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ATFAQ143 – Q1. VictorTrek or VictorStream what are the differences, Q2. Non-verbal communication tech for culinary school, Q3. Funding options for accessible van, Q4, Amplified phone systems, Q5. AT services offered at Easterseals Crossroads, Q6. Wildcard: Should Voc Rehab provide tech just because it is new

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Panel: Brian Norton, Josh Anderson, Belva Smith and Tracy Castillo

ATFAQ143 – Q1. VictorTrek or VictorStream what are the differences, Q2. Non-verbal communication tech for culinary school, Q3. Funding options for accessible van, Q4, Amplified phone systems, Q5. AT services offered at Easterseals Crossroads, Q6. Wildcard: Should Voc Rehab provide tech just because it is new

 

————- Transcript Starts Here —————

Brian Norton:
Welcome to ATFAQ, Assistive Technology Frequently Asked Questions, with your host Brian Norton, director of assistive technology at Easterseals Crossroads. This is a show where we address your questions about assistive technology; the hardware, software, tools and gadgets that help people with disabilities lead more independent and fulfilling lives.

Brian Norton:
Have a question you’d like answered on our show? Send us a tweet with the hashtag #ATFAQ. Call our listener line at 317-721-7124 or send us an email at tech@eastersealscrossroads.org. The world of assistive technology has questions and we have answers. And now let’s jump into today’s show.

Brian Norton:
Hello and welcome to ATFAQ episode 143. My name is Brian Norton and I’m the host of the show. We’re so happy that you’ve taken some time to tune in with us this week. We have a great lineup of assistive technology questions for you today.

Brian Norton:
But before we jump in, just want to take a moment to go around or virtual studio and to introduce the folks who are sitting here with me. First is Belva; Belva is the vision team lead for our clinical assistive technology program here at Easterseals Crossroads. Belva, do you want to say hi?

Belva Smith:
Hi everybody and welcome back.

Brian Norton:
Excellent. And then secondly, we have Tracy. Tracy Castillo is the INDATA program manager here at Easterseals Crossroads. INDATA is our state Assistive Technology Act Program. Tracy, do you want to say hi?

Tracy Castillo:
Sure do. Thanks for listening everyone.

Brian Norton:
Excellent. And third we have Josh. Josh Anderson is our manager of clinical assistive technology here at Easterseals Crossroads, and also the popular host of AT Update. Josh, do you want to say hi?

Josh Anderson:
Hi everybody. Welcome back. Or if it’s your first time, welcome here.

Brian Norton:
Excellent. Excellent. Yeah. Well, we’re going to talk to those first-time listeners just for a moment, just to tell you a little bit about how our show works. So throughout the week, we receive feedback and come across various assistive technology-related questions. And then what we do is we try to sit around, much like we’re doing today, and try to answer those as best we can.

Brian Norton:
And so we have a couple of ways for you to contribute information. The first is our listener line, that’s 317-721-7124. You can also send us an email at tech@eastersealscrossroads.org or send us a tweet with the hashtag #ATFAQ. Great ways to get us your assistive technology-related questions.

Brian Norton:
We also would love your feedback. So as we go throughout today’s show and we try to answer those questions that we have today as best as we can, we would love to hear from you. We want to provide well-rounded answers to the folks that are giving us a call, and so would love for you to contribute any additional information that you might have regarding the questions that we’re going to try to answer today.

Brian Norton:
And so you can provide that feedback in the same way, so you can go to our listener line, through that email address, send us a tweet with the hashtag #ATFAQ. All great ways to get your information, get your feedback back to us.

Brian Norton:
Also have a variety of ways if you want to spread the word about where to find our shows. You can find us just about anywhere you can get a podcast; so that’s iTunes, we have a website set up, it’s ATFAQshow.com. You can find us on Stitcher. You can go to Spotify. You can go to Amazon Music. You can go, really, again, just about anywhere; the Apple Play Store, the Google Play Store, those kinds of places you’ll be able to find our podcast.

Brian Norton:
And we’d love for you to be able to spread the word, folks, about what we’re trying to do here at Easterseals Crossroads, not just with the ATFAQ but also with AT Update and trying to get information about assistive technology out to the masses and be able to talk to folks and really hopefully provide useful information to everybody.

