WORKPLACE ACCOMMODATIONS USING ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY

JUNE 30, 2009



CAROLYN PHILLIPS: Hey, everybody. We're going to

go ahead and get started.

We're very glad that you're on with us. And we

know that some other folks are going to be getting online

with us also.

We're also recording this session so that we can

play it back for folks at a later date. And we're also

going to have it on our website. And Liz is in charge of

that.

Thank you, Liz, for taking care of that.

Gigi Taylor is with us, along with Liz and Martha.

And Rhonda will be with us in just a few minutes.

I'm glad you're with us, Doris and Naomi. Welcome.

And, Donna, great to see you.

And, Cheryl, hello. Glad that you're on with us

today.

We're -- this is actually a topic that's huge --

workplace accommodations and assistive technology

solutions.

As long as I've been working in this field, it's

been a field that continues to grow when we're focusing on

workplace solutions. And I'm excited to tell you that

there are even more resources now than there were before.

I was amazed, as I was doing research for this

presentation, how many resources there really are out

there.

Before we get too far though, I wanted to kind of

give you a little orientation as to our webinar, the way

that this is set up, because we do want you to interact if

you would like to interact with us. If you want to ask

questions, any of that, just want to let you know how you

can do that.

If you look over to the right side of the screen,

at the very top it says "Public Chat." That's actually an

area where, if you want to type something in -- and I'll

show you where you type that in in just a second -- and

then you hit "Enter," then it will actually appear up

there.

And so I'm going to give you an example of that

now. So "hello" is what I'm going to type in. And let's

see here. H-e-l-l-o, hello. And I hit "Enter," and there

it says that Carolyn, Martha, Liz, and Rhonda, and actually

Gigi all say hello.

Where you actually type that in is the box right

below the public-chat area. You can change the fonts. You

can put a little smiley face if you want to. Some people

do that. You can do all kinds of things, and it will

appear.

Right below that is actually a listing of who's

online with us. If you have a microphone and you would

like to --

Oh, hello, Mike. Glad you're with us. So glad

you're with us.

And thanks for letting us know that it's not just

you, Donna.

So if you would like to know who's online with us,

you can actually check out right there and see who's on.

If you would like to record this, you can actually

go up to the menu bar at the very top of the screen.

You'll see "File" and then over next to it "Actions" and

then "View" and then "Options." And then the next one is

"Recording." If you want to record this, you can actually

click "Start Recording," "Stop Recording."

If you look beside Liz's name underneath "Public

Chat" all the way down here, you can actually see that Liz

is recording this.

So thank you, Liz, for recording it.

Do y'all have any questions before we proceed?

Okay. Feel free to interrupt me at any point and

either jump in with some information that you might have or

if you have something else that you want to add to the

conversation, feel free to jump in.

Fran, glad that you're with us today. Thank you

for coming and joining us.

As I said, this is a topic that continues to grow.

We're actually going to do a few more sessions on workplace

accommodations.

As you know, we've got a wonderful group of folks

called assistive work technology team members that work for

the Department of Labor under vocational rehabilitation.

They have quite a bit of information that they could share

on this topic, along with actually Doris.

We are going to talk to you, Doris, and see if you

would be interested in helping us in the future with

doing -- extending this topic even more.

So today what I'm going to be doing is actually

laying the foundation. And a lot of what I'm going to be

talking about is really focusing on abilities.

When we're talking about folks with disabilities

and technology and getting people into the workplace so

that they can accomplish whatever their goals are, reach

those dreams, and really make whatever it is that they want

to accomplish possible, we really are talking about

focusing on people's abilities.

The other piece that goes with that -- and we've

seen this again and again. I'm living proof that this is

indeed true, that technology does make things possible for

folks.

This picture actually is a picture of folks that

have Huntington's disease. And Ernestine, who's in the

lower right-hand corner sitting on this bench -- she is

wearing a white shirt -- she actually is one of my cousins,

and recently she passed, unfortunately, in the last two

months. That was actually very sad.

But she said this -- and I thought it was

profound -- which is, "Technology gives me hope, and I need

a lot of hope."

That is absolutely true for a lot of the folks that

we're working with. In this case, with folks with

Huntington's, Ernestine was trying to work. She continued

to work with Huntington's disease, and it really was

because of technology. That's what made it possible for

her. And again and again we see that that's true.

So today we're going to actually examine some

workplace trends. We're going to define and explore some

accommodations that you'll see out there. We're going to

look at strategies and solutions. And I'm also going to

give you some resources. And as I said, this is going to

be a series of presentations.

Some of these first slides are numbers that many of

you are familiar with, and many of you know this

information. But it definitely is important, when we're

talking about workplace, to get an idea of what it is that

we're talking about.

These are some statistics to really think about.

And these statistics actually are from the New Freedom

Initiative that was one of the first things that President

George W. Bush did when he came into office in 2001. He

signed this piece.

And in there it stated that 14 percent of people

with disabilities are fully employed; 16 percent of

individuals with disabilities are underemployed; and, as

most of you know -- Liz does an excellent job explaining

this -- but underemployment is just as dangerous, if not

more dangerous, than unemployment.

Underemployment means that you are not earning the

wages that you really could be earning if you were looking

at what degrees you have or what diplomas you have, what

experience you have.

It's folks that are working part time that really

should be or could be working full time if we were to think

a little bit differently about work.

And it's incredibly frustrating for the folks that

I know that are underemployed. Those are often, as I said,

the folks that I am most concerned about.

70 percent of folks with disabilities are

unemployed or out of the workforce entirely. And I did

even more research last night, and unfortunately this

number still is out there. They're trying to get a better

handle on what that number really means. And I'm excited

to find out what that number -- you know, who all is in

that number.

There have been some other studies that have been

done recently that actually say that 70 percent of folks

who are -- that have disabilities that are unemployed

actually do want to work. And that's something to pay

attention to.

Adults with disabilities definitely earn lower

wages and earn less annually. If you're looking at these

statistics, work fewer hours. Their median annual

earnings, it's about $10,400 a year. And I cannot imagine

living on that. I think some folks here are actually

shaking their head. That's true. It would be very hard to

do that.

The other thing that's important to pay attention

to -- and this is very true actually for the folks in the

southern states, but it's actually true around the

country -- the majority of people with disabilities do not

have a computer in their home.

And that is vastly different than folks that do

have computers. The vast majority of folks have a computer

in their home if they don't have a disability. So we're

trying to get a better grasp of what that number is and why

that's happening.

And as you know, we've got resources here in

Georgia -- ReBoot, for one -- and other partners that are

trying to change that.

We have some guiding principles, too, that I want

to share with you, specifically when we're talking about

the workforce and assistive technology.

And I wanted to highlight this one in particular,

which is everyone can work. Again and again we hear folks,

you know, hear that they can't work; that, you know, it's

just not possible for them for one reason or another.

And I would challenge that. I think that most

everyone can work. If they really want to work, we can get

creative and figure out solutions so that everybody can do

that.

And I can give you many examples of how this is

possible. I know that other folks have also seen where

this is possible.

There's a person that I've worked with who has ALS,

and he uses an eye-gaze system. He's able to navigate the

computer and search for things online, write wheels, what

have you, all by gazing at the computer and interacting

with the computer. He can control his environment. He can

change the television channels. He can do all kinds of

things.

And it's just a matter of getting creative,

wrapping the right supports around folks, and pooling

technology.

And so technology -- it really -- going back to

what Ernestine said, it does give a lot of folks hope. And

I will weave that throughout this whole presentation.

Work is, without a doubt, a core value of our

society. If you think to what is one of the first

questions you ask somebody whenever you meet them or what

is one of the first questions that somebody asks you, it's,

"What do you do?"

And they're not asking, you know, what are you

going to do tonight or what do you do for the weekend or

how do you relax. They're asking how do you contribute to

society; what do you do for a living; you know, what kind

of work do you do.

And our health care system is tied directly to

work, and there's a reason for that. It's definitely who

we value in our society is the folks that are working.

