AT Program News Blog

Are Your State Assistive Technology Regional Centers Listed at Proloquo2Go.com?

I just got off the phone with a new coordinator of an AT Regional Center in Boston. She told me this inspiring story that I thought I'd share. The Proloquo2Go Web site has a state-by-state resources page to identify places to go see this communication app on an iPad. A colleague at the Center noticed the local children's hospital was listed and thought they should be listed too. They submitted their information and since doing so, a short time ago, they've had close to a dozen calls from people who need AAC (augmentative and alternative communication).

Many of the people calling the ATRC have heard about the iPad and Proloquo2Go, but not about AAC in general. Some have seen the 60 Mins report (that failed to mention the long history of dedicated AAC devices that lay the groundwork for Proloquo2Go). One man's family went to the Proloquo2Go site because his doctor told him he needed an iPad. He has a fast moving progressive disease and his family knew nothing about assistive technology in general. Thanks to the listing on the Proloquo2Go Web site resources page, this family is now connected with an AT Regional Center operated by Easter Seals in Boston, and will learn about a full range of solutions, including the AAC solutions that can work for him as his needs change.

Are your state AT Regional Centers listed at Proloquo2Go?

Vermont AT Reuse Project Receives Governor's Award

Project Coordinator Sharon Alderman attributes recognition, in part, to the growth of Vermont's AT School Exchange

Congratulations are in order to the Vermont Assistive Technology (VT AT) Reuse Project. In June the project received the 2011 Governor's Award for Environmental Conservation Excellence in Justice and Sustainability. VT AT Reuse initiatives include the Medicaid Equipment Reuse Project (recapturing publically-funded durable medical equipment for those who need it), the Assistive Technology Exchange in New England (a Craig's list style device "swap and shop"), and the Assistive Technology Exchange for Vermont Schools (helping share equipment among schools). "We received the award because our programs effectively  and uniquely achieve the award's ideals," notes VT AT Reuse Coordinator Sharon Alderman.  "We're lucky to operate in a state that values both environmental conservation and economic justice." Indeed, in federal fiscal year 2010, VT AT Reuse helped find a second life for over 285 Adapted Vehicles, DME and AT items, keeping many devices out of landfills and closets and in the hands of Vermonters with disabilities.

AT School Swap Now Includes 57% of Vermont's Supervisory Unions/Districts

Alderman is particularly encouraged by the growth of the AT Exchange for Vermont Schools (AT School Swap). The initiative helps Vermont schools share AT for the benefit of students with special needs. In June of 2009, nine months after launch, the AT School Swap had 16 VT Supervisory Unions signed on to share unused AT. As of October 2011, the program has grown to include 34 participating Supervisory Unions, 57% of the state's total. "It's steady growth. It doesn't yet reflect big savings to schools--just $19,000 in FY2010--but we're getting there."

The AT School Swap concept began as a way to keep devices out of school closets and with students who need them. As student needs change or they graduate or move out of district, many items go unused. By learning about and agreeing to exchange unutilized equipment, schools would have affordable fast access to AT. The first task, however, was getting schools on board.

Alderman believes Vermont is succeeding because it's  flexible with how people use and access the School Swap. Participants do not have to share or sell anything they don't want to, and they learn about available and needed equipment in different ways. "We started with a web-based approach akin to the getATstuff platform [the Web site for the AT Exchange in New England]. But we realized that the School Swap site would have to be just one tool among many needed to establish a reuse network with schools." Alderman estimates that 40-50% of AT School Swap users do not make use of the Web site directly and prefer email and the toll free number. "Monthly email updates are a reminder that we're here, that equipment is available, and it puts school system needs under the noses of authorized swap-users around the state. Swap participants don't have to remember to periodically go to the site to search equipment. But we are encouraging them to post there, and slowly it is happening."

A web-based school swap system may be achievable, even inevitable, down the road. But in the meantime, Alderman's "coordinator" position is aptly titled. Alderman and her interns learn of available equipment, and devices sought, by phone and email (often in response to their monthly email), and frequently connect donors and sellers with recipients.

An AT Reuse Concierge?

Providing reuse "concierge" services is achievable in a state with a population that's not quite 626,000 (2010 Census), and builds program buy-in among participants--who in the case of the AT School Swap are school personnel in a position to network with one another. Alderman, however, has also become a point person for reused AT among state agencies, the medical community (including skilled nursing facilities and rehabilitation centers), private non profits, and most recently the Vermont FEMA disability coordinator (post Tropical Storm Irene). And she is able to directly assist individual consumers; the getATstuff site allows administrators to see visitors and what listings they view, which means she may contact them to offer help.

 
VT AT Program staff accept Governor's Award  

Indeed with the research assistance of Alderman and her interns, Vermont schools, individuals and families, nursing facilities, non profits and others have received devices through in-state as well as interstate initiatives. Reuse programs as far away as Kansas and Georgia have provided equipment to Vermonters with specific needs.

Congratulations Vermont!

VT AT Reuse Project Nuts and Bolts:

• 1 full-time project coordinator initially funded through a Medicaid infrastructure grant.
• 2 part-time skilled interns majoring in marketing and mechanical/bio medical engineering at area colleges. Alderman's interns have created marketing materials and press releases as well as data tracking systems.
• $1,447,707 have been saved by consumers (over the cost of new equipment) since the VT AT Reuse Project's inception in FY2008.

Project Partners: 

• VT AT Reuse Project is an initiative of the VT Assistive Technology Program which is part of the Dept. of Disabilities, Aging, and Independent Living and the VT Family Network (a private non profit).
• GetATStuff.com was developed and is maintained by a consortium of the six New England states.
• The AT School Swap platform is maintained by 3 states of this consortium: VT, CT, and MA (site improvements are ongoing),
• ReSTORE in Barre, a division of ReSource in VT, has initiated an AT-DME area with the support and technical assistance of the AT Reuse Project (and an initial donation of medical equipment from New England Medical to the VT AT Program).
• Yankee Medical and other DME vendors are providing additional supports to the project.

Learn more:

Download the Vermont AT School Swap Power Point. This is a very detailed overview of VT's AT School Swap which Alderman presented last January at ATIA 2011 Orlando.

Attend "Optimizing AT Resources in Schools: School Swap and More" on Saturday, Jan. 28th at ATIA 2012 Orlando presented by Sharon Alderman with Liz Persaud and Carolyn Phillips of the Pass It On Center.

Contact:

Sharon Alderman
project coordinator, VT AT Reuse Project
Nationwide Toll Free 1-888-827-2714

Nebraska's AT4ALL (Does It All)

An overview of Nebraska's popular equipment reutilization platform from Program Coordinator Barbara Schultz

Our Web site address evokes our mission statement--assistive technology 4 all ages, disabilities, and locations in Nebraska--but our impact has gone beyond state lines. AT4ALL.com was developed in 2005 to help Nebraska achieve its statewide mission by providing an easy online tool for individuals with disabilities and others to learn about and locate assistive technology. Today 12 additional states have adopted the platform, customized for their own use.

AT4ALL's structure is popular because its database is integrated. The site allows users to search for equipment available for demonstration, short-term loan, or reuse (sale or donation) in just one step, utilizing one search box. Users may also list equipment to sell or give away, or they may post "want ads" for items they cannot find. Visitors exploring the site to learn about AT by category are also directed to find what is available to try from those pages. In short, the site quickly takes visitors from learning and exploration to the opportunity "try before they buy."

Benefits for consumers and professionals

• Visitors to the site can browse recent listings and search for equipment by name, category, zip code, price or whether an item is free, for sale, loan or demonstration. Photos and links to the manufacturers are included and items can be bookmarked for future reference. 
• Persons who do not have access to the internet can call for assistance to access the equipment available on the website. 
• In Nebraska, in-state partners utilize the site to share their equipment, including the Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Centers for Independent Living, schools, and non-profit organizations.

Benefits for administrators

• Streamlines federal reporting. The site tracks inventory and activity (equipment loaned, reused, exchanged, as well as demonstrations), generates a variety of reports, and uses a federal auditing tool developed by Nebraska (to flag issues that need addressing). 
• Provides tools for managing site activity. This includes automatic email reminders/overdue equipment notices and a Loan Agreement Form. The form printed for transactions includes the device's Web site ID number, its value, and the borrower's information. Terms, a liability statement, and the user's signature are also included, along with the required federal satisfaction survey. 
• Includes a Quick Start Guide for users and a resource manual for managers.

Lessons learned

✓The database template is adaptable and expandable as states' needs change or federal reporting requirements shift.  

✓ Expanded usage across states assures usability with emerging technologies and 508 compliance.

For the states in this consortium, the relationship is "win-win." Each state program shares in the cost of hosting the Web site and votes on annual upgrades. Three additional states are considering the database to manage their program in 2012.

Interested? For more information contact me:
(402) 471-1301  barbara.schultz@nebraska.gov

The Reuse ReMEDy for Birmingham

Birmingham Baptist Association taps a deep need for durable medical equipment with the help of STAR, Alabama's Assistive Technology Resource

Over the last fifteen years, Alabama's STAR Program (through the Dept. of Rehabilitation Services) has used its limited federal AT Act dollars to develop a statewide network of equipment reuse programs through public-private partnerships. It's a model the Pass It On Center--the national provider of reuse program technical assistance--has been working to highlight. STAR's diverse partners range from disability services organizations, like Easter Seals and United Cerebral Palsy, to low-income and faith-based charities, like Goodwill and the Birmingham Baptist Association (BBA). STAR offers its modest grants to community-based organizations that already have the infrastructure, sense of purpose, and community roots to nurture and establish successful reuse initiatives within their communities. In return, equipment reuse programs are often effective outreach for their private partners, raising awareness of the full range of services their host agencies provide.

Reused Medical Equipment Donated by you (ReMEDy) is one such program. It started in 2009 when a long-established faith-based charity--the Birmingham Baptist Association (BBA)--applied for STAR support to begin a durable medical equipment (DME) reuse project in western Birmingham. Although Birmingham is Alabama's largest city (pop. 212,000), up until that time people seeking refurbished power chairs, gently used walkers, shower chairs, etc. had to drive the 60 miles to STAR's Reclaim/Refurbish/Reuse (3-R) Project in Anniston. This was true despite the logical need for DME reuse in a city where 27.8% of residents live at or below the poverty line and nearly a third of whom do so with some form of disability (2010 US Census data).

What helped successfully launch ReMEDy and what has the program learned along the way? AT Program News had the opportunity to speak with both Branum and Helen Baker, executive director of Alabama's STAR Program. Below is more of what they shared.

Origins

According to Branum, Debbie Duke, director of Congregational Nursing Program for Baptist Health System (BHS), "clocked a lot of time driving to Anniston for equipment until she asked why we didn't have a reuse program right here." BBA is the parent organization to BHS (which runs four hospitals). 3-R Project staff referred Duke to Helen Baker, executive director of Alabama's STAR Program to discuss the idea. "The answer, it turned out, was that no one had ever asked before."

In 2007, Duke brought the situation to the attention of Princeton Hospital's Director of Chaplains, Lynn Gavin who helped run with the idea. "He was frustrated advocating for seniors, learning that insurance providers wouldn't pay the $85 for a shower chair. He wanted other options." Gavin helped pulled together meetings with reps from BHS and BBA. Eventually BBA Director Mike McLemore, and others from BBA (including Branum) went to meet with Baker.

BBA's Community Assets

For BBA, identifying the need for a DME reuse project met with perfect timing. In 2009, BBA was in the process of creating initiatives for a new ministry center in western Birmingham--the Center at Central Park. The Center would re-purpose a large BBA church facility that had once housed a congregation of close to 3,000 people and was now down to fewer than 100. There was space to adopt. Also helpful was the Center's location; western Birmingham is a distressed community in need of revitalization, and an ideal location for a program offering free durable medical equipment. Of course it helped, too, that BBA has an over 100 year history of operation within the community including the provision of health care. Today ReMEDy is the Center's cornerstone initiative, anchoring and raising awareness of other Center offerings.

Program Nuts and Bolts:

• Two half-time staff members operate the program. Branum and an administrative assistant, Myra Patterson, are tracking data, writing grants, training and coordinating volunteers, sanitizing and finding storage for equipment, and responding to community requests and donations.
• Marketing has been largely word-of-mouth, both through established healthcare networks and among community members served.
• Equipment transport is provided by equipment donors and recipients whenever possible, and by program staff when not.
• ReMEDy provides a monthly inventory to STAR that is incorporated with other reuse centers' inventories and posted on the STAR Program Web page. (STAR is looking at converting to the AT4ALL data system--see the AT4ALL article this edition).

Additional Program Partners:

• The Community Foundation of Birmingham provides a $15,000 grant.
• AT&T organizes a twice-yearly equipment drive among its 2000+ area employees.
• In addition to BBA, local churches--including the United Methodist church across the street--donate storage space, volunteers, and financial support.