Brian Norton:
Without further ado, I’m going to jump into our questions today. And this first question is about the Victor Trek, and it says, “We’ve recently seen a lot of recommendations coming through for the Victor Trek.” There’s a participant within the program that they’re from, that the emailer is from, and they’re basically asking a couple of different questions.

Brian Norton:
I think there’s four separate questions or many questions in and amongst the overall question. The first is, there’s the Victor Trek and there’s also a Victor Stream, and they’re asking, “How does the Victor Trek differ from the Victor Stream? How does it differ from the GPS on your phone?” So the Victor Trek is really a GPS component added to the Victor Stream.

Brian Norton:
And so how does that GPS on the Victor Trek differ from what might already be available on the phone? How is it better/easier than the GPS on the phone? And if the participant already has a Victor Stream, do they really need the Victor Trek, or why would they need Victor Trek? And so I’ll just kind of open that up.

Belva Smith:
Well, I will start off by saying-

Josh Anderson:
I’m just trying to figure out who’s going first, that’s why I was pointing. You go ahead.

Belva Smith:
Well, I think our answers are going to be really similar. So I actually contacted HumanWare and ask those exact questions because I didn’t have a really good answer. I mean, if the individual… Maybe they don’t have a smartphone or a tablet, so they don’t have a GPS system already, then maybe their Victor Stream is old and it needs to be updated.

Belva Smith:
Then that would be the only way that I could justify if I were the person trying to evaluate the situation because the Trek does have the exact same features that the Stream has, with the addition of the GPS and tactile buttons. So the tactile buttons would make it easier to possibly use for some individuals versus having a GPS on your phone. Maybe, maybe not, because you can actually talk to your phone and you don’t even really have to use the keyboard.

Belva Smith:
And I did also specifically ask, “Hey, if I own a Stream, is there any trade-in discount to upgrade to the Trek?” And sometimes they do offer those kinds of things but they told me no. And then the one other difference that they mentioned is that the truck does have bluetooth capability. I’m not sure how important that would really be; I would need a good reason to justify that, to probably even mention it.

Brian Norton:
Is that for Bluetooth headsets? Is that what that would be for or?

Belva Smith:
I don’t know.

Josh Anderson:
Probably.

Belva Smith:
[inaudible 00:06:55]

Josh Anderson:
That or maybe a speaker [inaudible 00:06:58]. Yeah.

Brian Norton:
Okay. Yeah.

Josh Anderson:
I can see how maybe those…

Belva Smith:
Maybe for a keyboard or a braille display as well.

Brian Norton:
Okay. True.

Belva Smith:
But the biggest difference between the two is that one doesn’t have the GPS and one does. They’re both good devices but do you need both of them? No. It’s one or the other.

Josh Anderson:
So I’ll kind of go off this too, and I just happen to know this information did come from a VR counselor, so I guess the question that I would have is how does this help on the job? Because most of the time you do have a vocational goal.

Josh Anderson:
I mean, really the main thing that it does is it can play podcasts, it can play music, it can play NFB-NEWSLINE, it can play all that information, so I don’t know how much it would really and truly help in a vocational kind of setting.

Josh Anderson:
And as far as the GPS, just in reading some stuff, it says if you don’t use it for a few days, it’s painfully slow. It takes a while to find the satellites and stuff. So when you bring it up, don’t be in a hurry, it’s going to take a while. It says it’s just as good, once it’s up at working, as the GPS on your phone.

Josh Anderson:
But Belva, like you said, I can use my voice to do a lot of those things. So I’d say where it would really fit is if someone doesn’t have a cellphone and needs those kind of features. Well, it’s cheaper than a cell phone, than a lot of cellphones.

Belva Smith:
Yeah, but Josh, is it cheaper than an iPod? Because think about it, you could do every one of those things with an iPod.

Josh Anderson:
Well, [inaudible 00:08:20] even thought. I guess you can get those SEs now.

Belva Smith:
Yeah. [inaudible 00:08:25]

Josh Anderson:
But the thing is, you don’t have to have a data plan on this, do you?