And I know there's a lot of debates right now --

I've actually participated in some of those discussions on

a national level, paying attention to health care and the

workplace and our society in general. So it's interesting

to see what's going to happen under this new

administration.

Workforce. It's actively changing. Two years ago

we'd have a different conversation about this specific

topic than we're going to have today. And ten years ago we

would have an even more different conversation. It's

changing all the time.

We've definitely got to redefine work and figure

out what does it mean to work. A lot of people are stuck

in some ways in this idea that work means 40 hours a day --

I mean 40 hours a week -- some people think it's 40 hours a

day -- 40 hours a week and, you know, coming into a

specific site, working from 9:00 to 5:00.

You know, they think it's about, you know, having

breaks and about the lunchroom and about all these things.

"Work" really needs to be redefined. Is it okay to

work a few hours when you're at your best and then take a

break and then work some more hours when you're at your

best? I would argue that that is maybe a good way to go.

Is it okay for your work to be more project-based

as opposed to hitting a time clock? In some environments,

yeah. You know, that might be the way to go.

We've absolutely got to consider assistive

technology, accommodations, and modifications. Some of the

oldies but goodies, like extended time, still can be a

great thing in the workplace.

You know, some of the older technologies, a

highlighter. I've seen where that actually can save

somebody a lot of frustration in the workplace, and it's a

very low-cost item.

And then there's some really new ways of looking at

accommodations, modifications, including, you know, putting

air filters in if somebody has some allergies, you know, to

the air environment. Or lighting. You know, what does an

OttLite do for somebody? You know, it could really help.

So checking those things out.

The other guiding principle is that we -- and I

mean all of us on this call and on this webinar and all of

us sitting here together -- are collectively brilliant, and

we really can find innovative paths and create bright

futures for everyone in our community in whatever the goals

are; if it is to get that job, if it's to get the

education. Whatever it is that the person wants to

accomplish.

We've also got to think, work, live, and act from a

place of abundance. And I hate to say this, but that

unemployment number, it, for folks with disabilities, has

not changed much over the last 20 years. Whether we're in

a recession or whether we're rolling high, it just hasn't

changed.

So we've got to continue to think from the place of

abundance and come up with these great resources and these

solutions. We really do have enough time, money, and

resources to create effective workforces and get folks that

want to have jobs into the workplace.

We've really, as I said, started off with this

talk. We've got to focus on the abilities. And that bears

repeating because it really is somebody's abilities that's

going to get them that job, that's going to keep them in

the workplace, and that's going to help them grow their

career.

It's not about feeling pity for somebody and

saying, "Oh, gosh, you know. Well, at least we've, you

know, got you," you know. It really is about focusing on

what do you contribute to the workforce? What do you

contribute to this job?

Separate is never equal. And this is another one

of our guiding principles. A lot of times people do try to

separate folks out, put them in sheltered workshops. Or

here -- I've actually gone on tours before of workplaces

where they're like, "And this is where we put all the deaf

people."

And I'm like, Oh, lord. What are you doing? What

are you thinking about? Why are you separating folks?

Because it definitely was not based on ability. It

was definitely based on, you know, we put all the deaf

people in the warehouse. That's what we do. Not okay.

Not okay.

So the last guiding principle is that you -- and I

mean all of you, Fran, Cheryl, everyone, Naomi -- that you

have the power to make a difference. And it really is

about helping each person that we're working with create an

action plan but also helping employers create an action

plan that makes sense for them to start changing their

workforce.

One of my favorite groups that I have worked with

that actually said -- is an employer, and he said that he

felt like that his -- the people in his company, that that

needs to represent who's in the community. And I thought

that was very cool.

So he didn't want to have just, you know, all

upper-middle-class folks. He didn't want to have just all,

you know, folks in, you know, one demographic.

And so he started actually getting diversity within

his workforce, and it made a huge difference in the success

of his business because people saw that he really was

employing people in his own community, and he was really

focused on everybody's abilities. And I thought that was

really cool.

And the reason why we were called in was to help

him with specifics with some of the folks that he hired.

And it wasn't always the folks, by the way, that looked

obviously like, oh, obviously they have a disability.

There were a lot of folks that are aging in the workplace,

and several of those folks were like, "Hey, can you help me

with this monitor?" You know, it's too far, or it's too

close, or maybe sometimes it's too far and too close. And,

you know, we were able to help with that.

Not somebody that you would have looked at and

said, "Oh, that's who needs assistive technology." But

sure enough, that's who needed assistive technology.

One of the other guiding principles -- and this is

taken from the public law that we operate from with Tools

For Life -- is that there's over 54 million individuals

with disabilities in the United States. That's -- 54

million. That's a lot.

And these disabilities affect their ability to see,

hear, communicate, reason, walk, and/or perform other basic

life functions. That's a lot of folks.

And if we open up our minds and help employers and

other folks open up their minds so that they can see that

we can get anybody into the workplace, we have technology

solutions around all of these. We really do.

We can get a ramp if we need a ramp. We can get an

elevator, you know, in a lot of places if we need an

elevator. We can, you know, enlarge the screen if we need

to enlarge the screen. We can change background colors if

somebody has a difficult time seeing.

Martha and I were doing an evaluation the other day

where we were doing this. And it's possible. It's just a

matter of fine tuning and figuring out what works.

The last guiding principle that we're going to

share with you is another piece that comes from our public

law that Tools For Life operates under. And I really like

this.

It says, "Disability is a natural part of the human

experience and in no way should diminish the right of

individuals to live independently, enjoy self-determination

and make choices, to benefit from education" -- and this

piece, it definitely -- it's important to what we're

talking about today, which is "pursue meaningful careers."

And you see that it doesn't say get a job down at

Wal-Mart. It doesn't say greet people as they walk in the

door. It doesn't say bag somebody's groceries. It says

"meaningful careers." Meaningful careers.

And we need to really focus on that and realize

that disability is a natural part of our experience here

on -- you know, as humans. We should be able to have full

inclusion and integration into economic, social, political,

cultural, educational, mainstream -- workforce mainstream

of society. And it's important that we abide by that and

really hold that to be true.

So for those of you who know this gentleman, this

is Greg Sharp (phonetic spelling). He's a really great

guy. And this picture definitely speaks -- it tells a lot,

which is, "For a person without a disability, technology

makes things easier."

Yes, it's a lot easier if I talk to my computer and

it prints out everything that I say. Yes, it's a lot

easier if I walk to a door and, you know, it opens

automatically for me. Yes, it's a lot easier if, you know,

I'm able to use my voice to dial my BlackBerry.

All those things are easier. But for a person with

a disability, technology makes things possible.

Liz has told us stories about sitting outside of a

building, you know, and just waiting for some kind soul to

come along to open a door. That's incredibly frustrating.

You know, I've talked before and shared with folks

that I wouldn't have my job if it wasn't for technology.

If I didn't have a speech device, a screen reader actually

reading the screen to me, I'd be very confused about what's

going on in my workplace. That would not be good.

And if I didn't use my voice using Dragon Naturally

Speaking -- I have an old version, and I need to get a new

version. But if I didn't use that, then I wouldn't be able

to be nearly as productive as I am.

So those technologies do make my job possible.

They make other things possible for other folks.

Martha was talking the other day about how she

walked up to some doors and just stood there waiting for

the doors to open. And I think in some ways we've become

very dependent upon, you know, this technology that was

actually created for folks with disabilities.

So, Martha, I share your pain, and I'm glad that

you also shared that story. That was so funny.

So when we're looking at disability laws and

acts -- I'm just going to cover this a little bit, just

basics. And Naomi, who's on with us, could actually go in

much more detail.

Naomi, feel free to jump in if you would like.

But we need to consider some of these. A lot of

these are being reauthorized. I'm actually sitting on a

couple of committees right now where we're looking at

assistive technology and some of the relationship to these

laws.

But the Americans With Disabilities Act, it was

just actually reauthorized recently. And that definitely

is a part of what you need to consider when we're looking

at the workforce.