Lessons Learned:

• Do not reinvent the wheel. "One of the keys to starting a program," Branum asserts, "is that you go see one that is active." Branum and McLemore studied how the 3-R program in Anniston is organized. Eventually Branum also visited the Huntsville and Montgomery programs, as well as FODAC in the neighboring state of Georgia. Branum learned about sanitizing equipment, storage, inventory, and policies and procedures through the PIOC online knowledge base, and by attending two PIOC conferences in Atlanta.
• Negotiate your liability insurance at the outset. BBA's insurance provider would not cover a DME reuse program that includes equipment involving breathing or blood, and ReMEDy had to assure that they would have safe practices with the mobility and seating equipment they loan out.
• Get trained on data reporting. Branum credits Baker for providing training on how to effectively track and report data. STAR requires that certain data be consistently collected and reported as a requirement of the STAR grant.
• Document as you train others. Branum is creating a manual he calls "The ReMEDy System" to house all the necessary forms and other program documentation, policies and procedures, and systems for program operation. "It's hugely complicated if you don't grow up with it," he realizes. On the statewide level, Baker is also making use of the ReMEDy start up experience, and is at work on a manual: "How to Start a Reuse Center" which will include a policies and procedures template.
• Be flexible with equipment transport. "Our program would be in its infancy if we had said from the outset that we would never collect or deliver equipment. We had to be willing to go to people's homes and work with them." Branum has been using his own vehicle and trailer, but recently received a donated cargo van for this purpose.
• Keep learning. Branum is facing challenges with building the program's capacity to meet the rising demand for services. He plans to explore Americorp/Vista internships and additional grant sources. Baker is looking to bring together additional stakeholders to discuss ongoing sustainability.
• Create a network of reuse programs. On the state level, Baker is working to connect the STAR reuse programs more closely for sharing and problem-solving. She has recommended, and is in the process of developing, a statewide AT Reuse Network and Summit among other initiatives.

Learn more about the Alabama STAR reuse network:

Check out the PIOC 08/31/11 webinar on partnerships to expand reuse. Helen Baker provides a lively overview of the STAR reuse network.

Contact: Helen Baker, executive director of Alabama's STAR Program

Explore PIOC Knowledge Base modules:

• A model reuse program operating budget is available under Finance>Budgeting

• Marketing/PR provides over a dozen articles ranging from "Community awareness--developing a strategy" to targeted advice, such as "Press Releases--how to use."

• Sustainability offers strategies ranging from capacity building and funding to stakeholder engagement.

Igniting Student Writing with Storybird

One tech-savvy parent's just-in-time classroom intervention 

Last year my second-grader was learning to hate writing. "It's the worst part of the day," he'd say. "I can never think of anything to write about!"  

His teacher, it turned out, used no prompts and fiction was outlawed. ("Their plots are too messy at this age" she told me.) Writing periods were spent practicing the structure of a paragraph among other prescriptive tasks.  

Back in graduate school, I'd had the opportunity to teach high-schoolers a summer course I called "Writing with Passion for School and for Yourself." Now I was wondering how I could also show my son that writing is satisfying, nourishing and essential. How could I show his class? (After all, I'm a writer not an educator.)

At an AT Advisory Council meeting in December, I took the opportunity to share my woes with Karen Janowski. Janowski is an educational technology and AT specialist working with public schools in Massachusetts (see "ReThinking: He Doesn't Want to be Seen as Different" in the sidebar). I told Janowski about my son, how he receives reading room support and hates writing so much he gets angry with waitresses who bring him crayons.

She recommended trialing Storybird.com, a free online storytelling program. Storybird allows users to create gorgeous picture books by selecting graphics by participating artists, and writing accompanying text. The site is durable for young students; once logged in, student projects are automatically saved as they work. Once a book is finished, the project may be published online and/or ordered in hard copy.

Back at my son's school (in Vermont), a group of parents and I decided to tackle integrating Storybird into his class of 20 first- and second-graders. For guidance I enlisted the support of the reading specialist (she met with me on her own time and attended class when she could manage it). To get into the weekly schedule, I took over the class computer lab (unstructured time used solely for learning the keyboard and playing games). And to motivate the kids, I got a grant from the PTO to buy one soft-cover copy of each student's book for them as a keepsake.

My Goals:

• To give the students a writing project that was completely theirs.
• To envision themselves as published authors (elevate their task and sense-of-self).
• To introduce them to the elements of a story (concepts of plot, character, and setting--part of the state standards).
• To provide motivation for learning basic word processing skills and sentence construction.
• To model my own love of writing.
• To have fun.

Nuts and Bolts:

• To introduce the unit, I showed them a Storybird I wrote (above) which incorporated some of their first names to get them excited. (Here is the Google Doc slide presentation I used to guide them on that first day. Be sure to click on the speaker notes).
• To ensure enough time, including time to learn and play with the Web site, we met weekly for over four months of the school year.  
• The first set of weeks was spent writing individual stories; the last half we spent in small groups on collaborative works (adult facilitated!)
• Collaborative stories were shared in a final wrap-up celebration using a SMART Board.  
• At the end of the school year, the students chose which stories they wanted the PTO to purchase (their individual or their group project).

The Devil in the Details:

• 4 adults helped in computer lab each week.
• I pre-registered each student at home to create simple user names and passwords.
• I used a projected screen to help guide them through log-in and tools.  
• To maximize class time, eventually we learned to arrive early to pre-log them in, choosing who would sit where for a quieter classroom (it worked!)
• We came up with some parameters: no project could be over 20 pages, and words must accompany every page.
• One parent made colorful, paper "choosing hats" for drawing names when conflicts in small groups needed resolving.
• Storybird updates were sent home to parents including login instructions for home access.

Outcomes:

• Initial grumbling about lost free computer lab time vanished by the second week.
• A mid-session show of hands revealed 50% of the classroom was working on Storybird at home, writing on their own free time (and not always the students we would have predicted!)
• Logging in, I found that older siblings had also created stories or collaborated with younger siblings to get in on the action!
• The first-grader on the autism spectrum enjoyed sequencing pictures and thrived contributing during group work (he was assigned to the reading specialist's group).
• I used a SMART Board with my small group, which made everyone eager to place pictures, enter text, and stand up to read what we had created.
• Final results varied, predictably, by skill level. For some, just learning to navigate the site, drag and drop pictures, and move a cursor were big accomplishments. However, all developed a range of skills much faster than anticipated. Most were eager to read and share their stories with the class and answer questions (making me wish we'd had more time for literary criticism because they loved it).
• Their plots were, indeed, messy. They loved them anyway.   

Special Needs (with input from Karen Janowski):

• Storybird works with Co:Writer word prediction and Dragon Naturally Speaking software.
• Storybird is forgiving and flexible; students can easily change, edit, correct, and update their work. Nothing is unfixable, even after you hit "publish."
• Spell check may be enabled or disabled (I found many second-graders were empowered and delighted to use spell check).
• Reluctant or struggling writers love placing and sequencing pictures. The artwork inspires storytelling.
• Older students can collaborate via email on a common Storybird project (swapping turns). Comments may be left on published works (a huge motivator).

Final note:

In March my son was stuck at home with walking pneumonia while I was stuck out of state due to a snow storm. Using Skype with Storybird, however, I was able to babysit him for over an hour, providing respite for my partner. I chose Skype's "screen share" option, and he and I took turns reading published Storybirds aloud to each other (I turned the pages as well as guided him, word-by-word, using the cursor). It was a wonderful way to visit with each other as well as support his learning.

Plus, these days he admits that writing is not the worst part of his day.

-Eliza Anderson, ATPN editor-in-chief

California's Taking Action For Accommodations

AT advocacy gets a shot of adrenaline with this youth-led back-to-school campaign

This year California's AT Network is partnering with an energized, youth-led, advocacy campaign to educate students with disabilities on their rights to assistive technology.   

The campaign, Take Action for Accommodations, was launched last year by Youth Organizing! Disabled and Proud (YO!). Both AT Network and YO! are programs of the California Foundation of Independent Living Centers (CFILC). YO! launched the campaign after CFILC became aware that state budget cuts were putting the civil rights of community college students in jeopardy.  

"We began educating the community right away about the cuts, and heard from students that they were getting accommodation denial letters," explains CFILC Executive Director Teresa Favuzzi. "The campaign was born out of decisions that policy makers made."   

Today the depth of the problem is well understood. According to the California Association for Postsecondary Education and Disability, while the community college system has experienced cuts averaging about 2.5%, the system has cut disability services more than 40%. As result there have been delays of up to 7 weeks for accommodations, and in some cases outright denials.

Mobility assistance, readers, note takers, large print books, audio books, sign language interpreters, captioning, campus transport services and other essential accommodations are being delayed or denied, putting the academic careers of students with disabilities at risk (TA4A Fact Sheet)

AT Network Director Kim Cantrell teaches within this system and reports hearing first-hand from students how disability services is turning them away. "They're telling them they can't serve any more students. Yet legally, under Section 504 of the Rehab. Act, they have to serve them."

The fundamental right to equal education for people with disabilities is guaranteed under both federal and state law (Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Section 11135 of the California Government Code). Budget difficulties do not relieve the state or the community college system from the responsibility to provide reasonable accommodations (TA4A Fact Sheet)

The cause, however, is helping to energize YO!--a membership organization of over 300 teens and young adults with disabilities. In the spring of 2010, YO! launched TA4A in partnership with Disability Rights California (DRC, the state's protection and advocacy agency). This year they are working with another legal partner, Disability Rights Advocates.  

Here is how the campaign has evolved, what's been learned so far, and links to YO!'s other school-related initiatives:    

Initial TA4A campaign strategy

• to reach out to graduating high school seniors and current community college students with disabilities;
• to educate them about their rights to accommodations;
• to train them to get students involved on their own campuses who, like themselves, may have been denied services; and
• to assist students with filing complaints with the U.S. Dept. of Education's Office of Civil Rights (OCR) under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. 

"We won't change the situation if we don't show that enough students with disabilities are impacted"--YO! Organizer Christina Mills

Key campaign activities:

• In October of 2010, DRC and YO! provided a training on accommodations and Section 504 at the 5 Disability Rights California offices: San Diego, Los Angeles, Fresno, Sacramento, Oakland. The trainers were in Oakland and the other sites were included via video-conference.
• Attendees were encouraged to train others on their local campuses and file their own complaints as appropriate. (Check out this TA4A Web page for the "Campaign Resources and Organizers Toolbox"). 

Results to date:

• 75+ students and parents have been trained. 
• 7-10 community college campuses are now active with the campaign.
• Nearly 50 complaints have been filed with OCR.

Lessons learned

"Looking back I would have thought about collecting student stories and experiences myself and then shared them as a group with OCR," reports Organizer Christina Mills. "Students feel safer about sharing their stories with a third-party versus filing a first-hand complaint with OCR." Mills reports that students felt vulnerable to retaliation when filing a complaint, particularly those in smaller rural communities. 

A new partner helps shift the strategy 

YO! is now collaborating with another legal advocacy group, Disability Rights Advocates (DRA), to engage students to share their experiences.

"We were about to change our campaign strategy when we noticed that Disability Rights Advocates [had] sent out a call for students experiencing denial of services," explains Mills. "DRA is taking anonymous complaints which is different than what OCR require[s]. We're hoping that more students will come forward with their stories if they know their information is secure." If DRA can get enough evidence to show that accommodations complaints are an issue, then they will look into taking further legal action.    

More YO! advocacy 

YO! has two additional campaigns, both relevant to back-to-school: 

• "Own My Own Power," an anti-bullying campaign working to see passage of AB9--Seth's Law--in honor of the 13-year-old who took his life in California.  
• Disability History Week Campaign (DHW), an effort to get Disability History Week recognized and taught in California schools. Check out: Resources for Educators and Organizers, Organize DHW in Your Own State, and the Youth Organizer's Toolbox.   

 For more information:

 Contact: Kim Cantrell, director, AT Network

Missouri's Gardens for Every Body

One quirky effort to reach farmers with disabilities becomes a national model... and a deep Web resource

For 13 years, the University of Missouri AgrAbility project has been running a program that provides strategies, tools, adaptive services, and education on accessible gardening. Funded by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA), it began in 1998 as back-door outreach to farmers and ranchers with disabilities. "Because in '97-98 there were no farmers and ranchers with disabilities in the entire state!" kids Program Co-Director Karen Funkenbusch. "Anyway, AgrAbility couldn't find them."

Funkenbusch's father-in-law--himself a farmer--came up with the gardening approach. "He told me I should go into the churches and talk about tools for the garden, since everybody has a vegetable garden." The presentations turned out to be popular--appealing to people's passions--and led to home visits with parishioners. "I'd get out there and it would be, 'Karen while you're here talking to Mamma about her garden, could you come look at my tractor? I've had a hip replacement, and I can't get up on my tractor."

Today Missouri AgrAbility works with 50 clients with disabilities each year.

To some, accessible gardening seemed to stray from the USDA AgrAbility mission, which aims to keep farmers with disabilities safely farming. But Funkenbusch persevered. "Agriculture includes your Victory garden, landscaping, horticulture, even agri tourism. And with vegetable gardening, most farmers bring their produce to markets, or church, or sell it at a road-side stand. These are all agricultural occupations if you bring in $1000." (Missouri AgrAbility is currently helping a veteran start a niche market horticulture business; they've had a farmer put a cabin on his land for turkey hunting, and another use his silos for ice climbing.)

Armed with this justification--as well as adapted wheelbarrows, shovels, and hoes--Funkenbusch  reached farmers and ranchers of many communities.  "We work with Latino, Hmong, Amish, Mennonite, African American, you name it."

From 1999 to 2008, arthritis-specific funding from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) to the MU Medical School allowed for program expansion and the development of more resources, including the Gardens for Every Body Web site. These days most AgrAbility programs around the country have a gardening component using the Gardens for Every Body materials. And these days Funkenbusch, herself, gives fewer presentations and instead supports the activities of her program's extensive partners.

