If you are a student with a disability who needs specialized educational services, have completed high school and are moving into post-secondary education, you are no longer eligible for an Individualized Education Plan or IEP and must take steps to self-advocate to get the support you are entitled to. *Post-secondary education is ANY educational instruction…
Submitted by: Ability Tools with Collaboration with YO! Disabled and Proud. Meet Emily Leach, A youth from Buena Park CA who transitioned from high school to the adult world. She found out about a youth program called, Youth Organizing! Disabled & Proud, through Dayle McIntosh Center’s YO! Volunteer Supervisor, Brittany Hepler. YO! connects, organizes and…
We had such an exciting and successful Ability Tools Reuse Conference! Thanks to everyone that made it out to Sacramento last week! At this national conference, we were fortunate to have folks from all over the United States join us to learn, share, collaborate, and strengthen the Reuse movement in California. Many participants were from…
Did you check out our 2016 Assistive Technology (AT) Photo Contest? We opened the voting of the top ten finalists up to the public and here are a couple of the winners! See all of the winners by clicking here. Thanks to everyone that participated! It was a great event and we will surely do…
by Rachel Anderson, Marketing & Communications Manager for Ability Tools Many people look at smart phones and, as the name alone implies, they are overwhelmed by all of the features, bells and whistles that smart phones promise. For some of us, this is great, and we can delve into a hands on discovery of all…
By Laura Simmons-Martinez, Technology Project Director, Team of Advocates for Special Kids (TASK) Project Communicate is the much-needed piece that links (AAC) augmentative and alternative communication to TASK’s TECH Center services. Thanks to a generous grant from the Disability Communications Fund, we are thrilled to be able to provide this service to those in need.…
By guest blogger, William Kellogg, High Tech High International We didn’t ask Picasso to work without paint and we didn’t ask Michelangelo to work without marble. We saw the value in giving them the tools to succeed, and they didn’t even identify as disabled. It is for this reason I struggle to understand why there…
To see the complete article, visit: 12 Questions to Ask about a College’s Disability Services. Disability Support Programs and Services (DSPS) were enacted in 1976 through the passage of Assembly Bill 77 (Lanterman), which funds support services and instructional programs for students with disabilities in the California Community Colleges. DSPS assists colleges to provide services…
by Janet Nunez, AT Specialist, Parents Helping Parents iTECH Center Yesterday I met up with an old acquaintance of mine, who I hadn’t seen for 10 years, at a neighborhood coffee shop. Leslie and I sipped our first cup of coffee reminiscing and the next cup trying to catch up. The third cup finally brought…
by Samantha Garcia, Office & Logistics Coordinator Henry lives in a nursing home. He has dementia, rarely speaks and rarely moves. But when he is given headphones attached to an iPod with music specific to his age and known memories, he is moved – to dance, to sing, to speak about what it has given…