And part of the reason why is because it

actually -- the ADA prohibits discrimination based on -- on

the basis of a disability in employment, and it also is --

it demands, if you will, public accommodations. It makes

folks have to be compliant when it comes to making things

accessible. Very important.

We're also seeing this, when it comes to Web

accessibility and other types of accessibility, that before

had been barriers to folks getting in the workplace. And

so we're very glad for inclusion and also creating

accessibility.

Section 504 of the Rehab Act also prohibits

discrimination based on disability and requires access to

federally funded programs, including public schools and

other publicly operated organizations and all of that.

508. Section 508. That's Accessible Information

Technology Act. And this is one that I think that a lot of

people overlook, but this is, without a doubt, one of the

most important as we continue to become an ever-involving

digital society.

This eliminates barriers for information

technology. It definitely makes available new

opportunities for people with disabilities to encourage

development of new technology, and it also has -- the law

is applied to all federal agencies as you develop, procure,

maintain, or use electronic and informational technology.

The way this plays out is, if somebody wants to use

a computer, and they're within a federal agency or have

federal funds, they absolutely have to have that to be

accessible. It has to be accessible. So that really makes

it so that folks like Microsoft and Macintosh and Linux and

all those other folks want to think about inclusion and

accessibility because, otherwise, the federal government

wouldn't be able to buy their softwares.

So that makes a big difference when it comes to --

when you think about taking federal dollars out of the

game, then you lose a bunch, a bunch of money.

Same thing actually with telephone systems and

computers -- I mean copier machines, fax machines. All of

these things, they now have accessible features. Really

amazing.

I was looking at the copy machine the other day

that has voice. It interacts with your computer. You can

send everything, you know, through your computer to the

copy machine. The only thing it won't do is bring it down

to you. So -- I know. I know.

The IDEA. This has actually got quite a few folks

looking at it. I know I put in some recommendations for

this and other things that are going to be happening. This

is going to continue to evolve.

I was actually talking to some folks that work with

Kennedy. Fascinating where they're headed with this,

especially in relation to transition and assistive

technology.

And it's important to pay attention to this as it

applies to the workforce because a lot of our -- the

younger generation, the folks that are coming up through

school right now, Mira, for example, who is now seven, she

is going to be -- she is being educated under this IDEA,

I-D-E-A, with an IEP, an individualized education plan.

And she is going to be a different person coming into the

workforce than people were 40 years ago. And that is very

cool.

She is -- she knows more of her rights than any of

my friends ever did. She actually wants to come to her IEP

meetings. She wants to stand up and give voice. She uses

an AAC device, alternative augmentative communication

device. And she actually has little self-advocacy things

in there now that surprised us.

So I'm very curious to see what she's going to be

like in the workforce. And a lot of that has to do with

IDEA. And that's part of why I wanted to put that in here.

Then also the Assistive Technology Act of 1998, as

amended in 2004. We're actually looking at a new amendment

for that.

And what this does is it really increases the

access to assistive technology and acquisition of assistive

technology. And that's what we're focused on.

Part of the reason why we're excited to have Martha

moving into her new position -- yea, Martha. You got a

promotion -- is because she's working on providing more

access to assistive technology through our TFL network.

And one of the reasons why we're excited about

having Rhonda on board -- Rhonda is new with us -- welcome,

Rhonda -- as our new AT funding specialist -- is because of

the acquisition part and creating more avenues of

acquisition.

So I hope that was helpful so you get an idea of

what some of the laws are that are out there.

This right here is a -- and it looks like it's not

coming up all together so you can see it as well as I had,

but that's okay.

This is just a screen shot from the U.S. Department

of Labor website. And it's one of the resources that I

wanted to make sure that you get connected with.

Secretary Solis has done some really cool work

building on the work that Secretary Chao did. And they are

actually doing a study right now where they're trying to --

it's the most extensive employer survey ever on people with

disabilities.

And they've actually started releasing parts of

this. I'm very excited about it. And I'd encourage you to

check it out. I wanted to make sure you were aware of it.

And I'm going to be throwing some other resources in there

too.

Another thing that a lot of employers are not aware

of -- and I'd encourage you to be aware of this -- a lot of

times employers say, "Oh, my gosh. I can't afford to hire

somebody with a disability."

And they're not aware that they actually would be

eligible for architectural and transportation tax

deductions. And these are really good tax deductions where

they can actually get a percentage of the money back from

making -- you know, getting ramps installed, getting those

doors that Martha was standing at waiting to open, getting

some of those installed, any number of things that they

need to do to remove barriers.

They can also get a small business tax credit. And

this is very, very helpful for businesses who want to make

their business more accessible to people with disabilities,

both folks that they are serving and then also, you know,

the community and then also people that they've employed.

And then there's another tax credit actually that's

available that assists with accommodations for employees.

And that's -- it's a very important tax credit that's out

there and tax initiative.

And a lot of times these are overlooked. And so

just wanted to, you know, share this information with you

so you would have more information about how to find some

of these things.

This is another resource. This is

disabilityinfo.gov. And it's an amazing resource. And I

spend a lot of time on this website. This is really

focused -- this part right here -- on workplace

accommodations.

And they give all kinds of information about, you

know, legislative initiatives but then also real solutions

like ABLEDATA -- which I'm going to show to you in just a

little bit -- that it's a database of over 25,000 products

and devices of assistive technology.

They've got information about emergency

preparedness in the workforce. They've got -- which is

something that a lot of times people don't pay attention

to, and it's one of those things we need to consider when

we're talking about accommodations in the workplace, is how

do we get folks out during an emergency, regardless of

ability.

Then also some occupational safety information.

Employer resources, and that's actually where you can get

more information about the tax credits. And just a wealth

of information here, including information about vocational

rehabilitation.

I was going to also share a little bit more

information with you about the Job Accommodation Network,

JAN, is what this actually stands for. The U.S. Department

of Labor's Office of Disability and Employment Policy

actually operates this website.

And they have a new look -- relatively new look.

This is their home site. It actually changes every few

minutes. And so it's a new look every few minutes. But

anyway, I captured it and wanted to share it with you.

This website actually has some great resources when

it comes to looking at true employment of folks with

disabilities.

And right here, this is SOAR. This is on the Job

Accommodations Network. And what it stands for is

Searchable Online Accommodations Resource.

And I wanted to show you this because they

actually -- you can go in there, and you can do various

searches. You can search by disability. You can search by

accommodations and get more information on real

accommodations.

And I actually did that, and I wanted to show you

some accommodation examples for learning disabilities, for

example.

And what this does is it's supposed to actually

broaden people's ideas about what's possible in the

workforce. It just gives a few real-life stories about --

and, for example here, people with learning disabilities.

So there's a new-hire telemarketer with

reading-comprehension issues, and he or she needed to watch

a computerized training tutorial and then complete timed

quizzes on the computer.

Now, I've got to tell you, as a person with a

learning disability, that would be a disaster. I probably

would have walked out of there a long time ago and said, "I

can't even get through this part."

But they were able to accommodate this employee.

The computer screen -- their color scheme and font was

adjusted. A lot of people don't think about that when it

comes to people with learning disabilities, but that's very

important, is adjusting colors and fonts can make a big

difference so that the person could read the test material.

The employee also used a ruler held to the computer

screen to stay online so they could see exactly what they

were trying to read. That's an old-school accommodation.

We talk about that all the time. And I'm actually going to

show you in a little bit some of that -- that type of

accommodation.

There's several other ways that they could have

accomplished this too. But this was, if you think about

it, a zero-cost accommodation. Yeah. Pretty amazing.

The one right below that, the accommodation example

there is that a teacher with learning disabilities had a

difficult time spelling words -- I probably would not have

caught that, but they obviously were having a big problem

with this -- correctly on the chalkboard.

So the employer provided an overhead projector with

blank overhead sheets. The teacher wrote words, phrases,

or sentences on the overhead sheets and then let fellow

teachers check for the accuracy. Now the teacher can forgo

the chalkboard, which is good, and they can use technology

to do this.

Now, you would think this was like old-school

example. Right? Every school can get over this and use

computers and all that.