Gardens for Every Body Partners

• University of Missouri Extension specialists, including Master Gardeners, are trained in Gardens for Every Body and provide workshops, outreach and referral in rural and urban churches, libraries, and  community centers statewide. (Every USDA AgrAbility program works through a land grant university and its extension services.)
• Centers for Independent Living (ILCs) provide Gardens for Everybody information and referral and help AgrAbility clients navigate state resources. (Every USDA AgrAbility program works in partnership with nonprofit disability organizations and MO AgrAbility partnered with the ILCs at the advice of the state's Tech Act program--the first AgrAbility program to do so.)
• MU's Dept. of OT/PT students. This partnership, one of the program's first, has had statewide impact. Students learn about Gardens for Every Body and adapt a tool for particular client needs. They then graduate and work in a variety of settings throughout the state, sometimes starting accessible garden programs, often calling Funkenbusch or their local University of Missouri Extension Center with client referrals.
• Nursing homes: another spot where MU students land. This has lead to advising facilities on creating accessible gardens.
• Rural County Health Nurses: Funkenbusch partners with nurses doing outreach on arthritis to integrate Gardens for Every Body information and referral.
• USDA Farm Services Agency: provide AgrAbility outreach materials and referrals to farmers and ranchers who come in to apply for loans.
• Vocational Rehabilitation, Rehabilitation Services for the Blind (RFB), and the Veterans Administration (VA) are all sources of funding for AT for vocational purposes. Newly returned veterans are a new focus area of Missouri AgrAbility.
• Lowe's, Home Depot, and Wal-Mart donated tools, gadgets, equipment and materials. Funkenbusch reports these were easy donations to obtain simply by going into the stores and asking. 
• Missouri AT program helped MU obtain the AgrAbility grant to begin with and continues to provide referrals and consultation to the program.

Learn More:
Spend time learning about garden tools, strategies, structures, and systems at the Gardens for Every Body Web site.

Contact:
Karen Funkenbusch, program co-director
University of Missouri AgrAbility Project

Growing Inclusive Community Gardens in Kansas

"Food, Exercise, Friends, and Maybe Money"

It started out a modest proposal. In 2009, AT for Kansans (ATK) applied for a 3-year Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) recreational programs grant to develop 5 community gardens accessible to individuals with disabilities, seniors, and those with serious health conditions. They estimated they'd reach 150 people with disabilities each year (plus their social networks), fund some tools, some technical assistance, some structural modifications, and a little admin for local community garden coordinators. In their application they predicted gardening would have positive social, health, and employment outcomes, and dutifully explained how they would track, tally, and report them.

The enthusiasm they tapped into, however, no one predicted.

By the end of year one, the Kansas Inclusive Community Gardening Project closed the number of participants with disabilities it could reasonably track at 370--more than double its intended target.  "And these are people with pacemakers, amputees, individuals with spinal cord injury, back problems, health conditions," emphasizes Program Director Sara Sack, "you name it, and all ages have been involved in the gardens!"

Employment outcomes, too, have already exceeded expectations. In its application, Kansas anticipated the social benefits of gardening could extend to "possibly new employment contacts." Yet by the close of year one, 6 participants had actually acquired work through their community garden. "It's the sleeper story about this initiative, I think," reflects Project Coordinator Sheila Simmons, "that there are individuals really getting work."

Low Hanging Fruit

ATK partnered with community gardens at all stages of development, from longstanding programs to those just starting up. Their idea was supported by a literature review that showed, nationally, community gardens were not conscious of accessibility issues, and that many even had policies that exclude practices at the heart of accessible cultivation. Vertical gardening was often banned for blocking light on other plots. Smaller more manageable plots were often unavailable.

Sack and Simmons helped new programs develop accessible policies and materials as well as physical spaces and structures, and worked to retrofit the practices,  pathways and sheds of established gardens. All programs integrated data collection into their membership and orientation materials, including end-of-season surveys. All programs were the recipients of adaptive tools for their tool sheds. 
Outreach to potential gardeners with disabilities was accomplished through county extension services, ATK's 5 access sites, and of course, word of mouth. Which is why, Simmons says, the impact of this program will now never go away.  "We get calls from other gardens around the state. They've heard about us and they want to learn more." Indeed, according to Simmons, the garden that was the most hesitant to change initially is now the most fervent supporter of accessible practices. "They've seen what this means for them. These are people dedicated, after all, to spreading the word about gardening--to get you germinating seeds in February--and now they are reaching a whole new population of converts!"

Garden Plot or Job Reference?

Garden converts include people like "Henry," an older low-income gentleman with serious health conditions who had recently lost his wife. Henry joined the Parsons garden at the start of last season and ended up working there as much as three times each day.

"It anchored him," Simmons muses, "it brought him out where there is always someone to talk to. He was there with people of all ages. He loved to see the children, and he was so attentive to his plants that people began offering him work."  

Indeed, Simmons saw how a community garden plot can go beyond addressing social isolation, but may also function like a compelling job reference: your plot a reflection of your punctuality, attention to detail, organizational skills, even creativity. "And we have stories like Henry's in every garden," she says.

Swords into Plowshares

Another surprise came at the Fort Riley military base. Simmons was there to talk to service members with traumatic brain injuries (TBI) about tools for memory and organization. "I went with Echo Pens and iPads and ended up talking about gardening!"

That's because the base is home to a large and ambitious community garden. Between 150-270 service members participate, many with head injuries ("though we do have a couple of guys gardening from wheelchairs," Simmons notes).  Dubbed "The Warrior Garden," it helps feed kids at the Fort Riley day care center as well as gardener families.

ATK is providing Warrior Gardeners with adaptive tools and strategies for gardening with TBI--help that has proved to have a positive employment side effect. "These bases are massive," Simmons explains, "and a lot goes into grounds keeping and appearances. So it's interesting, in some cases the garden has enabled service personnel to revise their MOS's [military job descriptions]. They're out of their tanks, but still on active duty taking care of the grounds."

 Examples of ATK accessible gardening strategies:

• Smaller plots
• Raised beds and wide rock pathways
• Vertical growing
• Drip irrigation system with accessible valves (different ways of turning water on and off)
• Adaptive tools in accessible sheds
• Accessible produce washing station

Program Nuts and Bolts          

ATK's 5 Inclusive Community Gardens:

• Hutchinson Community Garden
• Ft. Riley Wounded Warriors
• Elm Creek Community Garden, Iola
• Parsons Community Garden
• WIN Community Garden, Wichita

Program Partners:

• Local garden coordinators
• Master gardeners
• USDA County Extension Agents
• 4-H Programs
• ATK access sites
• American Community Gardening Association  

Learn more

Contact:

Sara Sack, ATK program director
Sheila Simmons, ATK project coordinator

Visit the Parsons Community Gardens Blog 

Find your local community garden at the American Community Gardening Association Web site. 

Massachusetts's Assistive Technology for Employment Toolkits

There are probably hundreds of different accommodations workplaces are now providing to employees with disabilities. Most are simple, like wrist supports or a schedule modification. Others are more complex like screen reading software, a modified workstation, or the option to telecommute. Regardless of the solution, it's the ability to think creatively about workplace practices and environments--coupled with a general awareness of assistive technology (AT) tools--that is often critical to employment success for individuals with disabilities.

To help develop these awareness skills, the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission (MRC) recently partnered with Easter Seals MA to create AT for Employment Toolkits. The toolkits are for use by employment specialists and job developers. MassMATCH (the Massachusetts state AT Act program) provided technical assistance to steward the design of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)-funded project, brainstorming needs with job placement specialists, and then helping to contract with Easter Seals to design and assemble them and provide trainings on their use.

About the Toolkits:

The toolkits are wheeled suitcases packed with information and equipment. The contents are targeted to raise awareness among employers, counselors, and potential users about the power AT can have leveling the playing field for individuals with disabilities. In total 29 kits were created, one for every MRC area office.

What's in them:

    * A guide to using the toolkit 
    * Sample devices for use with individuals with different disabilities (i.e. trackball mouse, digital recorder, personal amplifier, smart pen, magnifiers, iPod Touch with memory/organization apps, etc.) 
    * A binder of referral and resource information for employers and MRC staff (including the Job Accommodation Network Accommodation and Compliance Series by disability, information on Universal Design and AT, comparison charts on specific product types, open source information, etc.) 
    * 3 desktop easels with presentation information on AT for individuals with different disabilities as well as information on employer tax credits and work place accommodations.

How the toolkits are used:

The toolkits are currently integrated into employer sensitivity trainings on working with individuals with disabilities, and are helping to facilitate conversation about different types of disabilities and AT. According to Bill Allen, MRC's statewide employment placement director, most employers do not know what is available and having something in hand can make a very big impression.

MRC is also ramping up to integrate the toolkits into cross-trainings the agency has planned with major Massachusetts employers including MBTA, Allied Barton, Manpower, and Adecco. Cross-trainings allow MRC to learn about these workplaces and what is required of their employees, and for employers to learn, in turn, about services, accommodations, and on-the-job trainings MRC can provide to help fill their positions with qualified VR clients.

Allen is excited by the role he sees the AT toolkits will play to further these employer partnerships. ARRA funds, he explains, have also been used to hire six employment specialists with marketing and business backgrounds to do outreach, and create new employer relationships. The mission of that initiative dovetails nicely with deploying the toolkits. "It's all part of this infrastructure we're building for the future," he says, "for MRC's creating long-term sustainable relationships. We have a strategic plan to tap into market sectors like health care, IT, construction (for when that gets going again!) And AT is going to lead the way. As technology changes the workplace, we're going to be the go-to people for businesses when they understand what we do and all that we offer."

To learn more about what's in the toolkits: Download the AT For Employment Toolkit Power Point

Questions? Email MassMATCH Coordinator Kobena Bonney

New Mexico's ADA Template for Small Businesses

"Employers are often a little bit fearful of accommodation issues," notes Andy Winnegar, former director of New Mexico Technology Assistance Program (NM TAP) and now an independent consultant on employment and disability issues. When it comes to interviewing, hiring, and retaining individuals with disabilities, human resource (HR) departments "just don't have experience with it, particularly if they are a small business."

It's why the Disability Business Technical Assistance Center (DBTAC) Southwest ADA Center teamed with NM TAP to draft the Small Business Accommodations Policy, Winnegar explained in a phone interview with ATPN in February. "We figured if they had these policies and procedures in place for their own employees, as well as for applicants, they'll have something to refer to, feel less overwhelmed, and ultimately hire more qualified people with disabilities."

The "policy" is a combination template and learning tool for businesses looking for some hand-holding when it comes to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). It's a document adapted from the policy and  procedures created for the state of New Mexico in 2004. That year, Governor Bill Richardson called for state agencies to increase their hiring of people with disabilities and Winnegar (also a former deputy director of NM DVR) was at the table charged with how to carry it out. The process, he reflects, "took a long time with a policy committee working through both agencies' own policies as well as the state HR and ADA coordinators, but we had a good chance to test it and get a lot of the details worked out."

That was hard work the DBTAC Southwest ADA Center saw as an opportunity. The Center, whose mission is to promote voluntary compliance with the ADA, contracted with NM TAP to take the newly crafted state policy and adapt it for the small business community.

It's not just HR departments, Winnegar notes, but also supervisors within companies who can benefit by this template. The document lays out suggested procedures for making reasonable accommodations, including a system of accountability. And it helps educate employers on the limits of the ADA, the parameters created to protect businesses from undue hardship. Used appropriately, the template can jump-start more than just compliance-on-paper, but also the education businesses need to adopt responsible accommodations practices that are really in their best interest anyway.

For example, one pitfall businesses frequently fall into, Winnegar emphasizes, is the tendency to move a little too quickly to long-term disability instead of making accommodations that might actually benefit the employer. "They just don't have enough information about the technologies and things out there for accommodations, and also, really, it's just easier for them to put somebody into the disability benefits process because it's a process they know."

The goal of the "model" Small Business Accommodations Policy, then, is to help HR departments get equally comfortable with the process for retaining and hiring qualified individuals who have disabilities. And talking to businesses about retaining their current trained employees, Winnegar observes, is a good entry point for initiating strong interest in learning about making reasonable accommodations. Plus it lays the groundwork of experience that will ultimately build a business community less fearful of hiring and working with qualified individuals who also happen to have disabilities.

Download the NM TAP Small Business Accommodations Policy (RTF)

Archived webinars sponsored by DBTAC Southwest ADA Center (part II makes use of the NM TAP document):

Developing a Successful Reasonable Accommodation Process (Part II) presented by Julie Ballinger, Disability Rights and Issues Consultant, on January 26, 2011.

Developing a Successful Reasonable Accommodation Process (Part I) presented by Julie Ballinger, Disability Rights and Issues Consultant, on January 19, 2011

Iowa's Fall-Prevention Project and Partnerships

Iowa's IPAT is promoting fall prevention and is creating some unique partnerships along the way.

The project started last year when IPAT began collaborating with the Johnson County Livable Community for Successful Aging--Fall Prevention Task Force, led by the Visiting Nurses Association, to raise awareness and provide age-in-place solutions. This year it has plans to expand statewide.

The project has generated a growing interest among a widening group of community partners. Indeed, IPAT Director Jane Gay calls it "a great example of stone soup."

But why is IPAT focusing on fall prevention?

In an email to ATPN, Gay reports:

• About 5.8 million seniors experience at least one fall every three months. 
• Falls are responsible for 83.7% of all injury-related hospitalizations in [Iowa's] Johnson and Washington Counties for those 65 and over, and the impact spans the socioeconomic and cultural spectrum.
• About 1.8 million of those who fall seek medical treatment or restrict their activities on the day after their fall.
• Half of all elderly adults hospitalized for hip fracture cannot return home or live independently after the fracture.
• Two-thirds of persons who experience a fall will fall again within six months. 

For its year-long campaign, the Fall Prevention Task Force chose a different focus every other month, and IPAT took the lead last March. Fall prevention, Gay notes, "Is one issue that AT and home modifications can play an important role [with]." 

