper and enables me to participate in adult education.

Without a doubt, having a computer has liberated me from the most frustrating aspects of my disability.

In order to write on a computer you still require discipline, concentration, application and some intellect.

The development of computer technology is a continuation of the things that have improved the standard of life such as telephones, radio, television, high-speed transport and even anaesthetics.

I wonder if your correspondent thinks that we would all be better off without these things? – Peter J Brown, Middlesbrough.