But in a lot of our rural areas, people are not

using computers. They're still using those chalkboards and

still using overhead projectors and things like that.

Once again, a pretty low-cost solution if you think

about, you know, what they were actually able to do. And

once again, in some ways, just -- it's about being

creative.

So if you go to the Searchable Online

Accommodations Resource, SOAR, this is an example of

different ways that you can actually search. This is

looking at alternative input devices, and it gives you a

whole list of different devices.

And then you can get more detailed at looking at

what alternative keyboards are available. There are over

375 different types of keyboards available. A lot of

people don't know that. They think, oh, it's one; it's

two; it's, you know, blue; it's green, you know.

There are all kinds of different options out there:

key guards, expanded keyboards, alternative mice. And I'm

going to show you some more examples of that soon, in just

a few minutes.

I also wanted to share with you -- this is some

research results from a study that was just done. It's

going to be published soon. But it was talking about that

most JAN inquiries concern accommodating a current

employee. Over 82 percent of the folks that are inquiring

to JAN are actually looking at accommodations for keeping a

current employee with 1.8 percent looking at promoting a

current employee.

Accommodation inquires for job applicants also made

up a small percentage of this sample that they did for this

research. They were looking basically -- I thought it was

interesting that more than three-fourths of the

accommodation inquires were focused on keeping that

employee.

So as people age in the workforce -- and we'll see

this again and again -- then you change. You know, all of

us, as we're aging -- I just turned 40, and I'm changing.

You know, there are things going on. I know. I know.

And so it's important that we pay attention to

those things, that we retain valuable employees --

hopefully they'll feel that way about me -- and that we

continue to be thoughtful as far as accommodations and all

of that.

This is a study that was done by Microsoft. It's

called the Forrester Data. And it's very interesting

because it's actually shaping a lot of new technologies

that are being developed and software that's being

developed, the way that these technologies are being

marketed and also implemented in the workforce.

They found that, in the age group 18 to 29, more

than half would benefit from accessible technology due to

difficulties that they have and impairments.

And what they actually did is they stepped away

from this traditional thing of saying, "Are you blind? Are

you deaf? Do you have a learning disability?" And what

they actually said was, "How far do you have to sit from

your screen to read it? What size font do you like things

to be in to read it effectively?" You know, "Do you have a

tough time hearing? How high does the volume have to be?"

And when they got to these more functional

questions, they found that a lot of people need technology,

and they need accommodations, just a little tweaking to

make it possible.

The incidence and severity tend to increase

significantly as we grow older, as the folks grew older in

the Forrester data. And they found that, when they reached

their 40s and 50s -- oh, lord. Right? 40s -- they need a

lot of help.

Georgia Tech, actually right in our backyard, has

the Workforce Rehabilitation Engineering Resource Center.

And -- it's the Workplace Rehabilitation Engineering

Resource Center.

This is a very valuable resource, and I actually go

to their website all the time, interact with those folks.

I know Rhonda and Martha were over there recently and were

thrilled with what they saw. Martha was playing with all

the new technology gadgets.

But they have some really good information that I

wanted to share with you about what's actually happening

when you're looking at functions and solutions and

accommodations.

So this is one of the slides that actually --

Robert Todd (phonetic spelling) created, and I'm going to

share some of those with you. I wanted to give them

credit.

Down there it says CATEA, Center for Assistive

Technology and Environmental Access. And what this shows

is functional limitation, disability as a function of age.

So the maroon part of this is actually disability.

And so 9.5 percent of people, you know, between 18 and 24

years have a disability, according to this.

And then, as you see, as we move to 35 -- age 35 to

44, it's 14.4 percent. And then 55 to 65 years, it

actually moves to 34 percent. And then when you get to 75

years plus, it's 64 percent. So this data absolutely

supports what I was just sharing with you.

I also wanted to show you this information in a

more broken-down way because I think a lot of us, you know,

we get focused on specific areas, and then when we take a

view out, we can actually get a better grasp of what's

really happening, what's affecting folks.

So it looks like arthritis and bursitis, if you're

following this across, if you're under 45 -- age 45, you

know, 4.2 percent of the folks have that. Right? But it

grows significantly. When you get to 85, if you live that

long, right, 53 percent of the folks are affected by this.

Same thing if you're looking at spinal cord

injuries. Under 45, 4.8 percent. But then when you hit 45

and older, then it's about 9 percent of the population have

spinal cord injuries or back issues.

Other physical impairments. There's a big jump if

you're looking at under 45 and then 45 and older. 12

percent all the way up to 21 percent.

Speech-related issues, speech impairments. You'll

see that this is actually just 1 percent of our population

pretty consistently across the board. And my daughter

would fit into that category. Some other folks that we

know would fit into that category.

And a very unique category, 1 percent. I didn't

realize this until a few weeks ago when I was preparing for

this presentation. And that's important to pay attention

to.

I would also want to say right now that, when we're

talking to folks who are unemployed, folks with speech

impairments are, without a doubt, one of the most

discriminated against when it comes to employment. Their

numbers are about 90 percent unemployed. And that's

something we need to work on.

Visual impairments. You'll see under 45, you know,

2.6 percent. And then it grows pretty significantly as

people age.

And then mental -- this is a term that I don't

really embrace, but mental retardation. You know .6

percent under 45. And then you'll see that that drops

down. Obviously that's an aging-related issue. And then

the reverse happens with diabetes.

Do y'all have any questions about the statistics?

I think it's very interesting to get an idea of

what we're talking about when we're talking about folks

that we're working with in the workplace, what kind of

technology are we talking about.

And when you start looking at these, those numbers,

then it's important to pay attention to what accommodations

are really needed and also what type of assistive

technology solutions we really need.

So, for example, when we're looking at vision, the

most common accommodations for folks that are younger than

55, it's screen-reading software, primarily JAWS, which is

a great solution. But there are some other screen-reading

software programs out there.

E-documents. You know, optical-character

recognition. About 10 percent of the folks needed

accommodations around that.

Computer magnification, 7 percent. Braille.

Enlargement -- enlarged print. You know, also significant

there.

So within the older worker differences, most of the

accommodations were for low vision. So it wasn't as much

braille or things like that. All right.

Hearing-related issues. Actually, a lot of folks

don't know this, but 28 million folks within the United

States actually have hearing-related issues. And so some

of the more common accommodations are hearing aids. We see

this all the time in the workforce.

But I want to say that a lot of times we have folks

that have hearing-related issues; we throw them in a huge

auditorium; and we don't know why they're not getting all

the information. Right?

And so it's important that we actually pay

attention to the learning environments that we're putting

people in, the work environments that we're putting people

in.

A lot of times people turn off that hearing aid

when they get into work environments where they hear

everything and everything is magnified. So paying

attention to hearing is very important.

Written communication, sign language, personal

assistant. You'll see the personal assistant, 2 percent.

Job task redesign, 2 percent. But honestly, I

would argue that I have seen this more common than people

realize where people -- and it actually is one of those

things that I think that we need to focus more on when it

comes to accommodations, not just with hearing-related

issues but in general, is focusing on someone's abilities

and their strengths as opposed -- and developing the job

tasks around that as opposed to their disability or their

difference or their areas of weakness.

Attention difficulties. And a lot of times people

automatically go in their mind to ADHD. And they're like,

oh, that doesn't really apply. Well, actually, attention

can go across the field.

If somebody has had a stroke, a lot of time they

have difficulty with paying attention. If they have had

any other type of injury, a lot of times -- a brain

injury -- attention can definitely be an issue.

Attention -- it's very important to be aware of this and

also see how we can accommodate for this.

A checklist, that's a very helpful thing. Reminder

devices. And when we're talking about reminder devices, we

could talk about something as simple as a recorder -- voice

recorder, which I'm going to show you in a few minutes, or

something as complicated as the BlackBerry that I use that

has a checklist on there and also has reminder messages for

me.

Manipulation or coordination. And some of the

common accommodations that we're -- that we consider in

this is looking at voice-recognition software. Once again,

a lot of times people say, oh, that's for people who are --

have learning disabilities, or it's for folks who can't

really touch the keyboard or interact with the keyboard.