 

About the Project

 IPAT's strategy was to create AT and home modification outreach displays for well-traveled locations. These included an elaborate fixed central display for use at a popular mall, and smaller portable versions for rotation countywide. The posters directed readers to IPAT's information and referral service.

Partners and a smart design, Gay emphasizes, helped make it all happen. Here are the details:

The fixed display was...   

• Made up of window-size posters and a collection of actual devices.
• Designed so passersby could quickly absorb information and from a distance.
• Installed in an empty mall storefront, lit and locked behind glass (requiring no staffing!) 
• Marketed with a newspaper article and through promotion at the Home Builder Association's Home Show.
• Left up throughout the month to reach shoppers, mall walkers, and attendees of two mall community events.

The smaller displays were...   

• 3 sets of posters: a table top display, a  2' x 3" set, and a 17"x 11" set.
• Installed at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics main entrance and in the Center for Disabilities and Development hallway display cases.
• Rotated among banks, libraries, and faith-based organizations countywide by volunteers with the AARP.

Additional partner contributions:

• The mall contributed the empty store front (a poor economy does have its perks!) spot lighting, and tables. (The mall was approached for this donation by a businessman on the Taskforce.)
• The Home Builder's Association helped with the rental cost of the frames and drapes for the middle display area of devices (in addition to promotion).
• A Plumbing Supply store contributed and set up the products and materials part of the display.
• A DME vendor contributed devices. 

More stone soup:

• Gay reports that the Plumbers Supply store started out just loaning IPAT its display stand and equipment, but then became so inspired by the outreach effort that it approached IPAT with the idea of developing and teaching a CEU (Continuing Education Credit) for plumbers on home modifications (CEUs are required for a plumber to stay licensed). 
• This year IPAT has approached the newly formed State Fall Prevention Coalition out of the Iowa Department of Public Health to offer the posters' PDF files and project description for statewide use.  (Community and county Fall Prevention Projects would create and fund their own posters' printing and projects.)

IPAT's lessons learned  

1. Collaboration (stone soup) works! AT is part of many other issues. Work with projects that have the same goal. What collaborations are currently underway in your state?
2. Try a new approach on a smaller level first. You'll then find sharing or managing your successful project on a larger scale is easier to sell and do.
3. New-found partners become good marketers of state AT Act program services and invite you to participate in other events or projects.  

IPAT's Fall Prevention poster files are available for use by other programs

Email Jane Gay for the PDF files. Poster PDFs do not list local partners.

Thanks for all your insights Jane!

WisLoan: An AFP for Across the Lifespan

There are a lot of ways to craft an Alternative Financing Program (AFP) to fund assistive technology. In Wisconsin, WisLoan's emphasis is on providing access to credit for applicants who likely would not otherwise qualify.  To do so, it partners with the M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank and eight Wisconsin Independent Living Centers to deliver a level of service that is unique among programs. The result?  An AFP creating relationships with residents with disabilities to serve them across the life span.

Case in point: the Hendersons (not their real name)

The Hendersons first approached WisLoan six years ago for help buying an array of equipment. Mr. Henderson needed a new battery for his scooter and a Hoyer lift (he has Multiple Sclerosis), and they both needed hospital beds and lift chairs (she also has a disability). The Hendersons's needs were significant, but their credit scores were low (under 550 points). With the help of the Wisconsin device reutilization program (Wheelchair Recycling) and WisLoan, however, the Hendersons were able to acquire everything they needed with a loan for just $1,300. That was their WisLoan #1.

WisLoan looks at consumer credit differently than conventional banks. Medical bills, for example, are generally disregarded; and there is an understanding of how individuals with a new disability can fall behind with bills while their disability applications are pending. Each WisLoan application is considered by a loan committee that includes individuals with disabilities, some of whom are bankers, as well as vocational rehabilitation case managers, and other representatives from rural and urban communities around the state. The committee weighs the risks involved with each application, but also has the experience to problem-solve solutions that may not have already been explored.

Despite their poor credit score, the Hendersons proved a good risk. They paid off their first loan and came back a couple years later when their needs changed. Thanks to their improved credit, they were moving out of their rental to a home they had purchased; and now they needed a home modification for wheelchair access. That was their WisLoan #2.

WisLoan subcontracts with eight Independent Living Centers to provide AFP services throughout Wisconsin. The Hendersons, as with any applicant seeking a home modification, were provided with a site visit by an ILC staff person (most of whom have disabilities themselves). Site visits serve a variety of purposes, including helping staff understand what is needed so that they can give advice on affordable solutions (since staff have seen many home modifications). Site visits--coupled with the consumer choice, empowerment, and respect philosophy at the core of the ILCs--also convey a level of care that sends a powerful message to applicants with disabilities. They help initiate lasting relationships that often pay in many ways, such as assuring that applicants know where to go for future advocacy assistance and problem-solving, and perhaps providing a deeper appreciation for the goals of and risk incurred by the WisLoan program. 

Indeed, shortly thereafter, the Hendersons were back again. This time for an adapted vehicle so that Mr. Henderson could have reliable transportation. That was WisLoan #3.

The loans, WisLoan Coordinator Patti Kraemer emphasizes, are not all consecutive. The program will roll one into another as new needs come up, and each application is considered by the loan committee on its own terms and within a family's current circumstances.

Indeed, last year they were back again. Mr. Henderson's MS had progressed. He needed a newer lift chair. He also needed air conditioning for his home (MS is aggravated by heat). Their WisLoan #4 covered the air conditioning. The chair was covered by a grant provided by the Wisconsin MS society.

Whenever possible the ILCs refer applicants for grant sources. (They are, of course, few and far between.) Kraemer, who has MS herself, knew the WI Chapter of the MS Society would consider Mr. Henderson's application for a lift chair. And the grant meant a lower loan payment for WisLoan #4. It's the advantage WisLoan sees in partnering with the ILCs. In the course of considering applications, staff can think through other sources of funding, entitlements included. Wisconsin, Kraemer notes, has an SSI state supplement that not everyone is getting, and while small, sometimes it makes the difference with a loan payment.

Today the Hendersons are in their own accessible air-conditioned home, continuing to build a positive credit history. Kraemer knows this may not be the end of their WisLoan relationship. Indeed, she anticipates working with the Hendersons, potentially, for years to come.

WisLoan Nuts and Bolts

The Loans:

• WisLoans are provided to qualifying applicants at an interest rate of 6.5% with a 100% guarantee.
• Loans have ranged from $150 to $75,000.
• 50% of loans have funded vehicle modifications, 15% home modifications, 12% hearing aids.
• Loans have additionally paid for Hoyer lifts, co-pays for wheelchairs, a pontoon boat, a fence, visual aids, adjustable beds, among other needs.

WisLoan Applicants:

• 56% of WisLoan recipients earn under $25,000 per year.
• 53% of applicants are approved.
• WisLoan's default rate is 6%.

Bank Partnership:

• WisLoan's own funds are 100% invested, while the M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank funds each loan with its money.
• Defaults, however, are paid out of WisLoan's funds, so the program incurs 100% of the risk.
• WisLoan would like to see the bank take on more of the risk, but it's not likely in the current economy.

Funding and Loan-Making History:

• Between 2001 and 2006, WisLoan has received a total of $3,787,766 in federal Title III funding (through the Wisconsin Dept. of Health Services) matched with $1,262,585 from Independence First (Wisconsin's largest ILC).
• 807 WisLoans, totaling $6,034,298, have been awarded since the program's inception (as of December 31st, 2010).

Contact:

WisLoan Coordinator Patti Kraemer
Learn more at this Wisconsin Dept. of Health Services Web page.

Idaho Transition Conference Jumpstarts Independence

Youth Leadership Forum attendee

Each year for the last six, Idaho's IATP (AT Act program) has held a Tools for Life Secondary Transition and Technology Fair to showcase AT, AT services, and transition activities that help students access higher education, employment, and community living. The conference began as the dream of the Idaho Interagency Council on Secondary Transition organized by Jacque Hyatt of the Idaho State Department of Education. Today it has grown from one to two full days (and an evening); involves numerous partners; includes workshops for families, educators, and advocates; and has either spawned or re-energized several statewide student leadership and empowerment initiatives.

"We bring 250 students with disabilities to the conference from across the state," reports IATP's  Training Coordinator Nora Jehn. "It's always a daunting task--we charter two buses--but it's always worth it because of all the extra learning that goes on."

Indeed, as a two day event, the Tools for Life Fair is often a student's first time staying in a hotel, going to a restaurant, or getting away from home--essential transition groundwork. "Also choosing what sessions to attend," Jehn emphasizes since the conference includes eight break-out sessions, and attendees design their own experience. Parent workshops are also organized to coincide with a student pizza social, "So the kids get their social time."

The conference is clearly a good time for young attendees. And it's remarkable how different a person can feel about their life when they connect with like-minded peers, begin to spread their wings, and gain the tools they need to set their own direction.

Which is why, at the Tools for Life Fair, young leaders emerge. Youth leadership initiatives ignited by Tools for Life now include:

-Idaho Youth Leadership Forum. The event had gone dormant until Tools for Life gave it a new spark. Up and running again for the last three years, the YLF is now an impressive five-day leadership, citizenship, and career development program for young people with disabilities. There is also a Youth Leadership Network that has been re-invigorated for slightly older young adults.

-Idaho Self-Advocate Leadership Network (SALN). SALN is entirely organized and run by adults with disabilities, many of whom have recently outgrown the Tools for Life Fair. SALN has just put on their first SALN conference.

-Disability Mentoring Day. These activities were only happening in one region of Idaho's 7-region state.  This past October, however, six regions participated in Disability Mentoring Day. The day matches high school students with community members for job shadowing and networking in each student's employment area of interest.

To learn everything you ever wanted to know about Idaho's Tools for Life Fair, read their impressive (and attractive!) 2010 Post-Conference Report.

Register/learn about Idaho's 7th Annual Tools for Life Fair, March 7th and 8th, 2011 in Idaho Falls.

Students Lead Virginia's College Bound

In Virginia, thirty high school students with disabilities, plus parents, educators, and VR counselors all go to college together for three days at the end of June. The event is College Bound, a transition conference that has taken place on the campus of Virginia Tech since 1999. The program offers impressive separate and overlapping learning tracks on transition skills and strategies for students, parents, and professionals. What distinguishes the program most, however, is the way it models transition success; the program relies heavily on college students with disabilities to help run the show.

Planning for each conference begins nine months earlier when college student leaders are interviewed and selected to participate in the following summer's program. College students are chosen who have a strong interest in serving as role models for high school students and who have distinguished themselves as self-advocates, leaders, and learners. They must also demonstrate competency and experience making use of campus resources. Between ten and twelve leaders are selected each year, a mix of undergraduate and graduate students drawn from a half-dozen Virginia colleges and universities. Most leaders are identified as having learning disabilities and/or attention deficit disorder, but others have included individuals with physical, psychiatric, and sensory disabilities.

College student leaders help plan, design, and implement the College Bound program, and to do so they undertake several days of training on information and strategies they will need to work with young people with disabilities, parents and professionals. Their roles are, indeed, diverse: a blend of responsibilities common to summer camp counselors, advisory committee members, orientation leaders, and program instructors. Trainings they attend cover a range of topics from "Ice breakers and team building" to "Using Blackboard for course integration" and "Goal setting and decision-making."

At the start of each College Bound program, participating high school students are divided into small group teams, each led by a college student leader. Leaders begin the session by sharing with their students how their disability impacts their college life. Throughout the College Bound program college leaders share with their students how they secure and use accommodations to be successful learners. Teams create smaller social environments to encourage sharing and socializing, and they're also fun. College Bound uses team competitions to boost enthusiasm and confidence throughout the three days.

Students and parents rate their time with college student leaders highly on their program evaluations. In general, students report that College Bound improves their confidence to be a college student, comfort level talking about their disability, ability to describe their own strengths and weaknesses, among other more specific transition and AT related skills.

Here are some College Bound program nuts and bolts:

Origins

College Bound began as a one-day event in 1999 as a college recruitment tool for high school students with disabilities interested in higher education (sponsored by New River Community College and the Southwest Transition Center at Virginia Tech).

Who funds it today?

·    Virginia Dept. of Rehabilitation Services
·    Virginia Dept. of Education Training and Technical Assistance Center-Radford University
·    Southwest Virginia Assistive Technology System (Virginia's AT Act program)
·    PEP Net-South
·    Student participants pay a small fee to supplement other funds but this is often funded by VR
·    More than 35 volunteers support with their time, expertise, and resources

Who attends?

·    High school juniors and seniors and rising college freshman with disabilities
·    Parents
·    Educators
·    VR counselors

What topics are covered for students?

Workshops and activities cover transition-relevant subject matter including: self-advocacy, goal setting, ADA rights/responsibilities, AT for learning, getting help, college supports (health, social, career, academic, fitness), college expectations, organization and study skills, and balancing life and school, visits to career services and research labs.

What topics are covered for parents?

Parent sessions include information on the difference between the IEP and an accommodation plan under the ADA, changing roles for parents, financial aid, accessing AT, student perspectives, college disability services offices, resources for organization and study skills.

What topics are covered for educators and rehabilitation counselors?

Professionals attend sessions with students and parents in addition to their own workshops covering topics such as: creating a positive post-school vision, involving students in the IEP process, accessing AT, curricula to support transition self-determination, rights and responsibilities under IDEA vs ADA.

Outcomes?

A 2007 study of College Bound outcomes found participants developed new leadership skills, built self-confidence, increased responsibilities and independent living skills, and felt more positive about attending college. After attending College Bound students contacted college disability services on campus, talked with successful college students and confidentially applied for colleges.