Belva Smith:
No. No.

Josh Anderson:
You know what I mean? So to use the GPS, you’re just using GPS, you’re using satellite. You’re not using the extra information you get from WiFi signals and stuff. So there is no monthly fee, I guess.

Josh Anderson:
Just to download your music and stuff, you do have to kind of use it on WiFi. So I guess really it’s: are you tactile? Are you someone who has to have those buttons? Because I remember the Trekker Breeze, I used to take ours out and play with it all the time, just to see how well it worked and stuff like that, and it had a huge learning curve.

Josh Anderson:
But it was nice because I could get to an intersection and say things like, “Idiots always speed through here.” And then when you get back up to that intersection it’s like, “Slow down, idiots always speed through here.” And it would say exactly whatever I’d said.

Josh Anderson:
So I can see how it would be beneficial. But if you already have a smartphone and know at all how to use it, you can do everything this can do. I would kind of say it again, my main question would be is: where does this fit in a vocational capacity for a job? Would be another big thing. I would want to ask that to add to that question.

Belva Smith:
Well, and I think you’re going to find your GPS with a smartphone or an iPod to be more up to date, because it gets its information constantly so it’s constantly refreshing. And the Trekker is not going to be constantly. Remember in the beginning you used to have the download your maps.

Josh Anderson:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Belva Smith:
But I don’t believe that that’s true anymore. I think it does that, like you were saying, from the towers or something, right?

Josh Anderson:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). I think so.

Brian Norton:
Yeah. I did like that feature of the Trekker Breeze back in the day and the points of interest, that’s where you would be able to markdown that intersection as far as people speed through here, those types of things.

Brian Norton:
But again, I guess you can do that really, I think, on some of the new mapping programs that are out there already on the phone.

Belva Smith:
Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Brian Norton:
Whether that’s Waze or Google Maps, Apple Maps, those types of places. Is there anything to… Because I always thought the difference between the phone GPSes and some of these things that are specifically made like the Trekker Breeze or this particular one, the Victor Trek, I thought there was something to do with just how close…

Brian Norton:
Because I think some of the GPSes on the phone, and maybe that’s changed, and maybe there’s different apps that are out there, but I always felt like those were more designed for traveling in the car, so it gives you general information. I know you can switch it to walking or those types of things but I thought it was more all-encompassing as far as just for longer distances and not necessarily for the things that are right here right around you in the places [crosstalk 00:11:16].

Josh Anderson:
So it used to be…

Belva Smith:
Yeah.

Josh Anderson:
It used to be, yes.

Brian Norton:
Okay.

Josh Anderson:
Yeah. So it used to be yes, but now I know Google Maps I think does it. If you’re doing a walk-around, it’ll tell you what’s all around you.

Brian Norton:
Okay.

Belva Smith:
Yep.

Josh Anderson:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Brian Norton:
That’s cool. Well, that makes it a lot easier, yeah. That’s interesting.

Belva Smith:
Yeah.

Brian Norton:
Very cool.

Belva Smith:
I don’t know. I don’t think it’s fair for us to try to justify whether or not this individual needs it. There’s a whole lot more information that would be required.

Belva Smith:
But I would say if I were doing an evaluation of an individual who already had one, let’s say they already have the Stream but they’re looking specifically for the GPS feature, unless their Stream was really old and outdated or not working, I would try to push them in another direction for a GPS because I think there would be a more feasible solution rather than to duplicate what they already have just to have the addition of the GPS.

Belva Smith:
And Josh, very good point. We all know that the purpose of voc rehab is to be job or employment or educational, and I find it really hard to justify either one of those. And in fact, I can’t even tell you the last time I’ve recommended either one of those for a VR consumer, no.

Belva Smith:
The veterans, a lot of the veterans use the Victor Stream for downloading their books and reading their books, and that makes sense.

Brian Norton:
Yeah.

Josh Anderson:
Well, I didn’t think about that for students. I guess that is something that students could use to download some of their books.

Belva Smith:
Yep. Yep.

Josh Anderson:
And things. So I guess that could kind of be, and it could get you around campus.