But I would also encourage you to think about folks

that might have fatigue where they're really great at one

point in the day, and then they get really tired at other

points in the day. We see this with folks who have MS or

ALS or other types of MD, muscular dystrophy. Alternative

mice or a mouse. Personal assistants, gripping aids,

different things like that.

Changing positions. And I'm going to spend a

little bit more time in just a few minutes talking about

this. But I would be willing to bet that the vast majority

of the folks that I work with, this is one of their biggest

issues, is ergonomics.

The way that they're interacting with their

workstation; the way that they've set up their workstation,

their monitor, their chair, all of that.

And so some of the more common accommodations here

would be creating a customized workstation. And actually

that's not nearly as complicated as it has been in the

past.

A lot of times people would say, "Oh, lord, that's

going to cost so much money." But a lot of our

workstations we can actually customize without, you know,

spending tons and tons of money.

Creating accessible transportation, doing some

restroom modifications, and creating accessible parking

also. Those are very common accommodations.

This is actually a slide that the Work RERC

created. And this was actually for our conference -- the

Touch the Future Transition Conference, which I'm sure a

lot of you came to, and we appreciate the support.

But I thought this was important to pay attention

to right here. It says, "Many people are not getting

accommodations even though they report a functional

limitation."

That is true. I hear it again and again and again

where employees -- specifically it's folks that are aging

in the workforce. They don't necessarily want to go to

their boss and say, "Oh, God. I'm getting old. I can't

see," you know, or "can't hear as well." But they do need

some assistance.

Or, you know, that mouse is hurting their hands or

their chair is hurting their back. Or employees with

cognitive disabilities are also being overlooked.

I'd also say a lot of the folks that we work with

that have mental-health-related issues are not getting the

accommodations that they need.

And so I think we could do a much better job of

keeping people in the workforce but also opening more doors

within the workforce to make the work environment more

comfortable. And we do need to investigate what those

barriers really are.

And I thought that this was also important. This

is something that I've heard again and again. But this was

based on some more recent research that the Work RERC came

up with.

The accommodations costs, you know, that they

investigated range from, you know, zero, which would be

those things that I was talking about about adjusting fonts

or screen colors or any of that stuff, to over $5,000.

But the vast majority of them are under $500, and

they would be covered under that tax credit. So the

employer could pay for them and get a tax credit for that.

And the other thing that I thought was very

interesting that they found through some of the studies

that they've been doing is that most frequently -- the most

frequently used accommodations are really a mix of

technology-based solutions, you know, the workstation, what

have you, and then nontechnology-based solutions.

So when do you work best? What's your schedule?

Where do you need to be? That kind of thing.

In general, supervisors reported that

accommodations far outweighed -- when it comes to the

benefit of them -- far outweigh or equal the cost. So

keeping that employee as opposed to having to get rid of

that employee, find a new employee, go through the whole

interview process, do the training and onboarding, might as

well pay $5000. Right? So I think that makes a lot more

sense.

So we're going to consider accommodations and

assistive technology here. I really like this quote.

Judy -- Judith -- Judy Human, who was director of -- she

was actually Secretary of Education and -- Director of RSA,

actually, is what she was a long, long time ago within the

Department of Education.

She said this: "Technology gives people the

opportunity to move about their environment, communicate,

be more independent, which allows people to see us as an

equal as opposed to someone who has to be taken care of."

And I would say this is very true within the

workplace, is that it allows folks to be an equal. That's

what we're talking about is creating a level playing

ground.

So whenever we're working with folks with

disabilities in the workplace, what we try to do is get

them off the fast track. A lot of times when I'm working

with folks, I can tell they're very frustrated or they have

some anxiety about losing their job or, "What are people

going to think about me?" or what have you.

They're stressed, just the amount of stress that

they might be living with because they don't have that

schedule down quite right, or they're late for meetings or

what have you.

And then also just the tension. The tension --

either internal tension that they're feeling or the tension

that they're feeling amongst their peers or between their

boss or with HR. So what we try to do is really address

the fast track and get them off of that. And we can do

that through accommodations and assistive technology.

The things that I have found that really create a

successful workforce solution, if you will, is if the

person can develop a support system that includes their

peers, includes family, family of choice, friends, what

have you, that they can talk to about what's going on at

work; that they have a good relationship with HR; that they

have a great relationship with their boss, hopefully, who

understands where they're coming from; that they have the

appropriate accommodations so that they know, you know,

what their strengths are internally and that they're able

to express those and then get solutions that work; that

they have creative ways of learning.

A lot of times our folks don't even know how they

learn. And so that's a whole other conversation about

learning style. And a lot of times folks will be giving --

and it happened to me just today. Somebody handed me some

information. They're like, "Hey, you need to know this

about our new input system for our performance measures."

And I was like, "Oh, okay. Great."

And they gave it to me in a very inaccessible

format. And so how am I going to handle that? I'm going

to have to scan it in, which is fine, and then I'll have my

computer read it to me, and that's fine.

But it would be nice if it was a more friendly way

to get that information out to folks. But I know how I

learn best, so that's what I'll do.

Finding the right job match. That's so critical to

success. And it could be the right job match even within

an environment that they're already employed in -- that the

individual is already employed in.

A lot of times people, you know, get hired under

this description -- job description that's not even the

right fit for that person. And a lot of us don't even know

what our job descriptions say, right, you know, because we

go with our strengths, and we make sure we take care of all

those other things. But finding the right job match.

And then, of course, assistive technology. And

then the motivation to keep with it, to stick with it, to

keep going with the accommodations and communicating and

all of those things.

Do y'all have any questions for me? I know I've

been doing a lot of talking. But it looks like y'all are

still on, and that's good. And everybody's still smiling

at me here, so that's good.

So feel free to put some information in. Or if you

want to chat, feel free to go ahead and chime in.

There are different models out there when it comes

to looking at the workforce, the individual that's in the

workforce, and what kind of assistive technology solutions

and where do they fit within all of this.

So you have to look at legal, you know, all those

laws that we just went over, the ADA and, you know, what is

the Rehab Act have to say about -- and also Section 508 say

about accommodations and all of those things?

And then also the medical model. There's this

medical model of what is, you know, functional; what's

their -- you know, what's medically necessary for this

person to be in the environment that they're in and all of

those things. And then there's this practical model. Just

looking at what really makes sense.

And what I've found that really works is, if you

actually stay within all of those, where they all meet, you

know, for the individual's needs. So looking at what

rights and responsibilities does that person have; what's

going on with their disability; what are the strengths and

what's really happening and what is that practical piece to

this, the tasks that are trying to be achieved and all of

that?

And what we really get to is how can we promote

that person's strengths and manage whatever weakness they

have?

We can manage their weaknesses with accommodations

and assistive technology. So, for example, there's

somebody right now that I'm working with who is having a

tough time organizing, really tough time organizing.

This is a person who had a learning disability and

then actually acquired a brain injury. But they have some

great strengths, and they're a really good worker, and the

employer wants to keep them on board.

But he doesn't show up on time for meetings. He

doesn't show up on time for external customer meetings.

That's an issue. Those are big issues.

So what we've actually started doing is we've used

this. We put on here that this person really is a great

communicator, a great salesperson. So that's his strength.

So how can we manage those weaknesses?

And so we actually started filling in these blocks.

And so one of the blocks is not showing up on time. So we

started out just looking at a PDA. I'm holding up my

BlackBerry. It wasn't a BlackBerry that we went to, but

had a little PDA smartphone, and it actually would vibrate

and say, Okay. You need to be at this place at this time.

We were able to sync this with -- his device with

Google Calendar. Other people had access to Google

Calendar that he works with; so they were able to type in

where he's supposed to be, when he's supposed to be there.

He's got -- the receptionist actually is doing the

time -- the appointments for him, so it alerts him, which

is really nice. And this is working. This is working. So

that's a good thing. And his employer is happy. And it

was a pretty low-cost solution.

So that's what we're talking about when we're

talking about promoting strengths and managing weaknesses.