College Bound has inspired other college transition conferences, including Virginia's Say Yes to College at Old Dominion University Campus. Learn more about Say Yes to College. Learn more about College Bound.

College Bound contact: Dr. Susan Asselin, sasselin@vt.edu

Georgia's High School/High Tech Tackles Transition

Probably it's what most high school students need: comprehensive and holistic transition planning to complete high school and execute post-secondary and vocational goals.  After all, nationally roughly a third of students entering high school do not complete, and without a diploma, their lifetime earnings are substantially lower compared with those who do. For students with disabilities, however, the issue is more critical. Employment statistics for people with disabilities are poor, just 26% were employed in 2008 (according to the Cornell University Employment and Disability Institute); and for a myriad of reasons, students who leave high school without an effective transition plan risk not only entrenched joblessness, but also social isolation. To tackle these issues, Georgia has created a transition initiative that is now serving as a national model. High School/High Tech (HS/HT) is a year-round program serving motivated youth with disabilities between 14 and 22 years old.  High School/High Tech prepares students with disabilities for careers in science, technology and technical fields, and serves students at risk of dropping out of school because of their disabilities.   The program is a partnership among schools, the Georgia Department of Labor Vocational Rehabilitation program, Tools for Life (Georgia's AT Act Program), numerous community members, students and their families. Together these collaborators provide academic and career development experiences that lead to further education and/or high-tech jobs. Program Nuts and Bolts: Each HS/HT site follows 5 guideposts the program considers essential for student success: 1.       School-based preparatory experiences 2.       Career preparatory and work-based learning experiences 3.       Youth development and leadership 4.       Connecting activities (including AT, job shadowing, industry tours, mentoring, transportation) 5.       Family involvement and supports At present, 45 schools participate across Georgia, each  providing Career Tech instruction integrated with Special Education, regular education, and Vocation Rehabilitation services. How the program is offered, however, may vary from one location to another. Some sites offer HS/HT as a school elective or a club or after-school program; elsewhere HS/HT may be a multi-school site coordinated by the Vocational Rehabilitation program. In 2009, HS/HT had 454 active student participants (25% of whom were VR clients). Like any responsible transition program, HS/HT puts a heavy emphasis on developing a student's self-determination and self-advocacy skills. Unique to this program, however, is the level of community involvement integrated into the curricula. HS/HT students have the opportunity to create valuable community relationships through: employer site visits job shadowing guest speakers summer work experiences post secondary education tours service learning HS/HT activities also include financial aid trainings for parents, and student workshops on resume writing and effective interviewing strategies. Individualized Computer Technology Training HS/HT seniors who are transitioning to new environments also receive computer and AT training thanks to Tech-Able, an AT Regional Center in the Georgia Tools for Life (AT Act) program network. The program provides seniors individualized training on refurbished laptops with AT software specific to their needs. The students then apply competitively for their own laptops by securing recommendations, and writing essays to explain how the laptop and AT would benefit them with post-secondary education or employment. The laptops are funded through local grants or the Vocational Rehabilitation Program and are refurbished for a nominal fee by ReBoot, another Georgia Tools for Life program. The computer training program has seen impressive success. In 2008 over 95% of HS/HT seniors who received this training graduated; and over 90% credited the training program for being "extremely helpful" with meeting their goals.  In recent years, more than 200 students have received refurbished laptops. This year VR is providing $35K for 100 high-end refurbished laptops and carrying cases.  Coming Soon: Virtual Worlds Mentoring Island HS/HT is also looking forward to collaborating with a new project funded by the National Science Foundation through Georgia Tech and the University of Georgia. The project will bring together students and teachers in a creative virtual world for mentoring and learning. (Read about it in the sidebar article: "Virtual Worlds to Support Transition in Georgia," this issue).    Lessons Learned According to Joy Kniskern, AT Programs Manager at Georgia Dept. of Labor (among other roles), HS/HT has learned some important lessons since its founding in 1997. In an email to ATPN she observes: Most successful local HS/HT programs have equal participation from Vocational Rehabilitation (VR), school staff, and the business community. Buy-in from the VR program at the highest level is crucial to securing VR support on the local levels. Employer Awareness events are good opportunities for awarding laptops to students and, thereby, marketing HS/HT program successes. They can help garner support from VR, the business community, and schools.  VR can offer incentives for schools to participate in HS/HT, such as allocating funds to cover the cost of bus transportation and snacks for field trips. Strong programs diversify their local funding support by working with Community Foundations. The Augusta, GA HS/HT program secured an additional $20K to support the laptop refurbishing initiative in their area. Exploring collaboration with your local Workforce Investment Board is another a good idea. The Augusta, GA program also secured an additional $50K this year to support career exploration training for HS/HT students Interested in starting a HS/HT program? Today Florida, Oklahoma, Ohio, Michigan, South Carolina, Maryland, Delaware, Colorado, and Texas have or are creating their own versions of HS/HT. If you are interested in starting a HS/HT program and wish to learn more, contact: Karen Royston High School/High Tech Program Coordinator GDOL/Vocational Rehabilitation 1700 Century Circle, Suite 300 Atlanta, GA  30345 706.354.3901 Karen.Royston@dol.state.ga.us

Colorado's Device Loan Bank for Schools

In Colorado, the Department of Education funds a comprehensive short-term device loan program and partners with the state’s AT Act program at the University of Colorado Denver to run it. The program is a national model and distinguishes itself for providing access not only to device loans, but also to extensive professional development, technical assistance, and for marketing its services down to the level of the IEP team. In August, ATPN spoke with AT Partner’s Christina Perkins, MA CCC-SLP, and Sarah Barthel, MS, to learn about the Loan Bank: how it got started, how it operates, the case they are building for its cost-effectiveness, and what they have learned about getting the right equipment to school-aged students with disabilities statewide. The following was gleaned from that conversation.

SWAAAC History

The Loan Bank has grass roots origins. In the early 1980s a group of Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) organized to convince the Colorado Department of Education to fund a statewide program to enable better services for students who use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC).  Through word of mouth, the program soon attracted interest from therapists and educators working with students with all kinds of disabilities.  Originally known as SWAAC, SWAAAC now includes an extra “A” for “Statewide Assistive Technology and Augmentative and Alternative Communication.”

In 1986 SWAAAC team members convinced the Colorado Dept. of Education to invest in the Loan Bank. A device loan bank, they argued, would help them identify the right equipment for students, and help them demonstrate to schools why providing comprehensive AT evaluations is cost-effective. It would allow for trial and error as therapists work to “feature-match” devices to a student’s specific abilities and ensure that a device works well in all environments.  

Today the Loan Bank makes possible systematic device trials by SWAAAC team members in Colorado’s schools as well as Early Intervention specialists and participating Dept. of Vocational Rehabilitation counselors. In 1998 The Dept. of Education contracted with AT Partners at the University of Colorado Denver to manage the SWAAAC program.

Loan Bank Overview

• Approximately 1800 devices are available for loan.
• Devices are provided for 6 week terms (including 2 weeks for shipping) with an option for one extension if there is no waiting list.
• 88% of devices are stored, maintained, and shipped from AT Partners in Denver. 
• 12% are maintained in Grand Junction, one of AT Partners’ two regional satellites.
• The online loan bank inventory is available for browsing by anyone.
• The online “storefront” allows registered users to make loan requests (these include SWAAAC team coordinators, registered Early Intervention consultants, and registered Vocational Rehabilitation counselors).
• SWAAAC’s policies and procedures are reviewed and agreed to online with each loan request. This is known as the “Team Agreement.”
• Software licenses are also managed through this Team Agreement. Users agree to uninstall any software provided through the Loan Bank at the end of the loan term.

A Cost-Effective Shipping Partnership

A unique component of the Loan Bank’s operation is the shipping partnership SWAAAC has created with the Colorado Library Consortium. SWAAAC pays into the Consortium to use their book courier service (i.e. interlibrary loan) to ship devices. The Consortium agreed to the partnership because of its mission to help students access education. In Colorado, public libraries, community colleges, and schools make use of this service.

Advantages

• Cost: just a few hundred dollars per year for AT Partners.
• Statewide access: rural and mountain regions are accessible through the service. (Courier sites exist statewide including many public schools, local public libraries, and AT Partners’ satellite offices in Colorado Springs and Grand Junction.)
• Reliability: the courier provides three pickup days each week.

Disadvantages

• Participating schools must pay into the service to become a courier site. (Those that do not, however, may use their local public library or an AT Partners’ satellite office for pickup and return.)
• Devices are shipped uninsured. (However, AT Partners reports that the overall cost savings far outweigh the risks, and so far they’ve had very few problems.)
• Large devices cannot be shipped with the courier. (It was originally intended for books.)

Technical Assistance and Professional Development

From its inception SWAAAC was conceived to provide professional development in addition to statewide access to assistive technology. Currently SWAAAC provides:

•  “Just-in-time” technical assistance over the phone or online to problem-solve specific classroom/student or device situations.
•  A one hour monthly phone conference for school-based service providers.  Topics often include reviews of professional journal articles to support evidence based practice, hot topics in the field for example “apps,” and/or guest speakers.
• A two-day introductory (SWAAAC 101) training. The training is provided annually for new AT professionals and makes use of the University of Colorado Denver’s video conferencing system for distance learning.
• A two-day advanced training (SWAAAC 202) on specific focus such as AT to support literacy learning, AAC, and AT to support physical access.
• A two-day summer symposium on how to provide effective AT assessments with theme based content.  This year’s symposium will look at the implementation of AT across the curriculum.

Funding and Staffing

• The Colorado Dept. of Education funds 3 full-time employees to run the program (two full-time and two part-time staff including one student employee). It also funds the purchase and repair/replacement of equipment.
• Partners at the University of Colorado Denver provides facility space for storing the Loan Bank inventory as well as staff engineers for occasional device maintenance and repair.

Outreach to Build Local Capacity

SWAAAC’s goal is to build local capacity for AT expertise. To do so, it markets its services directly to classroom educators and therapists and not just regional special education coordinators. At the start of each year an AT Partners’ student employee spends 2-3 days researching and assembling an email list of all the therapists and special education providers on the rosters at individual school and school district websites statewide.

“There’s a lot of staff turnover and it takes time, but it’s worth it,” emphasizes SWAAAC Program Coordinator Chris Perkins. “Our approach has always been to build local capacity so that the knowledge and the expertise exists at the level of IEP teams.”

AT Partners uses the list to send announcements of trainings, learning labs, conference calls, and loan bank services.

Data Collection

AT Act reporting data is collected online. Registered users answer a questionnaire when they request a device loan and the information is aggregated. Outcomes data is collected through a short “check-in survey.” The response rate for this survey is lower than AT Partners would like (33% in 2009), and the program is working on policies to improve cooperation. At present, borrowers are emailed a link to the “check-in survey” once a device is returned.

The Case for Cost Savings to School Districts

•  Between 7/1/2009 and 6/29/2010 1,504 device loans were made to 70 different school districts or BOCES (Boards of Cooperative Educational Services).
• 74% of borrowers reported the device loans assisted them with deciding whether to purchase the device.
• 34% concluded that they should not make the purchase.
• AT Partners estimates this 34% represents a cost savings to school districts of $169,786 (the total value of the rejected devices trialed).

Lessons Learned

1. The importance of marketing SWAAAC services to build capacity on the local IEP team level. When classroom teachers, therapists, and parents are aware and make use of SWAAAC services, students with disabilities receive the most benefits.
2. The Loan bank is most effective when its services are used in combination with a comprehensive AT evaluation. Students with disabilities need to trial devices that are “feature-matched” to their capabilities and needs, and to do so in a variety of environments.
   
3. Ongoing professional development and technical assistance is necessary to help maximize the usefulness of Loan Bank trials.
4. Bi-yearly, in-person, meetings with district team coordinators help build community, communicate policies, and share ideas for device purchases for the Loan Bank.

Thanks Chris and Sarah for all of your insights!

The ADA Turns 20: a look at its legacy for Generation Assistive Technology (AT)

I.    Ain’t No Mountain High Enough

Twenty years ago this past spring, a group of ADAPT activists demonstrated the need for the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by abandoning their wheelchairs at the foot of the United States Capitol and crawling up the steps that, at the time, afforded the only means of access to the legislative branch of the U.S. government. This action, which is now an iconic part of U.S. civil rights history, was just one of a series of protests the group organized that week in D.C.  As with previous civil rights movements, protesters were arrested for acts of civil disobedience; unlike scenes typical to earlier movements, however, the authorities had trouble carrying out their law enforcement obligations. At the time, few court houses, jail cells, or even elevators were accessible to law-breakers with disabilities.

Inside the Capitol, one lawmaker who championed the bill also found a creative—albeit legal—means to illustrate a similar point. During a critical hour, Senator Harkin (D-Iowa) stood up in the well of the Senate to testify on the need for the ADA. He did so eloquently and for more than ten minutes, and he did so entirely using manual signs (Sen. Harkin's brother is deaf).

Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commissioner Charles Carr was in D.C. that week. Then a vice president of the National Council for Independent Living (NCIL), he oversaw NCIL's legislative committee, "When Tom Harkin testified you could hear a pin drop," Carr reminisced during an interview with ATPN in June.  "And then he stopped and said, 'Now you know what it's like to not understand a single thing that's being discussed like a deaf person does when they don't have access to a sign language interpreter.' It was a stunning moment."

II.    Generation ADA

The ADA was signed into law by President George H. W. Bush on July 26th, 1990. The landmark civil rights act prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in employment, state and local government, public accommodations, commercial facilities, transportation, and telecommunications.  To some the law evokes little more than curb cuts, empty parking spaces, and cumbersome and costly law suits. To others, particularly those individuals with disabilities whose lives have spanned beyond the last quarter century, the ADA demarcates the start of a shift in consciousness for an entire nation. "Gone are the days of out of sight, out of mind" Carr and others have said.

