By Emily Flynn, Program Coordinator for Ability Tools This month, I had the pleasure of interviewing Amy Liu for our “Get to Know Your AT Advocate!” blog series. Amy is an AT Advocate at Center for Independent Living that has locations in Oakland and Berkeley. Amy has been an AT Advocate for over two years…
By Emily Flynn, Program Coordinator, Ability Tools I have been working with Ability Tools and CFILC’s Digital Access Project for about six months now and I have been really enjoying seeing the connection between the two programs. The partnership between the assistive technology (AT) that Ability Tools provides and Digital Access Project’s low-cost internet service…
Earlier this year, Ability Tools launched their second AT video contest. We were so pleased with all of the submissions we received and would like to thank each and every contestant for entering! The purpose of this contest was to showcase creative ways people with disabilities use assistive technology (AT). AT is any object, device…
By Kirk Aranda, YO! Disabled & Proud Youth Advocate This article explains some common apps used by a variety of people with different disabilities. I have highlighted just four popular apps for your I-devices to help make every day life a little bit easier. There are literally thousands of applications (apps) that are available on…
by Christina Mills, Deputy Director of CFILC I’ve been around a number of people with all sorts of different disabilities. When I served on the State Independent Living Council, I had a colleague, Loretta Moore, who was blind. Loretta became a dear friend of mine. Loretta and I both lived in San Diego and since…
by Nubyaan Scott, Program Coordinator for Ability Tools Many of you may know Amazon for its widely diverse online marketplace where you can buy anything from a squat stand to a Roswell soil sample. But, did you know they also make a smartphone? A couple of weeks ago the company revealed that it had designed…
by Justin Harford Yesterday, June 3, 2014, I cast my first ballot independently as someone who is blind, using an electronic voting machine at my local polling place. This experience brought me a lot of satisfaction both because I was participating in the electoral process as a good citizen who had done their homework,…
By Rhett Simmons of West Coast Captioning Assistive Technology (AT) has been a major part of my life for the last 23 years. In 1991, I started using AT to provide captioning services for Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals. In case you don’t know, captioning is the black box with words in it…
Disability Capitol Action Day 2014 took place on May 21st in Sacramento and we thought it would be nice to share some photos from this successful and enjoyable event! The day started off with a Solidarity March from the Capitol Rose Garden to the West Lawn. Participants made signs to express what they thought was…
by Nubyaan Scott, Program Coordinator Joe Xavier is the newly appointed Director of the Department of Rehabilitation (DOR). He recently took some time to talk with us about his background, hopes for the future, and his thoughts on Assistive Technology (AT). Take a few minutes to get to know Joe; we’re sure you’ll find it…