So it takes this team approach. Obviously the

person -- the individual that I was just telling you about,

if he did not embrace using the PDA or if he thought, "I

don't want that receptionist taking my messages," or,

"Gosh, that boss doesn't know what they're talking about,"

we're going to have trouble; right? So the person

absolutely has to be the lead in this team approach.

And then the circle of support. That receptionist,

the other folks who are going to help make sure that that

person's there on time, the employer obviously. And then I

was actually sitting in on this, if you will, as an AT

specialist. But, you know, AT technologist, occupational

therapist, speech therapist, physical therapist. All those

folks can be employed, you know, to come in and help.

When we're looking at the workplace accommodations

and assistive technology, this is one model to consider.

This is built actually from Hussey & Cook's model, which is

HAAT, H-A-A-T. I just tweaked it a little bit, and it's

HEAT, if you will.

So human obviously represents the skills and

abilities of that person.

We all -- you know, Donna, you have different

skills than Naomi.

Doris, you have different skills than I do.

So looking at your skills and abilities. And then

the environment. And this is very important. We can come

up with all kinds of great solutions for folks. But, for

example, if we're working in cubes, as I am, and voice

input is my best mode of getting information in, last thing

everyone wants to do is sit there and listen to me talk all

day; right?

So looking at the setting and what makes sense as

far as the physical context and even the cultural context.

So what's that environment look like?

And then what's the activity that we're trying to

accomplish? And I really try to get detailed with this,

especially within the workplace. What are we looking at?

What tasks do we need to accomplish? And then what are the

assistive technology and accommodations that we can wrap

around that person to bridge the gap? And I've got a lot

of examples of how we've done this on a lot of different

levels.

So the other questions when we're considering

determining accommodation that we want to consider are what

are those individual job duties? Some jobs actually have

in there -- it's amazing how often this pops up -- "Must

lift 50 pounds or more," or, "Must be able to drive."

I'm not so sure that everybody has to drive to

work. I just don't know that that has to happen. We could

think of alternative ways to get folks to work. Telework

where they work from home. Why not? Other modes of

getting things done.

What job duties are problematic? Where's the

problem? You know, when we're looking at that task, what

exactly is it? Exactly what tasks do you have problems

with?

And usually I do talk to the individual, but I also

will get permission and talk to the employer. You'd be

surprised how often what the employee thinks is the problem

and what the employer thinks is the problem are two

different things. It's amazing how often that happens.

And then how can we compensate? How can we resolve

this?

The other thing, as we're talking about the

accommodations and technologies, in order for them to

really be effective, they really need to be several of

these things, including portable, is a big one. Our

society is much more portable.

If you have to go to a physical location to work

only on that computer because that computer is hooked

into -- by a wire to an Internet -- I mean to a network,

problem. So what environment does this person need to work

in, and can we make it more portable?

Is it easy to maintain, you know? Does it have

great technological support that the -- you know,

accessible training format that the person can actually

access themselves? So paying attention to those things.

All right. Universal design. I wanted to talk to

you a little bit about this because we're seeing this more

and more employed within the workforce. And basically

universal design is the design of products in environments

to be used by all people, all people, not just people who

are 5-6 and weigh 160 pounds and, you know, can see and can

hear to these levels or what have you.

It's all people to the greatest extend possible

without the need for adaption or specialized design. So

universal design is really looking at who can use it; you

know, how can the most people use this in the best way?

It's really supposed to simplify life for everyone.

That's what it's supposed to do. And it should benefit

people of all ages and abilities. A lot of people would

argue that the iPod is universal design. I actually heard

this. And people who are looking at me right here are

like, "No, it's not."

It is not. It's not universal design for

everybody. But people would argue that they are designing

technology because they think that little dial is so

friendly, and it's so intuitive and all that.

But if you look at an iPod and you really interact

with it, you have to have very good dexterity to spin that

dial; you have to be able to stop it exactly when you need

to stop it; you have to be able to read the screen.

You know, there's a lot depending on that person's

abilities. You have to be able to hold something without

shaking. Lots of fine-motor skills.

So ergonomics and universal design. And actually,

I think I skipped a slide. I apologize. We're going to go

back two slides. And let's see if this pops up. There. I

did forget it. Okay.

Actually, Raj Pagadala and Charlie Berstecher -- I

actually stole this slide from them. Actually, I asked if

I could use it, and they said okay.

Ergonomics comes from the Greek word "ergo," work.

And "nomos," rules or natural laws. Ergonomics is the

science of fitting jobs to people. That's what ergonomics

is. Did you know that? Very interesting. And when you

look at universal design and ergonomics, you combine the

two, then you can have some troubles if you don't do that.

The consequences of a poor work design that's not

considering ergonomics or universal design, you get lower

productivity; you get more people calling in sick; you get

more people saying, "Gosh, I can't do this job"; poor

quality of work.

A lot of times, you know, whenever I'm going in and

working with folks, we see, you know, gosh, they're absent

a lot because they're frustrated with their work

environment. And it may be because we haven't set up the

work environment in a way that's friendly.

So there are ways to prevent some of this. If

somebody, for example, is at a workstation -- they're

working at the desk, or they could be doing things where

they're standing up and assembling different devices or

what have you -- you want to think about what makes sense

within reach; how can they be comfortable?

And this is a good example for prevention of back

injuries or repetitive motions or what have you. So you

want to have things that you keep -- that you work with a

lot, usual, within about 20 inches.

So if you think about it, it's with your arm bent.

And that's what you would have -- so your keyboard you

might want to have there; your phone, you know, not too

terribly far away; you know, pens and pencils that you're

going to use a lot, you know, just within reach.

And then occasional, you could outstretch your arm.

And that's where a lot of people put their phone, right, so

you could stretch your arm and grab it. You could put

other things that you might use within arm reach.

And then nonworking area -- that's really what the

rest of it is called -- nonworking -- that's where you put

your awards and you put your other things because you don't

want folks to have to continue to stretch outside of their

usual, most common, and comfortable work area.

I thought that was a good slide, by the way.

Keyboards. When we're talking about looking at

keyboards specifically, you want to make sure that the

keyboard is adjustable, that it's something that you can

actually keep your hands in a neutral typing position.

A lot of us, if you actually just pay attention --

go to your work site, sit down, put your hands on your

keyboard, and see if that's a natural position for you.

And if it's not, then adjust it a little bit.

You want a position directly in front of the

monitor at least two inches of space for your wrist. A lot

of times people have it hanging way off, and they're

typing, and their wrists have absolutely no support

whatsoever.

And you also want to have it parallel with another

input device. So if your input device is a trackball or a

mouse or whatever else it may be, you want to have it

parallel.

There are all kinds of keyboards, just like I was

telling you before. Split keyboards where you can actually

literally split them apart and type. And this is sometimes

good for folks who have had spinal cord injuries or have

limited range of motion, you know, and -- like I'm pulling

my hands together.

So if they can't pull your -- if you can't pull

your hands together but you're more comfortable with them

apart, then we've actually been able to split keyboards

apart and have people type with their hands apart.

Also tiny, tiny keyboards. If the range of motion

is literally like a few inches just, you know, in front of

that person, then we can get a tiny, tiny keyboard -- Tash

makes one -- where you can actually type using your fingers

if you want to do that. Other folks use pencils to type on

tiny, tiny laptops. There are all kinds of solutions.

There's also some of the large-key keyboards that

accommodate visual issues and dexterity issues. Big Keys

is one of the ones that's down here that's actually being

shown. Actually, all three of those are big-keys

keyboards. And just a wide variety of keyboards.

This is one that Doris and Martha and Liz found

which is called LOMAK. It's light-activated keyboard.

It's one of the most unusual keyboards that I've ever seen.

And we actually have one right here on our shelf.

Gigi, if you want to look at that, you're -- or

handle it, you're more than welcome to do that.

It's hand or head-pointer controlled. It has a

beam of light that actually controls this, and you can

actually go pretty fast with this.

Liz, how fast can folks go on that?

75 words a minute.

