{"id":70,"date":"2013-04-09T16:14:00","date_gmt":"2013-04-09T16:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/?p=70"},"modified":"2014-07-16T22:25:59","modified_gmt":"2014-07-16T22:25:59","slug":"free-phones-free-hearing-screenings-and-more-for-californians-with-disabilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/free-phones-free-hearing-screenings-and-more-for-californians-with-disabilities\/","title":{"rendered":"Free Phones, Free Hearing Screenings and More for Californians with Disabilities"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">If you are in California and haven&#8217;t heard of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.californiaphones.org\/\">California Telephone Access Program<\/a>, you could be missing out on a free and specialized landline phone.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><br \/><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">Funded by the small surcharge on every phone bill in CA, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.californiaphones.org\/\">CTAP<\/a> provides free phones for people who live in California, have telephone service, and are deaf or hard of hearing, low vision or blind, or have a mobility, speech or cognitive disability. There is no income or age requirement and the specialized equipment they provide includes:<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">Amplifiers<br \/>\n<table cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" style=\"float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/phone_picturedial_large.jpg\" style=\"clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" height=\"341\" src=\"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/phone_picturedial_large-300x255.jpg\" width=\"400\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">Sample Accessible CTAP Phone<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">Ring Signal Devices<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">Speech Devices<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">Switches<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">Specialized Telephones<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">Mobile Telephones<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">Braille TTYs<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">Headsets<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">TTYs<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">Fax Machines<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">Accessories&nbsp;<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">To apply, all you need <span style=\"font-size: large;\">is a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.californiaphones.org\/certifying_agent.html\">professional <\/a><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.californiaphones.org\/certifying_agent.html\">certifying agent<\/a> to sign your application form.&nbsp;<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">Furthermore, CTAP Centers are now also offering <b>free hearing screenings <\/b>to the public on the third Wednesday of each month, as well as hosting Community Resource Fairs at all <a href=\"https:\/\/www.californiaphones.org\/service_centers.html\">CTAP Locations<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.californiaphones.org\/service_centers.html\">Find your local service center<\/a> or call CTAP for more information at <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><strong><span style=\"color: black;\">1-800-806-1191.<\/span><\/strong> <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<table cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" style=\"float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/kyocera-jax-virgin-hero-300.jpg\" style=\"clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/kyocera-jax-virgin-hero-300-195x300.jpg\" width=\"130\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\">Free Basic Cell Phone for Qualified Individuals<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">&nbsp;Another exciting and new program that the AT Network recently learned about is a free cell phone program for qualified individuals in CA.<span style=\"font-size: large;\"> <span style=\"font-size: large;\">Assurance Wireless is a federal Lifeline Assistance program <span style=\"font-size: large;\">that is run through the company<\/span> Virgin Mobile. <\/span><\/span>California residents who receive Supplemental Security Income, food stamps, Medicaid\/Medi-Cal or other public assistance <a href=\"http:\/\/www.assurancewireless.com\/Public\/Welcome.aspx\">(see complete list he<span style=\"font-size: large;\">re)&nbsp;<\/span><\/a> <b>or <\/b>who earn less than $15,000 per year can get a basic cell phone with 250 minutes and 250 text messages per month.&nbsp; You must provide proof of program participation <span style=\"font-size: large;\">or p<span style=\"font-size: large;\">roof <span style=\"font-size: large;\">of income to <span style=\"font-size: large;\">qualify. Each house<span style=\"font-size: large;\">hold qualifies for one line, but separate households that live at the same address are <span style=\"font-size: large;\">eligible<\/span>, including <span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">residents<\/span> of shelters or nursing homes. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>To apply for this program, please visit <a href=\"http:\/\/assurancewireless.com\/\">assurancewireless.com<\/a> or call Assurance Wireless at <b>1-800-395-2171<\/b><\/span><\/span>.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you are in California and haven&#8217;t heard of the California Telephone Access Program, you could be missing out on a free and specialized landline phone. Funded by the small surcharge on every phone bill in CA, CTAP provides free phones for people who live in California, have telephone service, and are deaf or hard&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2,7,6,19,11,18,5,24,16,4],"class_list":["post-70","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-success-stories","tag-at-network","tag-at-professional","tag-blind","tag-communication","tag-deaf-and-hard-of-hearing","tag-funding","tag-independence","tag-insurance","tag-mobility","tag-vision"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70","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=70"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abilitytools.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}