The ADA brought us the term "reasonable accommodation," providing, for the first time, a standard of fairness for equal access to American society for people with disabilities. The ADA was not the first law of importance for disability rights in the United States, but for Americans with disabilities, it is comprehensive civil rights legislation analogous to what brought down Jim Crow laws, the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

"When I was a kid coming up, I had no expectations that I could go to a restaurant and that it would be accessible, not at all," Carr reflects. "Go to see a movie, go anywhere! You never ever expected it. If you were smart you'd call first. And even if you called they'd say, Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, and of course it wasn't.  And there was a network and so you knew, through the network, yeah, here's an accessible place."

These days, expectations are different; people with disabilities are out of the closet and sitting up at the lunch counter (to continue the movement analogies). "It's 20 years later," Carr notes, "and now we have this ADA generation, this generation with a whole set of expectations I didn't have, and who will help carry through the culture shift."

III.    Generation AT

This generation stands on the shoulders of those who advocated not only for the ADA, but also those who worked for Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act in 1973 (the first anti-discrimination law based on disability), the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975 (which became the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 1990), the Technology-Related Assistance Act (Tech Act) of 1988 (which became the AT Act in 1998), and they are beneficiaries, too, of the present-day technology revolution that, in many cases, is now transforming what it means to live with a disability.

"The expectation around access drove the marketplace, and it drove AT. When I was newly disabled in the late 60s there were no power wheelchairs and there was no voice recognition software, any of that kind of stuff, and it was very slow to develop, it was costly, there was no payment mechanism, the demand was low, but as we came up to the ADA and post ADA, the market forces exploded and you saw incredible advances in assistive technology."

Attorney Robert "Bobby" Silverstein was there for this history, too, and helped create those market forces. Working with Sen. Harkin, Silverstein is touted as the behind-the-scenes architect of the ADA and numerous other disability laws (including the Tech Act). He spoke to ATPN in June, "After we passed the ADA, to me it became critical to provide an infrastructure for covered entities […] and to set up a finance system to make sure that Medicaid and insurance policies accepted and paid for and recognized the importance of assistive technology." 

Today, thanks in part to such laws, systems, regulations, and enforcement,  AT innovation has indeed exploded, aiding the ADA-driven integration of people with disabilities into community living (and out of institutions) and making quality employment opportunities a possibility. Environmental control systems, power wheelchairs, screen readers, sip and puff systems, voice recognition and eye tracking software, mouse emulators and virtual keyboards, the list keeps growing. 

IV.    Urgency of Now

Now the concern is, given the poor economy and reality of shrinking public funds, will this and future ADA generations effectively access existing and newly emerging technologies? Will there be a generation AT?

Silverstein sounds cautiously optimistic. He notes that the final health reform bill (signed into law this past March) includes an essential benefits package, a package which—depending on how it is interpreted—could include AT.  "We'll see what happens, but built into [that] package is the requirement to include rehabilitative and habilitative services and devices.  So part of the advocacy, now, is to try to maximize the likelihood that those devices, assistive technology devices, are recognized..."   The benefits must be provided by 2014 for private plans to participate in the new Health Insurance Exchange. "It's an opportunity for advocacy," he emphasizes.

His second reason for optimism concerns web accessibility, currently a frustrating issue for the disabilities community. While mainstream society is increasingly an online affair (from commerce to education to even the ability to apply for employment), inaccessible websites, social media, and devices threaten to shut out individuals who otherwise have the most to gain. Silverstein points, however, to the unequivocal statements made in April by Samuel R. Bagenstos, the principal deputy assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Department of Justice. Among them is this:  "The broad mandate of the ADA to provide an equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities to participate in and benefit from all aspects of American civic and economic life will be served in today's technologically advanced society only if it is clear to businesses, employers, and educators, among others, that their web sites must be accessible."

V.    A Journey of a Thousand Miles (begins with a hot day in July)

Of course there's more to achieving equal opportunity than effective access to technology. As Carr readily acknowledges, "The unfulfilled promise of the ADA remains employment." But here Carr also sees reasons for optimism. In the big picture, he reports that more employers are including people with disabilities in their diversity plans, more are learning that accommodations are largely affordable and effective, and more young adults with disabilities are successfully preparing for and expecting to go to work. "I see, in this position that I have now, a real culture shift happening.  I see more and more people with really significant disabilities getting decent jobs."

Even still there are many who feel the ADA has not done enough to level the playing field. And, Carr reflects, that's how it is with civil rights. "[Listen to African Americans talk about it and] you hear all levels of disappointment and happiness. And that's more than 40 years later! So no, you don't undo a legacy of discrimination in 20 years."

Indeed, Carr remembers when it hit him how long equality would take. He was sitting on the east lawn of the White House on July 26th, 1990, privileged to witness the signing of the ADA. "It was this incredibly hot day and the White House people were out there giving us cold lemonade because we were dropping like flies.  And I remember a bunch of us going to sit under a tree to get some shade and […] we were sitting there, and I'm practically half-dead from the heat, and as soon as the bill signing was over they were hustling us off the lawn,  'Alright, get outta here, show's over!' And I was like, Oh great! Here we just got this monumental civil rights law passed and we're being ushered away. So at that point I remember thinking, we've just begun. It's just the absolute beginning."

See Tom Olin's photo of ADAPT members climbing the Capitol steps at DisabilityMuseum.org

Chris Clasby and Kathleen Laurin on Creating Access to Wildlife Recreation

Thanks to MonTECH Program Coordinator Chris Clasby, MSW and Program Director Kathleen Laurin, Ph.D. for sharing the details on this unique recreational AT program, how it came together, and how it is and will be sustained.

 

Assistive technology (AT) devices can open the world of recreation to individuals with disabilities and those who are aging.   Unfortunately  access to recreation and leisure activities is sometimes not considered an important component of disability services and rehabilitation. The Montana Access To Outdoor Recreation (MATOR) project at the University of Montana Rural Institute-MonTECH recognizes that these activities are crucial to quality of life for each of us with or without a disability.  Consistent with Montana’s heritage of wildlife-associated recreation, MATOR strives to increase opportunities for individuals with disabilities to pursue wildlife viewing, fishing, hunting, and related activities. The project achieves this goal by providing more than just an equipment loan program; MATOR also provides high quality opportunities to see and try adapted recreational equipment in the natural environment; and it facilitates social supports (when requested) that ensure everyone enjoys their time outdoors.

 

MATOR began in 2008 with the receipt of a three-year recreational programs grant from the Rehabilitation Services Agency (RSA) of the US Department of Education. Seven new recreational program awards were made that year (based on the FFY2008 competition), ranging from $115,000 to $135,000 for the first year of funding. MATOR is unique for RSA’s recreational programs because it is the only one that focuses on wildlife-associated recreation (wildlife viewing, fishing, and hunting).  It is also unique because it is using recreational program funds to purchase AT.

 

RSA supports recreational programs because research shows that recreation provides benefits that enhance pathways to employment.  Individuals with disabilities who participate in recreational activities often experience increased independence, mobility, self-empowerment, and self-efficacy in addition to simple enjoyment.  Interpersonal and societal benefits include increased socialization and community involvement and belief in oneself as a social actor. These positive effects work together to increase the chances that an individual will try new things; they are also critical skills in gaining and maintaining employment.  MATOR participants have reported qualitative benefits gained from engaging in recreational pursuits and have also reported their participation resulted in increased confidence and was a catalyst for them to try other new activities.

 

MATOR’s Core Services:

Equipment Demonstration Events

 

RSA funds MATOR to provide recreational opportunities in integrated settings. However, MATOR has learned the importance of complementing those opportunities with organized demonstration events focused on access for people with disabilities. The events are held throughout northwestern Montana to provide hands-on opportunities for participants to try recreational AT in the natural environment. These events not only demonstrate available equipment, they also raise awareness for what is possible, and how individual participants with disabilities can accomplish it.

·         In June, for example, MATOR is participating in Fishing without Barriers—Fishing on Flathead Lake, a morning of awareness and demonstrations culminating in a noon fish fry. An example of an integrated event is two days later, in partnership with Fish, Wildlife, and Parks: Helena Outdoors Fest in celebration of National Get Outdoors Day.

 

Recreational AT Equipment Loan Program

 

RSA funding is making possible the purchase of a large inventory of recreational AT equipment for loan. The equipment is available to be checked out for free, online or over the phone, by Montanans for their own private recreational use.  Items available include: a variety of optics, adapted fishing and shooting equipment, camping equipment, ground blinds, trekking poles, outdoor wheelchairs, accessible tents, adaptive photography equipment, and a wide variety of adaptive mounting equipment. MATOR is shipping equipment at no charge to borrowers.

 

Volunteer Network

 

To provide assistance as well as learning experiences, MATOR recruits sportsmen and sportswomen who are willing to volunteer time to help individuals with disabilities pursue outdoor recreation and/or participate in MATOR demonstration events or other activities.  MATOR works to match participants who request social supports with volunteers.  Volunteers are also sought to offer access to private property and/or contribute equipment to the loan library.

 

MATOR’s Funding:

 

RSA is funding MATOR from FFY2009 to FFY2011.  MATOR must provide a twenty-five percent funding match in year two of the grant, a fifty percent funding match in year three, and the program must demonstrate it will be self-sustaining beyond the federal funding period. To do so, MATOR relies heavily on in-kind contributions from established partners.  

 

MATOR’s Partners:

 

MonTECH

 

MATOR’s primary partner is  MonTECH which includes the Montana Assistive Technology Program (MATP).  MATOR  receives in-kind benefits from MonTECH which include:

• access to the computer network and database which hosts the MATOR website and online equipment loan checkout program,
• staff,
• equipment storage,
• workspace and office equipment.  

 

Montana Fish, Wildlife, & Parks

 

Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks manages the state’s wildlife services and state parks divisions and has  been a strong MATOR partner, helping achieve program awareness and supporting demonstration activities.

 

The U.S. Forest Service

 

The US Forest Service has been a great partner working with MATOR on accessibility issues in national forests to increase access for all visitors.  

 

Montana Vocational Rehabilitation and Independent Living Centers

 

These agencies provide information dissemination for MATOR activities and services.

 

Recreational AT Vendors and Manufacturers

 

MATOR partners with members of the AT industry for discounts and other supports.

 

Private Individuals and Member Organizations

 

Private individuals and organizations donate and help fund equipment, provide storage space for large equipment, and volunteer hours to facilitate activities and assist consumers.  

 

MATOR’s success is attributable to the investment in time, interest, and effort made by its individual and organizational partners, and to the input it sought and received from potential and active participants at the start of its development and now midstream.  This input and feedback is extremely important for determining activities planned and the types of specific equipment purchased. In this way the program has been able to identify quality services and locations for activities. The program has also been able to take advantage of the experience and knowledge of individual MonTECH staff members who were familiar with a range of adaptive recreational equipment at the outset.

MATOR’s Future and Potential as a National Model:

 

MATOR will be self-sustaining beyond FFY2011 with the help of its partners, and principally, MonTECH and the MATP. In Montana, AT Act funding supports an AT program infrastructure that can maintain and continue a demo/loan program in recreational AT.  Alone, AT Act funds are inadaquate for the purchase of the adaptive recreational equipment needed to get such a program off the ground. For states with similar infrastructures, therefore, RSA’s three-year recreational programs grant may be an attractive source of seed funding, and RSA’s support for MATOR is an encouraging precedent.

 

For more information visit the MATOR website or email mator@ruralinstitute.umt.edu.

Also check out this Alliance for Technology Access webinar on AT for recreation.

Have an idea for an article you'd like to contribute to ATPN? ATPN can work with you to make it happen. Contact ATPN.

Lessons from an AFP-AgrAbility Partnership

Back in 2007, Kevin Yasnowski became the first farmer to receive a financial loan through the Pennsylvania Assistive Technology Foundation (PATF). At the time, Mr. Yasnowski was working at a Nike shoe outlet, but he didn’t want to just sell shoes. He wanted to help with haying and raising heifers alongside his father on their family’s farm. To do so Yasnowski, who has Down Syndrome, needed safety equipment for a tractor. But because he was already employed, the Penn. Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR) turned down his request for assistance. Indeed there was no program that could help with this equipment. That’s when PATF stepped in.

“It’s important to do what you love,” notes Executive Director Susan Tachau.

PATF learned of Yasnowski through a partnership it had just launched with AgrAbility and Penn State University. AgrAbility’s mission is to help farmers keep producing; the Pennsylvania AgrAbility program provides outreach to farmers with disabilities, assessments for equipment needs, and information and referral for funding. PATF, in turn, provides alternative financing, case management, and advocacy.

In Mr. Yasnowski’s case, PATF helped finance a seat belt to keep him in the operator’s chair and the roll over protective structure (ROPS) for protection should the tractor flip over. “What’s important about this story,” Tachau emphasizes, “is that no other program could help him. But he paid off his loan in about a year.”

Since 2007, PATF has made ten loans to farmers through its AgrAbility program, and learned some lessons about working with farmers and state agencies along the way. Recently ATPN spoke with Tachau about her experience with AgrAbility and gleaned the following lessons, surprises, and strategies to share with the AT program community:

1. Loans to farmers are not particularly risky.

PATF’s farmers have had a much higher debt to income ratio than its other loan recipients, yet so far none have defaulted or even gone delinquent. “A farmer’s debt to income looks higher because their assets are in the farm,” Tachau explains. “But farmers are committed to their family farms. It’s more than a job. We don’t put liens on cows to make these loans, and the farmers are paying them off.”