How fast have you gone? Have you tried it

recently?

Faster than normal. That's good.

What's that?

Oh, and Martha said she was using it, too, and was

able to type really fast with it. So that's great.

There are also on-screen keyboards that I've been

able to use very successfully with folks using a mouse or a

trackball. So if they can only move their wrist or if they

can only move their -- both hands just a little bit, then

we can use an on-screen keyboard, and they'll be able to

type with that also.

I would pair that with word prediction, which we'll

talk about in just a few minutes, so that the person's able

to have a selection of words that they use a lot. So as

they hit a letter, then words appear, and they're able to

select those words. Because that cuts down on keystrokes.

And what we really start to think about when we're

talking about ergonomics and when we're talking about

people being successful in the workplace, is how can we cut

down on that frustration of having to type all these things

in and all that.

So saving energy and reducing key strokes is a good

thing in the environment -- in the work environment if

you're looking at computers.

So you see here that the mouse is parallel and

adjacent to the keyboard. These are some other mouse

alternatives. And we're seeing more and more mouse

alternatives.

Martha was telling me about one the other day.

What was that one? Perfit. And it's shaped like a C, and

you slide your hand into it, and you're able to use your

thumb and your hand in a natural position instead of using

your fingers.

The trackball and vertical mouse are two that CATEA

actually show here in their pictures here. Once again,

hundreds of solutions when it comes to different mice and

different alternatives.

There's also -- yes. Martha and I were talking

about -- I forget what they were calling that. I called it

a thumb mouse before. And it literally fits onto your

index finger, kind of like you're going to pull a trigger

to a gun or something like, but actually -- and you would

click by wiggling your index finger, and you would navigate

by moving your thumb with a tiny, tiny roller. It's very,

very cool. So hand-track mouse. Okay. Finger mouse is

also another word. Thank you.

So monitors. Once again, you want to ensure that

you're comfortable, that you have accurate viewing. You

want to have this positioned directly in front of you. And

I'm actually looking at the folks that are sitting here

during this presentation in front of me, and none of them

are really positioned correctly. But you want to have this

positioned in front of the user.

And also you want to cut down on the glare and the

flicker. A lot of times people don't realize that the

flicker rate can cause headaches. It can also cause people

to have seizures. So flicker rate is something you can

change on your computer.

There's lots of monitor accessories. You can

actually mount the monitor and change the position. A lot

of times we raise or lower the monitor. A lot of times I

do it with the phonebooks, but here you can see that they

have these plastic devices that you can buy for $18

million. Or you can borrow my phone book. We can figure

that out, yes.

Chairs should actually -- and a lot of you are

probably sitting in chairs, and you're starting to look at

your own environment and start to feel your own

environment.

The chairs that we have here are not great.

They're okay. But they should provide adequate back

support. And we're really looking more at your lumbar,

your L section of your back, your lumbar.

Should fit comfortably under the desk or keyboard

tray, and it should have adjustable armrests. And that's

what makes a pretty good chair. But I'm going show you

some other options so that you can get an idea of what some

of the other solutions are.

Chair accessories include like back pads or gel

cushions. A lot of folks that use wheeled mobility

actually have gel cushions; so they're very familiar with

why these feel so good and why they really work. Liz is

nodding yes, yes, this is good.

They provide extra support for extended sitting. A

lot of us -- our bodies were not necessarily meant to sit

around like this all day. And what I would encourage a lot

of folks to do is get up every 15 minutes or so and move

around -- I mean every 45 minutes and get up and move

around -- not every 15. Y'all don't start doing that.

Every three minutes get up and move around -- no. Every 45

minutes to an hour get up and move around.

Footrests. If the seat doesn't allow for the feet

to rest on the floor flat -- in a flat position, then you

need to provide adequate support by getting a footrest.

And there are lots of different options for that.

There are even footrests now that actually you can

massage your feet. It's also good for some of our folks

who have ADHD because it gives them something else to

stimulate, so then they can focus on what they're trying to

do, and they can rub their foot, and it works.

These are just different seating options. This is

kneeling or perching seats.

And these are different options for working from a

bed or recliner. You can actually find these in all kinds

of magazines now. It used to be customized. Now it's more

of a universal design that's out there.

$30 at Office Depot Liz is telling us.

Then there's also these more customized

workstations. These are all for reclining. And Georgia

Tech actually has worked on several of these and designed

several of these. So we're starting to see these in

different work sites.

There's one that actually will rotate, which is

nice, so you can change your position. The ErgoQuest. It

actually tilts the whole monitor and everything so that

it's hanging over you as opposed to you hanging over it.

And then this I just thought was kind of cool

because they just show a wide range of different solutions

and that there really is no best posture unless it's the

next one, which is this idea that movement is good. So the

more you can move, the better.

And it's nice to see that some of our employers are

actually adapting some of these solutions into the

workplace.

Some of these other solutions that are displayed up

here that, you know, develop -- the technology down here in

the lower left, they're looking at AAC devices that

actually have some environmental control access to it too.

And then the other -- there's an accessible

workstation that's for a shopping center. And I thought

this was pretty control. This is something that Georgia

Tech has actually designed.

And then the other solution that they have up here

is -- it looks like a PDA or a smartphone, but it actually

has a lot of reminders on there. And that's just software

running behind the scene that says -- you know, it would

say something as simple as, "Time to go to work; Time to

take your break; Time to take your medication," if you need

to take medication; "Time to talk to your boss," what have

you.

This slide is one that I developed a while back,

but it still is true that access really is possible. And

if we can get folks to have access in the workplace, then

they can control a lot of things within their work

environment.

They pretty much just need to be able to use it --

we need to be able to use a switch. So whether that's a

tongue switch that we have up here, up in the upper

left-hand corner, or whether it's a trackball that you see

in the middle.

Or it could be a switch like the one that's on this

hand in the lower left whether the person can actually --

if they can wiggle their fingers a little bit, then they

can -- you know, we can actually set functions to all of

those movements, which is nice.

Or as simple as just a pressure switch. If you

have literally 10 grams of pressure, which is not a lot,

just a little bit of pressure, then we can do all kinds of

things as far as controlling the environment and making

things possible.

A lot of these solutions seem like high-cost

solutions. But just like I was telling you before,

low-cost solutions. You know, like the student that we

talked about earlier in this presentation who was using a

ruler to track what the text is on the computer. Same

thing for this transparent color overlay.

Colors do make a big difference. And so you can

actually get some of these little transparent color

overlays, tape it to a pencil, and you have all of a sudden

a reading device.

If that is a device that works for that person,

that low-tech solution, literally costs pennies, then you

might want to think of higher-tech solutions like WYNN or

something like that.

Lots of magnification solutions that are out there,

including phones that have bigger displays -- cell phones

that have bigger displays that also have voice output now.

You know, CC TVs, some of these other devices.

And you were actually telling me about the -- no,

not that one. What's the other device that's the

magnifier? The Pebble, which is a pretty low-cost solution

for being able to have things enlarged, anything enlarged.

Handheld magnifier is what it is. It's very, very cool.

And I don't know if any of you have actually seen that.

So large print also solves a lot of problems that

we have. This is a watch minder. This is actually

something that I found on LD Online years ago, and it

actually is something you can program that will tell you,

"Hey, pay attention." You can get it for like $45.

Talking calculator can also solve a lot of issues

when it comes to figuring out, well, you know, exactly how

do I -- I need to have that bimodal input, so I want to see

it, and I also want to hear it, so make sure that I'm

checking by numbers correctly.

AlphaSmart is still a really good option when it

comes to actually having a portable keyboard that has

memory. You can now get one that has Neo on there, so it

has the voice output also, which is very cool.

These voice organizers. Gosh, you can get these

for like $5 or less. You can snap it onto a key chain, and

you can give yourself reminders.

The snap-on amplifier, which can allow for your

telephone to be amplified. It literally -- you know, we're

talking a very inexpensive solution for folks who need to

have just a little bit more to hear. And they have small

ones, yes, for cell phones.

And do you know where you can get those, Martha?