Belva Smith:
Right.

Josh Anderson:
You know what I mean? It could actually tell you where all those things are.

Belva Smith:
Yeah. Well, hopefully it’s better than it used to be, because I remember trying to train one to get around-

Josh Anderson:
Good point.

Belva Smith:
… To try to get around Butler’s Campus and dropping my breadcrumbs along the way and getting lost more and more, but that was a while ago. I’m sure that it’s all improved by now.

Brian Norton:
[inaudible 00:13:25]

Josh Anderson:
[crosstalk 00:13:25] only walked him into four fountains and they made it to class.

Belva Smith:
Right. Yeah.

Brian Norton:
I remember doing that at the university in Southern Indiana and it was same issues. I could not get certain things to work as well as I had hoped they would work.

Belva Smith:
Right. Right.

Brian Norton:
The other thing for me to think about and things that I hear often from my friends who are blind or visually impaired are it’s that whole Batman’s tool belt thing. I’ve already got a phone, it’s got a built-in screen reader with VoiceOver or TalkBack on Android. I’ve got Seeing AI, which is an app that can kind of scan text, does all these different things for you.

Brian Norton:
I wouldn’t want to have to carry something else. I’ve already got so many things in my toolkit. Why do I need to add something else if I can maybe just use an app that’s already there on my phone? It might make it a little bit simpler, easier to be just all-encompassing instead of trying to wear around Batman’s tool belt.

Belva Smith:
So here’s what I would have liked to have seen from HumanWare out of this, I would have liked to have seen a software update that would have changed my Stream to the Trekker, to force me to have to buy a whole new device that’s only got one little teeny feature that I don’t already have just doesn’t seem fair.

Belva Smith:
And I don’t think that the [inaudible 00:14:46] vary that much either. I know life’s not fair, right?

Josh Anderson:
Well, Belva, Apple does that every year.

Belva Smith:
[inaudible 00:14:52], they do.

Brian Norton:
And to be honest with you Belva, I would assume the reason why you have to buy a separate device is the Stream probably doesn’t have the hardware necessary.

Belva Smith:
You’re right.

Tracy Castillo:
I was going to say something about that but then we’d have to explain that part.

Belva Smith:
[crosstalk 00:15:10]. You’re right, you’re right. You’re right. Yep. Forget that I said that. Scratch.

Brian Norton:
Excellent.

Josh Anderson:
Edit. Edit.

Belva Smith:
Yeah. Edit.

Tracy Castillo:
[inaudible 00:15:20]

Brian Norton:
So hey, I’d just like to open this up to our listeners. If you have any experience with the Victor Stream or the Victor Trek and really any other differences, I think we’ve listed out several of those differences, and also what makes the GPS about the phone, if you have anything else to contribute to that, we’d really love to get some additional information out to this particular person, please let us know.

Brian Norton:
We’d love to hear from you. Give us a call on our listener line, that’s 317-721-7124 or send us an email at tech@eastersealscrossroads.org. Love to hear from you. Thank you so much.

Brian Norton:
Our next question is, “I have a client who is nonverbal. She is not deaf, but she is getting ready to take culinary training. She now communicates in writing with other folks. Is there some technology that she can try and can be loaded on her iPad to assist with communication?”

Brian Norton:
And I think last week or last episode we have talked a little bit about some things. I know Belva you mentioned maybe in our last episode you were mentioning BuzzCards as maybe a possibility. You want to talk a little bit about what BuzzCards is?

Belva Smith:
Well, BuzzCards are an app that you can use to create, in advance, different phrases that you want to use in different situations. So for example, if you like Big Macs with no pickles and when you go to McDonald’s to place your order for a Big Mac, you can just pull up your BuzzCard that says you want a Big Mac with no pickles.

Belva Smith:
And that would definitely, in this situation, could be a possibility. But also, just using Notes or Word or Pages, whichever you might have on your iPad, could also be a free option. And I have recently seen the keyboard layover, like a little plastic layover, because if she’s doing culinary, she may have gooey hands from time to time.

