History of Hearing Aids

by Rachel Anderson Happy Disability History Week! To celebrate this week, we will be highlighting the history of a few different AT devices.  Did you know hearing aids have been around for centuries? Hearing Aid “Trumpet” The earliest known hearing devices date back to the 17th and 18th centuries. They were horn-shaped and made from…

Disability History Week

by Kirk Aranda, Youth Advocate for YO! Disabled & Proud It’s that time of the year everyone!  It is officially the start of Disability History Week 2013. For this entire week, YO! members from all across the state will be going into different schools to educate students and teachers about disability history.  Lesson plans include…

Superfest Disability Film Festival Presents “The Dissies”

What are you doing Saturday evening, October 12, 2013?   If you are near San Fransisco, why not check out “The Dissies“? Superfest, the longest running disability film festival, is back!  This year’s Superfest event is brought to you by the Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability at San Fransisco State University and the San Fransisco…

AT Home in the Kitchen

By Bobbette Cantrell Bobbette using cookie sheets to pull items out of her fridge My kitchen is not like most.   Because I have had Rheumatoid Arthritis for over 30 years, I use every day tools and supplies to make my life much easier. As a person who has always been independent, I decided that…

AT News From Around the Web

Here at the AT Network, we love to learn about all the new, different and constantly evolving AT that is out there. There are so many AT items that we can’t possibly keep up with every device or piece of equipment that exists. Fortunately, we are not the only ones researching AT and we can…

Bluetooth Keyboards and Limitations

by Kihiroshi Luke Hsieh, AT Advocate, Community Access Center As a disabled technophile, my relationship with Amazon (and to a lesser extent, Apple) can only be described as a love-and-hate affair.  That does not mean I love Apple more than Amazon. Quite the contrary, as I find that I use Amazon far more than Apple. …

Air Travel with AT

by Shannon Coe, AT Network Program Coordinator As people are traveling home from their summer vacations, it is helpful to know what to expect when arriving at the airport.  Travelers with disabilities that use AT devices may have additional concerns about how their devices will be screened by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). I recently…

Access Seat Included

By Christina Mills, CFILC’s Deputy Director No way. Really? Cars are being made accessible at the design level? That’s what I thought to myself when I heard that the new Toyota Sienna came with an accessible backseat right off the lot. Initially, it was difficult for me to imagine that a car company might actually…

AT Funding Success Story

At the AT Network, we love to learn about the innovative ways that our partners assist  consumers in seeking funding options for AT devices and equipment. Jorge Ruiz, Assistive Technology Coordinator at Center Coast Center for Independent Living (CCCIL) in Salinas, sent us the following success story and we wanted to share it with our…