Bill McGarry (Internet advocate)

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Bill McGarry (born 1952) has been a long time advocate for the use of computer networks by people with disabilities.

In 1985, McGarry created the first electronic mailing list for discussion of disabilities. At that time, the word "handicap" had not yet become politically incorrect and McGarry's list was called The Handicap Digest. In a few years, McGarry moved the mailing list to a ListServ mailing list called L-HCAP

Soon, McGarry created the first disability-related Usenet newsgroup, misc.handicap. This was a moderated newsgroup and the articles from the Handicap Digest elist were also distributed through the misc.handicap newsgroup. The Google Usenet archives of misc.handicap are not complete and are missing several years worth of articles.

In the mid- and late-80's, McGarry created a number of new disability related resources available through various networks:

  • other ListServ mailing lists:
    • the Down-Syn list for Down Syndrome
    • the Blind News Digest for visual disabilities,
    • the ADA-Lawlist for any legal disability-related issues,
    • the Rare Disorder list
    • the Cerebral Palsy list.
  • A ftp and gopher site for disability related information files and programs.
  • A computer bulletin board system on the FidoNet network, called The Handicap News BBS.
  • A gateway between the FidoNet BBS message forums and the Usenet newsgroups and/or the ListServ mailing lists.

In the mid-1990's, McGarry moved from Connecticut to the state of Washington and closed down most of the resources. The misc.handicap newsgroup was changed to a non-moderated newsgroup, the L-HCAP mailing list, the Handicap News BBS and the ADA-Law was shut down.

McGarry continues to run the Down-Syn mailing list which now has close to 1000 subscribers.

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