Belva Smith:
And, of course, most of the keyboards that you would use with an iPad could easily be wiped off, but you can also use one of the plastic layovers so that you could easily clean it up at the end of the day.

Belva Smith:
In fact, I’ve recently recommended an iPad for a young lady who’s working in a kitchen environment for the purposes… Well, lots of different reasons but primarily for her we’re going to be using timers and reminders, and those are things that she’ll be doing verbally, so she doesn’t have to worry about touching her keyboard too much. But yeah, I would think any one of those would be good.

Belva Smith:
And the good thing about using Notes, words or Pages is that you could save those so that if you needed to go back later and review some of the information that you discussed during a class, it could be your notes from the class as well, so that’s what I would suggest.

Brian Norton:
Yeah. It made me laugh when… Well, not laugh, but it made me chuckle at least when they talked about culinary training. There’s a new commercial out for the new iPhone and it’s a guy who’s making sauce but he’s getting all crazy with different things in his kitchen.

Brian Norton:
I don’t know if you’ve seen that commercial yet, but the new iPhone comes with a new synthetic I think screen on it or something like that, which is a lot more durable than other ones, but they’re dropping it in the sink and throwing it on the floor and throwing food all over it and other kinds of stuff.

Brian Norton:
So it’s more durable, so it might be helpful in certain situations like that. I’m not sure that particular protection is available on an iPad per se, but it just makes me chuckle when they talk about culinary training. It’s a funny, funny commercial. I just get a kick out of it when I see it.

Brian Norton:
I was also thinking there’s also quite a few… You mentioned that this person is nonverbal, and it really probably depends somewhat on what their ability is or what their preferences are, but there’s several augmentative communication apps out there. There are picture-based apps; things like Sono Flex or Proloquo2Go.

Brian Norton:
There’s also text-based ones, which is really…. It gives you a keyboard and you basically type in the message you want and then you can press the ‘speak’ button and it will go ahead and automatically speak it for you as well, so it uses a speaker and it basically speaks whatever you type in there.

Brian Norton:
So if you want to verbally announce your message to whoever you’re talking with, you can do that type of thing as well. A couple to look at as far as that text-based one would be Proloquo4Text, and then there’s another one called Verbally. And Verbally has two versions; there’s a free version, which is going to do a lot of great things for you, gives you some basic communication skills; then they have a $100 one, there’s a $100 license for it.

Brian Norton:
And essentially what that does is gives you kind of, Belva, what you mentioned, quick phrases, you can just go ahead and have these phrases built in where you can just simply press it and the iPad would just speak whatever you pressed. And so, two really, really good text-based apps as well. The other thing I was going to mention, and Tracy-

Tracy Castillo:
I think I want to talk about that.

Brian Norton:
You want to talk about that one? Okay, you go ahead and do that.

Tracy Castillo:
I do. I do. Brian, there is this thing, it’s kind of like an Etch A Sketch, kind of a little board, it’s called a Boogie Board, and you can write on it and just quickly write on it with a little stylus. And it displays your message, it displays it in a cool color; green. I like the color green. But when you’re done, just hit a little button and it erases it.

Tracy Castillo:
So it’s really good to just, if you have quick questions, just write something down really fast and it displays your question, your answer or whatever. I think it’s a nice alternative to pen and pad, so if you’re just using notepads and pens to use the Boogie Board. And they’re relatively inexpensive.

Tracy Castillo:
And one thing that’s really neat about them – and I know that you’re in culinary school, so there’s probably a lot of metal objects – this device has magnets on it, so you could just stick it to the side of something. And when you need it, you could just pull it down, use it, and then put it back when you’re finished. So that’s the Boogie Board.

Belva Smith:
And Brian I wanted to… Because you did mention the app that you were mentioning you had the ability to speak whatever it was that you had typed in.

Belva Smith:
So I wanted to add that if you are using the iPad, which they did mention that this individual is using an iPad, if you go to the accessibility settings and turn on Speak Screen or… Not speak screen, I’m sorry, Speak Selection, then after you’ve typed in your message or your information, you can highlight it and it will be spoken for you as well.