2. Farmers want all resources to go to the farm.

“Because farming is much more than a vocation, farmers put everything on the farm. So when AgrAbility’s OT comes back to them recommending, among other things, an ergonomic chair for the office, it’s a hard sell. Steps up to the tractor? Yes. Help converting to another product that is physically easier to make? Absolutely. The chair? Not so interested.”

3. Vocational Rehabilitation can’t cover everything.

At the time Yasnowski’s loan was made, PATF assumed financing farm equipment would prove to be unusual. AgrAbility would get the farm equipment from Vocational Rehabilitation, and PATF would finance the farmer’s non-vocational needs (i.e. home and vehicle modifications, hearing aids, and perhaps an ergonomic chair). Now, looking back, of the ten AgrAbility loans they’ve helped finance, every one has gone to purchase farm equipment.

4. It works best to complete a package for the farmer.

“Because there is a limit to what OVR can cover, we find that we’re completing packages for farmers. OVR will fund much of the adaptive equipment and we’ll try and finance the rest, including the vehicles.” In 2009, PATF worked with OVR to help a farmer with cervical and lumbar pain obtain new farm equipment that would simply be easier on his body. The needs were significant: an Ag-bag machine, a feeder wagon, a utility vehicle, an elevator lift system, upgrades to his tractor (new suspension seating, adapted shifting mechanism to engage the transmission and other gears), and a new truck that provides a smoother (and less painful) ride.  OVR paid for the new farm equipment as well as $1,200 for the adaptations to the tractor.  PATF guaranteed a loan for $19,300 (at 4.5%) so the farmer could pay the difference between the old tractor and the new one ($4,800) and the truck ($14,500). Monthly loan payments:  $306.37. Repayment period:  6 years.

5. Get creative when considering income.

PATF has learned that if anyone in the farm family is working off the farm, PATF may not have to guarantee the loan, which makes available a lot more money to work with to help a farmer.

6. Help OVR to “think outside the box” when it comes to AT.

As the example above illustrates, AT for farmers is not always adaptive equipment; sometimes it is just new or different farm equipment. “Of course we advocate for the farmers to OVR,” emphasizes Tachau, “and partner to help make it happen.”

7. Get to the policy table with multiple agencies.

An AT program can provide far reaching impact for people with disabilities by creating relationships with other state agencies, making sure AT is included in service definitions, and preventing program asset limits that threaten to exclude farm families and others from needed services. PATF is at the table with Medicaid as they craft their home and community based waiver (HSBS) service definitions and asset rules. It is also helping create the Pennsylvania State Plan for Independent Living (SPIL).  “Ultimately we are looking to create opportunities,” Tachau says, “to complete more packages for people with disabilities so they can get and afford the AT they need. Not just with OVR.”

8. Get to the kitchen table with farmers.

Outreach to farmers with disabilities is effective when the AgrAbility staff members are farmers themselves (or have a strong farming background). “It’s fascinating to me what we have learned, culturally,” Tachau muses. “Our AgrAbility people are farmers. They talk the language. When they visit a farm they know what is a priority and what is not a priority. I don’t step foot on a farm. I could, but they would know I don’t come from a farming background and that does make a difference.”

Learn more about creating an AgrAbility partnership; download this National Assistive Technology Technical Assistance Partnership (NATTAP) publication (rtf).

Accessible Video: Tips, Tricks, and Tools for YouTube (and beyond)

Google’s YouTube has helped make sharing video easy and popular for the non-technologically savvy.  Users simply sign up for a YouTube channel, upload a video from their camera and instantly get a web address (url) and even a snippet of code (html) to embed on their websites.

For people with sensory disabilities, however, the use of this social media to convey important information is frustrating. Videos are rarely captioned, few provide audio description of visual content, and even the players themselves are often inaccessible to screen readers and other assistive technology. In the last few months, however, Google has helped bring the need for accessible video to mainstream consciousness. Their launch of easy-to-use captioning tools—even auto-captioning—is helping set a new standard for what a video should include.

Because of YouTube’s innovation, MassMATCH set out to learn more about the new captioning tools for the benefit of our program and community. We wanted to know how to use them. We also wanted to know how to go beyond them to provide access to more people with disabilities. Below are tips, tricks, and tools for accessible video that we have gleaned from the web and from experts in the field. The article includes advice on captioning, audio description, and accessible video players. It is intended to provide general awareness as well as deeper insight for novice video producers and anyone embedding video content on a website.

Thanks to Geoff Freed of the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM), Marsha Schwanke of the Burton Blatt Institute (BBI) at Syracuse University, and Jayme Johnson of the High Tech Center Training Unit at the California Community Colleges for contributing insight and resources used for this article.

Captioning

Captions improve access to people who are deaf or hard of hearing, to anyone who is a visual learner, and—thanks to Google’s new Translate Captions feature for YouTube—to people who use languages other than English.

So how do you get started?

• Learn some captioning do’s and don’ts

Captions are not just subtitles. In addition to dialogue they must convey any audible information needed to understand a video (i.e. a door slams). 

o    For a quick review, see Captioning FAQs from WGBH Media Access Group.
o    To become a captioning nerd, visit the Captioning Key from Described and Captioned Media Program.

• Sample the YouTube auto-captioning feature

Yes, YouTube will now automatically caption (subtitle) your English-language videos using speech recognition technology. However, the results are mostly quite poor (even hilarious) as the speech recognition algorithm is still “learning.” Still it’s worth using because YouTube allows you to download the auto-generated captions and correct them. This will save a lot of time over other options if the auto-generated captions are recognizable, and if you don’t have a lot of non-speech information to caption as well.

To request your video be captioned

1.    Sign into your YouTube account.
2.    On the Captions and Subtitles pane, click the “Request Processing” button (you will only see this button if the video hasn't been processed yet).
3.    You'll see Machine Transcription (processing) in the list of available caption tracks, which means it is working. Keep in mind that it can take a few days for the speech recognition track to become available for viewing and download.

To download your captions once they are ready:

1.    Sign into your YouTube account.
2.    On the Captions and Subtitles pane, look for the track called "English: Machine Transcription." Click the Download button next to that track.
3.    A “captions.sbv” file will be saved to your desktop (it’s a text file with timecode information that you can use with caption software or open with a regular text editor like Notepad.)

Instructions for uploading your caption file to your YouTube video

• Caption with the YouTube auto-timing feature

If the YouTube auto-captioning results are too rough to edit, YouTube also offers an auto-timing feature for captioning. Unlike auto-captioning, auto-timing requires you make a transcript of your video (which gives you more control, but does take time). Auto-timing means, however, that you don’t have to provide timing information for when your captions should be displayed on the screen – instead, the YouTube speech recognition algorithm figures this out for you.

To use the auto-timing feature:

1.    Make a simple text transcript (.txt file) of your video (and it must be your video) using Notepad or WordPad (Windows) or TextEdit (Mac).
2.    Upload to your YouTube account,
3.    YouTube synchronizes your text with your video’s audio content (you can also provide a caption file in specific formats if you have one).

For more information, INDATA provides an easy step-by-step guide to YouTube’s auto-timing at this blog page. INDATA doesn’t mention it, but you can also download and correct any glaring timing errors.

• Consider using captioning software

You may also skip the YouTube auto-timing and auto-captioning features and create an honest-to-goodness caption file (i.e. files with these file extensions: .smil, .sami., .sub, .srt, .dfxp, .rt). This gives you maximum control over the timing of your captions (since you time them yourself). Many caption-file formats work with YouTube, but may also be used with standalone players (those installed on your computer, like Windows Media Player, QuickTime or iTunes). The downside is that caption files take a lot longer to make—rule of thumb is 5-10 times the length of the video you are captioning. (This means a 5 minute video may take 25 -50 minutes to caption.)

Here are some captioning resources:

o    MAGPie is free captioning software created by WGBH’s NCAM (the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible Media). It has recently been updated (March 2010) to make installation smoother (version 2.5). It will caption most video file formats (but not file extensions .wmv, .rm, or .ra). It will also create caption files in many formats for use with many players (.sami, .rt, .txt, dfxp and ttxt).  YouTube is compatible with .sub, .srt, .txt, .rt and dfxp).
o    Additional captioning software options include CapScribe, Macaw, World Caption Tool (for Mac), and QuickTime Pro.
o    Automatic Sync Technologies Service is a company that provides captioning and transcription services.

Descriptive Video

To help make a video comprehensible for people who are blind or have low vision, videos are sometimes also produced with audio description of visual content. This is known as descriptive video. Audio description works with a separate audio track that is synched with the video. The track uses the natural pauses in a video to describe key visual elements. YouTube, however, does not support the inclusion of additional audio tracks.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Narrate your videos to be descriptive from the start to avoid the need for separate audio-description files

The best way to make sure people who are blind or who have low vision can comprehend your video’s content is to remember these audiences before you shoot your video clip. In the body of your narration, cue the listener in to what is happening on the screen, but only as much as is necessary. Too much information is confusing. See this Job Accommodation Network outreach video on AT for Employment for its simple method of orienting the listener. If you use this technique, you can still use YouTube effectively for video sharing. If not…

• Review standard techniques in audio description by Joe Clark.

• Consider do it yourself audio-description file tools

o    MAGpie
o    QuickTime Pro
o    Adobe Premiere / Audition
o    Apple iMovie / GarageBand

• Consider hiring a professional audio-description service

Truthfully, if your video needs to be audio described (particularly if it is longer than a few minutes), this is best left to professionals because audio description is an art form. Read more about audio description at this AccessIT page and WGBH’s Media Access Group Descriptive Video Service page. Also, sample an audio-described and captioned video from Inclusive Technologies (“The Assistive Technology Boogie”).

• Find a player that supports audio description
  

  Once your video is audio described and captioned, there are website-embeddable video players that will support all your files (see VideoLAN-VLC below).

Accessible Video Players

Video players are software that play your video files, and hopefully your caption and audio-description files too. They are the little TVs that pop up on your website when, for example, you embed using that html snippet that YouTube provides. Unfortunately, YouTube’s standard embeddable player is not accessible for screen readers. Google knows it and likely this will change. But for now, here are some options:

• Accessible YouTube Player Controls from Ohio State University

The Web Accessibility Center (WAC) at Ohio State University (OSU) provides code (html snippets) and instructions for creating accessibility controls for the YouTube player. It requires some developer knowledge, but it looks like a fairly straightforward way to continue to have YouTube host your videos (if they do not require audio-description files). The Center is currently working to update this page to reflect YouTube’s new auto-captioning feature. However the video player instructions should work with any captioned YouTube. It will not support audio-description files, however.

•  JW Player 5.1 

JW Player 5.1 is Flash-only (.FLV video files), free (open source) and plays both caption and audio-description files (it also advertises that it is the only player that can play both closed captions and closed audio descriptions, which means they can be hidden or revealed). It will also play YouTube. The player provides keyboard controls (using the TAB and SPACE controls), screen-reader-labeled buttons, and a full-screen button. Plus, above the player are visually hidden controls that allow screen-reader users to control play, mute, and stop. Review the captions plug-in for the JW Player and the audio description plug-in for the JW Player. Note: the player requires captions be in in DFXP or TTML format. Several caption software tools can help create or convert your file to DFXP/TTML (including MAGpie). Stanford University offers a free online .srt-to-.DFXP converter.

• VideoLAN-VLC media player

VideoLAN-VLC is accessible, free (open source), and plays files of most formats (not just Flash), supporting both captions and audio description. Installation requires some developer know-how, and hosting your videos on your own server (not on YouTube).

• ccPlayer

The National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) created ccPlayer, a free Flash player that utilizes DFXP/TTML files to display captions. It will play DFXP/TTML caption files created by MAGpie or by other software. The ccPlayer Web site provides embedding instructions which presume some developer know-how, but you do not need to be a Flash author to use ccPlayer. The player is accessible by both keyboard and screen-reader users, and plays only Flash video files (.FLV). It does not support audio-description files. NCAM hopes to enhance the player to allow it to reference videos directly from a user’s YouTube channel, caption files included (and that would be a neat trick!).  For now, using ccPlayer requires hosting your videos on your own server (rather than on YouTube).

Specifically for Flash developers who want total control over the appearance of the video player and captions, NCAM also created CCforFlash, a free captioning component that can be added to a Flash project.  The CCforFlash component is completely customizable, and allows authors to control the width and height of the caption region, the caption and background colors, the opacity of the background, and the font family and size of the captions themselves.  Many other features are described at the CCforFlash Web site.  

• Standalone Players

You can also provide a link to your video (hosted on your own server) and bypass embedding a video player altogether. The link will open a standalone player installed on the user’s computer (assuming they have the player for the file type you link to). The advantage of most standalone players (i.e. Windows Media Player, QuickTime Player, RealPlayer, iTunes) is that they tend to be more accessible. They work with keyboard and screen readers and support captions and often audio-description files (Windows Media Player does not support audio description). Read about accessing captions and audio description on different standalone media players at this AccessIT page.

Additional Resources

• Marsha Schwanke of the Burton Blatt Institute (BBI) at Syracuse University will be conducting a free webinar on September 8, 2010 at 2 pm EST on “Creating Accessible Videos for Your Website.” The webinar is part of a series and coordinated by the DBTAC: Great Lakes ADA Center and the DBTAC: Pacific ADA Center on behalf of the National Network of ADA Centers. Register at this Accessible Technology Webinar page.