RadioShack, yes.

Digital voice recorders, very helpful. We're

actually seeing where that information -- you can actually

record something and then transfer it to the computer.

It's still not quite there, but it's getting close to where

you can all of a sudden have a transcript.

And then think about the power of this. If you go

to a meeting, you record it, you leave; you can have it --

the information on your computer, and then you can go back

and say, "Oh, this is what I agreed to do at that meeting,"

or, "This is what our timeline is."

The big ball that I just showed actually is

something that was designed for people who have arthritis.

But we find that it actually helps a lot of other folks

too.

You can create that with a tennis ball also. I'll

go back so you can just see that really quickly. You can

create this with a tennis ball. You can just drill a hole

in the tennis ball. And what that does is it allows

somebody with more gross motor skills to be able to write

with a pencil or pen.

Not everybody can do this, you know, but they

can -- a lot of people can do this (indicating). And I'm

holding my hand to, say, you know, grip larger things.

And we're going to go forward. Here we go.

The Quicktionary reading pen. We're actually

seeing new versions of this coming out that are much more

forgiving if you have any type of shake or any type of

movement. And it actually is going to read the definition

out loud now, which is great. You can be left-handed or

right-handed. I'm excited to see where they're headed with

this.

And then Hearit. This is a -- really it was

designed by our military. It's a directional microphone.

So if you are sitting in a large auditorium, or if you're

in a large room, you can actually stick this device, you

know, in your pocket, and you can aim it wherever you want

to aim it, and you can hear what you need to hear. And so

you can focus on what needs to be said -- what you're

supposed to be focusing on.

These are just different -- a whole range of

different portable tools that are out there: calculators;

the Readit pen, which is No. 10; all these Franklin

devices. There's a bunch of different Franklin devices

which have dictionaries; they have thesauruses, all these

different ways to get information out. So it's pretty cool

what's out there now.

Handheld technologies. This is actually an older

BlackBerry, but I still like this one. I kind of wish --

it's old school, but I still like it. And I have my

BlackBerry right here.

I'm able to actually check all my e-mails via my

BlackBerry. So it definitely cuts down on my frustration

of not being able to interact immediately with my computer.

I'm very dependent upon technology, and so just having

this -- you know, when my dad was in the hospital and I was

right by him, I would just, you know, get a little shake,

and I'm like, "Okay. I know what's going on," you know,

because my e-mail was -- I was able to access it.

I'm able to actually use my voice with this to some

degree but not as much as I would like to. So I'm excited

to see where things are headed with the portable devices.

This actually -- the lower left-hand shows a -- on

the lower left-hand -- this is actually a PDA that is

called the Maestro, and it's designed for people that are

blind or have some type of vision-related issues.

The PDAs have come down quite a bit in cost. And a

lot of times they're being overlooked because people don't

think that -- you know, they'd rather have this all-in-one.

But I've got to tell you, sometimes it's a PDA that will

save somebody their job because you can still do all kinds

of things with a PDA.

All kinds of calculators out there. And a lot of

times that helps.

And then also all these augmentative communication

devices that control environments. And -- some of them do,

and some of them are just used to communicate very simple

things.

The Hip Talker that's around $200 can communicate

messages to folks that they might -- someone might need to

be able to communicate in a very low-tech way, if you will.

And then you get up to these more sophisticated devices.

There's all kinds of software. And Inspiration is

one of those where, if you have a difficult time putting

all your ideas down in a succinct way, you can actually put

all your ideas down and then start linking these idea.

And we're actually going to -- I'm going to do a

webinar about these tools specifically down the road. So I

think that would be helpful.

Personal FM systems. Once again, if you have a lot

of trainings and you have a lot of employees or you're

working with an employer who has a lot of employees,

chances are people within that audience could definitely

benefit from an FM system where they would actually be

connected directly with what the speaker is saying.

So right now I'm wearing a headset. Think about if

you actually were connected directly to what I'm saying,

you know, as opposed to hearing the person walk by or

somebody else whispering or phones ringing or what have

you. So it would be very nice.

As I said, lots of different portable note takers

out there. NEO is one, Dana by AlphaSmart. They work in

all kinds of platforms.

But there's also the writer Fusion that's designed

by Advanced Keyboard. These keyboards are really nice.

They're a low-cost solution -- relatively low-cost solution

for folks who really need to be able to get to different

environments and just type.

They're very portable, but they're also very

durable. You can drop them, and it will work still.

And here's just a wider range of the different

types of word processors that are out there. Actually,

we're seeing those get smaller and smaller. I'm holding up

my PDA again -- I mean my BlackBerry again because this

really and truly is a portable word processor. It's got

spell check and all of that on there.

Virtual calculators. You can get -- this one is

$89, but I've actually seen them for as little as free. So

you get what you pay for. But you can actually find

different calculators, scientific calculators, what have

you, for very little cost.

The Victor is one example of a digital audio

player. And a lot of times what we do -- this is the

Classmate. A lot of times folks -- they want to continue

growing and developing and learning information in the

workplace. And so one way to do that is actually to get

information, you know, mainstream books or what have you,

have them read to you using these types of devices.

There's also the Kindle and other types of hardware that's

out there now.

But as I'm working -- I'm working with somebody

right now who uses JAWS, and they're having a tough time

because they want to continue to get, you know, mainstream

books and all that stuff, the best sellers and listen to

these and actually interact with the text.

And so I introduced them to Bookshare -- they were

thrilled about -- so that they could download these books

that are mainstream books, management books. And they were

able to grow in another area.

A lot of times when we're talking about accessible

work sites, people think that we focus primarily on the

work environment and not those other aspects that actually

help somebody grow and develop.

Do y'all have any questions for me? As I said,

this is a very detailed look at assistive technology and

solutions in the workforce, in the workplace.

I actually have a lot more that we're going to go

over next time, including software, more details about

software, comparing some different features, and then also

looking at some other hardware solutions that are out

there.

Just wanted to give you a good idea of what some of

the statistics are that are out there; what are some of the

laws; and especially those funding solutions, the idea that

the employer can actually get a tax credit. A lot of

people don't know that.

What thoughts, any questions that y'all have for me

before we close?

I'm getting "good jobs" here. I do appreciate

y'all's time. I know that you have lots of things that you

could spend time on. So I appreciate you spending your

time with me today. And I hope that this did help you in

some ways. So I thank you.

We said we were going to close up at 3:00. And so

it's now 3:00, is that right, or just at?

And so, Liz, you were working -- you and Martha and

Rhonda and I are working on a whole series of webinars.

And so we'll be revisiting AT accommodations in the

workplace.

And, yes, Gigi?

I'm thrilled -- Gigi's question is, how do we let

somebody else hear this?

I'm thrilled that you want to have somebody else

hear it. That's great. And you actually do go to the

website. I'm actually going to turn the microphone over to

Liz so she can give you more details about that.

LIZ PERSAUD: Hey, everyone. This is Liz. Thanks

again for joining us. I do want to let you know that we

are recording the webinar. We will have that up on the

"Training" section of the Tools For Life website. If you

give us about three weeks, we'll work on getting the

transcription up, the PowerPoint, and the audio of

Carolyn's presentation today.

As Carolyn said, the whole Tools For Life team is

working together to come up with a schedule throughout the

next -- the rest of the year. So hopefully we'll get that

up fairly soon.

And if you have any input, or just let us know what

it is that you'd like to see covered. If it's more on AT,

even if it's self-advocacy, anything like that that you're

interested in having us present to you or putting together

a session, let us know.

You can certainly get in touch with us. Anyway,

give us a call or e-mail us as well.

CAROLYN PHILLIPS: Thank you so much. I appreciate

that, Liz.

If you have, as Liz said, anything that you want us

to cover, we'd be happy to do it.

Doris, thank you for the positive feedback. It's

great to see you. We miss you very much. So it's good to

see you on board with us. And I appreciate that, that you

said it's a good presentation. So thank you.

If y'all need us, we're hear. Feel free to e-mail

Liz. And I'm going to turn it over to her so she can give

her e-mail address one more time.