{"id":3075,"date":"2018-03-20T09:08:20","date_gmt":"2018-03-20T17:08:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/?p=3075"},"modified":"2018-03-21T07:36:15","modified_gmt":"2018-03-21T15:36:15","slug":"vilissas-vital-a-t","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/vilissas-vital-a-t\/","title":{"rendered":"VILISSA\u2019S VITAL A.T."},"content":{"rendered":"

Written By: Vilissa Thompson, LMSW, Creator of Ramp Your Voice!<\/a><\/h2>\n

As someone who is proudly disabled as a wheelchair user, little woman, and who is hard of hearing (HoH), assistive technology (AT) allows me to exist and be a part of my community with fewer barriers.\u00a0 To not have the AT I depend on means that my life in many ways would be incomplete; I am grateful to live in the times when such innovations are available.<\/p>\n

1)\u00a0Claw Gripper\/Grabber<\/h1>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

As a wheelchair user and someone who is under 4 feet, I am grateful that claw grippers exists.\u00a0 I use mine to turn the kitchen sink knobs on and off, place lightweight items on the top shelves in the freezer, and press the oven settings.\u00a0 Of course, I have found extra uses for the gripper since the \u201cgrips\u201d are rubberized, but it has been a very convenient addition to my ability to be independent in a home that is not completely accessible. (Click to find this item in the AT Exchange<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

2) Captions<\/h1>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

As someone who is hard of hearing (HoH) and wears digital hearing aids, I am thankful that captions exists.\u00a0 I will let you in on a small secret:\u00a0 I only wear my hearing aids when I am out of the house.\u00a0 Since my hearing loss is mild\/moderate, I can get away with not wearing them inside the house.\u00a0 However, if captions did not exist, it would be a pain to not be able to fully engage with the TV programming and videos I watch online.\u00a0 Captions fill in the blanks of what I may miss with dialogues and allows me to be free without my aids while home.<\/p>\n

3) Earbuds<\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"AEarbuds are a lifesaver for someone who is always on a conference call or talking on the phone with friends.\u00a0 Just as captions assist me engaging with programming content, earbuds allows me to hear whoever I am speaking with clearly.\u00a0 It\u2019s frustrating to have to ask someone to repeat themselves over and over again. Having good quality earbuds (and the volume turned way up) helps to ameliorate me asking \u201cwhat did you say?\u201d\u00a0 (Image Source<\/a>) (Click to find this item in the AT Exchange<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

4) Ride Sharing Apps<\/h1>\n

\"There<\/p>\n

As someone who travels and does not drive, ride sharing apps have been a major game-changer in my confidence in venturing out in the world by myself.\u00a0 Being a manual wheelchair user, I am able to get drivers to put my chair in the trunk and take me to my destination in whatever city I am leaving tire tracks in.\u00a0 I really don\u2019t know how I would get around in an unfamiliar city without these apps – it makes navigating new territory less stressful and I have had some interesting conversations with drivers as well.<\/p>\n

5) Manual Wheelchair<\/h1>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Of course, I cannot end this list without mentioning my manual wheelchair.\u00a0 It is my road to independence, freedom, and is a great substitute to my legs not being quite fast enough to keep up with how fast I want to move.\u00a0 I have had a wheelchair since I was 5 years old, and there is no way my quality of life would be complete without it.\u00a0 My wheelchair is an extension of my body – it is truly a part of who I am as a person and should be regarded with respect as such. (Image Source<\/a>) (Click to find this item in the AT Exchange<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

\"There<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Vilissa Thompson, LMSW, a macro-minded social worker and prominent leader and expert in addressing and educating the public and political figures about the plight of disabled people, especially disabled women of color. Vilissa is also the creator of her own blog and website, <\/em>Ramp Your Voice!<\/em><\/a> which spotlights the issues and barriers of disabled people. Please visit <\/em>rampyourvoice.com<\/em><\/a> to learn more.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written By: Vilissa Thompson, LMSW, Creator of Ramp Your Voice! As someone who is proudly disabled as a wheelchair user, little woman, and who is hard of hearing (HoH), assistive technology (AT) allows me to exist and be a part of my community with fewer barriers.\u00a0 To not have the AT I depend on means…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,59],"tags":[9,8,35,11,5],"class_list":["post-3075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apps","category-wheelchairs-and-scooters","tag-advocacy","tag-apps-and-software","tag-daily-living-aids","tag-deaf-and-hard-of-hearing","tag-independence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3075"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3088,"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3075\/revisions\/3088"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}