• The Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) at the WGBH Educational Foundation is a resource for caption and audio-description tools and guidelines as well as information about research-and-development projects aimed at making media more accessible at home, in the classroom, in public spaces and on handheld devices.  For more information, contact Donna Danielewski.

• Creating Accessible iTunes U Content (opens in iTunes). iTunes U is Apple’s distribution system for getting educational material (lectures, film, audiobooks, tours) to students through iTunes. Here NCAM provides guidelines for how to add captions and audio descriptions to media posted to iTunes U, playable on Apple devices such as the iPod, iPhone, iPad, iTunes and the QuickTime Player.  Video and audio examples are included, as is information on creating accessible PDF documentation.  If you do not have access to iTunes, you can view and download the guidelines directly from NCAM’s Web site.

Your Haiti Relief Efforts: From the Ground Up...

Anyone who has read Three Cups of Tea or Stones to Schools has been struck by the power for good that can come from one or a handful of caring and determined people. The books demonstrate how real change comes out of relationships forged between individuals to serve a common mission (in this case building schools for girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan). Assistive technology (AT) programs live this lesson, too, when they forge partnerships to provide services for people with disabilities. We call them organizational partnerships, collaborations, etc. but often they start with a conversation between just two people. Change starts on the ground.

Cut to Haiti. The last thing any American wants to read right now is how their aid or tax dollars are locked up in red tape, stuck in containers of goods, failing to reach starving and hurting people. So it was with pleasure that ATPN participated in a conference call on February 10th with Portlight Strategies’ Richard Lumarque—on the ground in Port au Prince—communicating clearly and directly with disability advocates and others in the states, exactly what is needed in Haiti and by whom, and exactly how it would get to them. For fans of Stones to Schools, Richard Lumarque sounded analogous to Sarfraz Khan, which makes Paul Timmons, board chair of Portlight, a Greg Mortenson of sorts (Timmons grew Portlight from his living room). Timmons uses Lumarque’s intelligence to organize U.S. resources and partner with disability networks and others to provide effective relief in Haiti—relief that Lumarque and his team have been delivering, personally, on the ground.

The disability networks Portlight is partnering with are many and include Friends of Disabled Adults and Children (FODAC) in Georgia (an Enterprise Depot of the STAR Network of reuse programs), the programs of the Pass It On Center (PIOC) and the Association of AT Act Programs (ATAP). The Haiti Aid Network, a private nonprofit with decades of experience and long-established relationships in Haiti, is also supplying intelligence on specific Haitian needs.
 

The collaboration is exciting and effective. FODAC has a 64,000 square foot storage facility in Stone Mountain, GA that it is deploying as a staging ground for durable medical equipment (DME) donations from around the U.S. For AT programs, this means most of the wheelchairs, walkers, hospital beds, and canes that you donate are being collected, evaluated, and coordinated by FODAC staff and volunteers. Portlight and the Haiti Aid Network are seeking out and raising funds for low cost shipping options. So far these have included securing a cost-effective U.S. trucking network and partnering with the Liberty Schooner (a tourist tall ship that has signed on for relief work).

So how did AT program networks like PIOC and ATAP get involved? “It began with a single tweet,” emphasizes George Heake, emergency management and response coordinator at the Institute on Disabilities at Temple University (home of Pennsylvania's Initiative on AT) and a consultant with the PIOC. It was a tweet from Timmons forwarded by a colleague to Heake that alerted him to Portlight’s effort to get together its first container of DME and other needed supplies. Heake has been designated the National Point of Contact by FEMA for PIOC and ATAP. That tweet led to the AT program community helping to fill requests from Portlight’s contacts (crises responders at universities, hospitals, and elsewhere in Haiti). As result, AT program networks are now working in collaboration with Lumarque, a man who is personally driving a truck more than 12 hours a day to deliver donated DME exactly where it needs to go.

(See the related article: “Your Haiti Relief Efforts: From the Top Down...”)

Your Haiti Relief Efforts: From the Top Down...

If Richard Lumarque and the power of a single tweet are inspiring (see the related article "Your Haiti Relief Efforts: From the Ground Up..."), equally heartening is news that this collaboration, between government-funded assistive technology (AT) programs and on-the-ground nonprofits, is now officially sanctioned and aided by the U.S. government.

This is in sharp contrast to how things worked during Hurricane Katrina and the Iowa floods. Back then assistive technology (AT) programs responded, but in a grassroots way without federal help or acknowledgment. Indeed it wasn’t until the well publicized neglect of people with disabilities during Katrina that the need for systems change became glaringly obvious. Today, however, Marcie Roth has changed business as usual. Appointed Senior Advisor on Disability Issues at FEMA last June, and promoted to Director of FEMA’s Office of Disability Integration and Coordination in February, Roth is working hard to bring disability agencies into the emergency preparedness fold and, according to George Heake (consultant with the Pass It On Center), instill an ethic of collaboration with private grassroots organizations. Put simply, whereas in the past disability programs responded to emergencies off the grid, today we are getting wired in.

Wired in how, exactly? “It started with aid to American Samoa,” Heake reports. Since then FEMA has designated Heake a National Point of Contact, thereby granting him access to the Aidmatrix and Airlink online portals for relief donations. “It’s how we coordinate our intelligence all the way up the food chain.”  The Aidmatrix Foundation is a nonprofit that specializes in donations management for NGOs, governments, and businesses, and is a subcontractor of USAID, the U.S. Agency for International Development. Heake, acting on behalf of the PIOC and ATAP, posts needs to these websites, confirmed needs he has gleaned from his contacts on the ground in Haiti. He also reviews and claims donations pledged by other donating entities.

In this way, Heake’s access to Aidmatrix and Airlink represents a satisfying breakthrough for the U.S. disability community’s capacity to respond to emergencies. Now large volumes of donated supplies can be moved for the benefit of people with disabilities. This is capacity that is particularly important in the Haiti context. “Being disability-centric,” Heake emphasizes, “we really feel the urgency to respond very quickly to Haiti and not be the last ones to come in. Because in Haiti, people with disabilities are a part of a population that was invisible and marginalized before—in an economy and population that is extremely poor—and once this disaster happened… they were in danger of becoming ghosts if we didn’t react fast.”

He notes, too, the power of the AT program listservs. “It’s not rocket science, but it’s how we get the majority of our response. Our network represents the largest disaster response capacity for AT and durable medical equipment in the world." 

Mauricio Lizama on Puerto Rico's Low Cost Device Design and Development (LD3) Program

 A Different Approach to Alternative Financing for AT

PRATP is making AT accessible by actually making AT! Here Mauricio Lizama, Ph.D., ATP, describes their unique approach to a state financing activity and how it helps residents with disabilities in Puerto Rico and beyond. 

The Puerto Rico Assistive Technology Program (PRATP) developed the  Low Cost Device  Design and Development (LD3) program in February 2007 as a State Financing Activity for the Assistive Technology State Grant Program. After previous attempts to implement low interest loans and other alternative financing programs in Puerto Rico, the LD3 program was created under the category of "state financing activities that allow consumers to obtain AT at reduced cost."

The LD3 program designs and develops low cost devices that mimic AT solutions on the market, and provides installation, configuration, and training for the end user. The AT user pays only for the materials needed for the construction of the device.

A consumer's device request qualifies for LD3 program assistance if it falls under one or more of the following scenarios:

1.    The desired AT device does not exist on the market: In this case, PRATP works with the consumer to fabricate an AT device to satisfy the particular needs of the individual with disabilities (i.e. develop a head-controlled videogame system for a quadriplegic child).
2.    The AT device exists, but it must be modified to make it usable by the consumer (i.e. adapt an electric feeder controller to be activated through a fiber-optic switch).

3.    The AT device exists, but it is too expensive to be obtained otherwise. In this case, the adaptation targets the functionality of the original device but with a different design, therefore preventing intellectual property issues (i.e. adapt a $45 mouth controlled joystick with sip-n-puff to provide the functionality of similar products available in the AT market for $1,500 and over).

To implement the LD3 program, PRATP assembled an AT Development Team (ATDT) which receives referrals of technology needs from consumers, family members, local AT evaluation centers and health related professionals statewide. The ATDT is comprised of volunteers from several fields including assistive technology, engineering, rehabilitation technology, electronics and human factors engineering. The LD3 program also leads design teams of mechanical, electrical and computer engineering students and faculty at local universities for the development of complex technologies that are beyond the design and manufacturing capabilities of the program.

To create the university partnerships, PRATP worked in direct collaboration with faculty in charge of existing engineering design courses and Capstone projects. Prior to PRATP's involvement, faculty members were using Capstone and engineering courses for researching and designing technologies in response to design competitions (i.e. battlebots and solar race cars). Most of these projects were never actually constructed. PRATP worked with faculty and students to redirect their efforts to an applied research and development track focused on AT for people with disabilities, projects that are actually constructed and have real-life impact.

Examples of some adapted devices built by the LD3 program are: electronic circular  scanning communicators, laser-based communication board systems, customized seating systems for school, computer-based dynamic communication systems, adapted shower seats, computer-based and voice activated bed control systems, computer switch interfaces, head controlled video game systems, single and multi-switch controlled electric ride on cars, low cost head tracking systems, environmental controls, mouth controlled joysticks  with sip-n-puff, electronic musical instrument tuners for the blind, switch adapted baseball pitching machines, adapted switches (pad, lever, tilt, sip-n-puff, string, cap switch, touch switch, etc.) among several other devices.   

PRATP compares the cost of each adapted device with the market version of its closest match (when available) in order to track the financial impact of the low cost solutions it provides. As of December 2009, consumers had invested $3,645 (since 2007) in order to obtain over $62,000 worth of AT devices through the LD3 program. For consumers, this translates into savings of over 94% in the acquisition of needed technologies in the areas of education, employment and community living. Cost to consumers includes only materials, since labor is provided by the LD3 team. However, even if labor is included in the cost comparison, the devices still represent over 70% savings over their closest AT match on the market.

Outside Puerto Rico, the LD3 program has also been able to provide context-sensitive solutions to consumers in Latin America particularly because of its emphasis on the design and development of “low cost high tech devices” and in technologies that address particular needs of Hispanics with disabilities. The car in the photo on the right was adapted by PRATP and then donated to a program in Mexico that provides services to children with disabilities. To learn more about the LD3 program visit PRATP’s web page.

Mauricio Lizama is the coordinator of the Assistive Technology Design, Evaluation and Development Unit at PRATP.

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Fred Tchang on How to Choose An Equipment Loan Database

Looking for a better way to track equipment? Advancing Opportunities in New Jersey has recently completed a review of database options for its short-term device loan program. Here Fred Tchang, director of assistive technology services, draws on that experience to provide advice for how to go about making the right decision for your program.

At Advancing Opportunities, our statewide Technology Lending Center had been using a database that was 10 years old, designed using an older version of Microsoft Access.  We knew that we needed a new database to help us work more efficiently and effectively, and didn't want to design one from scratch. In the course of reviewing database options, we created a website wiki to record and share what we'd learned about the products used by different state programs (see www.atmanagement.wikispaces.com and click on Equipment Loan Databases). What the website doesn't provide, however, is the subject of this article: the process we used to consider our options.

Consider the SETT Framework

I was amazed at the diversity of database solutions, each designed to meet different needs.  I can truly say that there is no one best solution (don't we always say that?) To find one that's right for your program, I recommend reviewing (and adapting) the SETT framework. For those unfamiliar with it, this is the collaborative decision making tool developed by Special Educator Joy Zabala to help teams identify appropriate supports and services for students with disabilities.  

"S" stands for identifying your Strengths and abilities, "E" for the environment you are working in, "T" for the Tasks you are trying to perform, and "T" for the Tools that are available to you. Clarifying these points will help you make informed choices about the database options available.  Below are sample database issues that relate to each of the letters in SETT to help get you started. 

Strengths:  How much do you know about database design?  Do you know enough that you want the flexibility to create queries and reports yourself?  If so, then make sure to ask if you can customize things yourself, as you can with the ones designed in Filemaker Pro.  Do you have a very limited budget? Are you unable to hire a database developer to customize the database, or unable to purchase the software (such as Filemaker Pro) that runs the database?  Then consider a web-based solution, such as Nebraska's, which has no software to install, and a low annual maintenance fee.  

Environment:  Is there primarily just one person, or one office, that is tracking the equipment loans, or do you have several centers working together?  Having a web-based database (such as Nebraska AT4ALL's) makes it easy to access the information from anywhere.  Pennsylvania's was designed with this model in mind, though it will require purchasing Filemaker Pro software (including the server version for your central server), if you don't own it already.  Note that AT Tracker will be coming out in a web version in February 2010.  See the wiki for more details.

Tasks:  Do you have other services, besides just equipment loan, that you want to track?  Many of the databases allow for this, to differing degrees.  AT Tracker+ integrates equipment tracking with services tracking.  Are you also tracking equipment purchasing for consumers/students?  Ontario's database tracks this, as well as leasing and invoicing.  Do you want the public to see and search through the equipment on the web?  Nebraska's web-based database has this built-in; those built with Filemaker Pro can (with programming) have their information accessible through the web.  

Tools:  What database software is already available to you (Microsoft Access, Filemaker Pro)? If you need access from several sites, do you already have your own web server?  

We have installed our new database, and are very happy to be moving to a more efficient way of doing things (see the wiki for the one we chose).  My choice reflects my skills and experience with databases, and will not be the right one for everyone.  If you have any questions, feel free to contact me:  FTchang@advopps.org.  

Fred Tchang, ATP, is the Director of Assistive Technology Services at Advancing Opportunities, a non-profit serving people of all disabilities throughout the state of New Jersey. 

Have an idea for an article you'd like to contribute? ATPN can provide editing support. Contact ATPN.