Brian Norton:
That’s a really good point. I bet the Speak Screen would also work if you just-

Belva Smith:
Yeah, but Speak Screen, it speaks too much information, because it does speak the screen.

Brian Norton:
Okay.

Belva Smith:
Speaking Selection would just get what you just typed spoken.

Brian Norton:
Perfect. Excellent. Yeah, that’s a good point. That’s a lot less expensive than some of the apps would be, for sure. And Tracy, I’ll concur with you that Boogie Board is pretty neat, it’s very durable, it is magnetized, and it’s a lot simpler solution.

Brian Norton:
I think the differences would be how much are you speaking? How much do you want to write out what you’re speaking? And so there’s some differences there, but it’s a great device. I think they’re $20 or under for the Boogie Board if I remember correctly.

Belva Smith:
[inaudible 00:23:07] like $39. And actually, I just went to Amazon to try to look up the Boogie Board, and yeah, it looks like you can get it for $33 now. So [inaudible 00:23:18] cheaper than when I got it.

Brian Norton:
Yeah. It’s a great message board, if not for a situation like this, just in any area you can create something like that and just have a great message board for folks, letting folks know what’s going on, so that’s perfect.

Brian Norton:
Hey, I want to open this up to our listeners. If anybody has anything that would be helpful to contribute to this question, we’d love to hear from you. So we’re looking for technology to help someone communicate well, who is nonverbal and is planning to go into culinary training. So give us a call on our listener line, that’s 317-721-7124 or send us an email at tech@eastersealscrossroads.org. Love to hear from you. Thanks.

Brian Norton:
So our next question is, “My wife has multiple sclerosis and we are seeking a handicap van. Do you have any information that would help us in obtaining a vehicle?” And so I’ll just jump in. There are a few options. So as part of the Assistive Technology Act Programs (INDATA), here in Indiana we operate something called the Alternative Financing Program, we refer to it as the AFP, and that allows folks to be able to borrow money.

Brian Norton:
It’s a bank loan. It’s not a grant. I think a lot of folks… When we get questions like this, a lot of folks are looking for grants where they won’t have to pay back the money, but this is specifically an opportunity for folks to purchase their own assistive technology, in this case either a vehicle or the accommodations to the vehicle, in lieu of not being able to afford both of them at the same time or whatever funding source you’re going through.

Brian Norton:
Maybe the funding source is paying for the vehicle and now you need to go in and make the accommodations. Or the funding source is purchasing the… You’re purchasing the vehicle and then the funding source is going in and purchasing the accommodations for it or the adaptive equipment for your van.

Brian Norton:
But it is a bank loan program. It’s just helping people build credit. You do have to pay the money back. It is, again, that bank loan. But what usually happens with those, is they are lower interest and they’re spread over a longer period of time, hopefully minimizing the amount of payments, monthly payments, that are there so that folks can afford them more easily.

Brian Norton:
And so it just makes those monthly payments more affordable and helps people build credit along the way. So that’s called an AFP.

Brian Norton:
The one thing about the INDATA program is we are one of 56 programs across the United States, so every state and every territory has a similar program to what we offer. There is always an alternative financing program in every state. And so if you go to eastersealstech.com/states, you’ll be able to look up your local Assistive Technology Act and find information and specifically about the Alternative Financing Program located in your state or territory. And so that’s one option.

Brian Norton:
Another option is BraunAbility, which is a large manufacturer of adaptive vehicles. If you go to braunability.com (B-R-A-U-N), they have a website there. And if you go to Shopping Tools, which is on their main menu, and then you go to Grants and Funding, they have some other options for you.

Brian Norton:
They have state funding options, which I think oftentimes will point you to either vocational rehabilitation assistance or to the Alternative Financing Programs we’ve already talked about, but then they also have nationwide funding, just lots of different options for folks; veterans programs, funding for not-for-profits, crowdfunding. It talks all about different ways to be able to help get the finances in order to be able to purchase the vehicle that you’re looking for and to be able to afford that.

Brian Norton:
And so I would send you there. That’s another great place to go to learn more about funding opportunities when we’re talking about such a large expense. I think that’s the real challenge for folks. Doing an adaptive vehicle is super expensive; 60, 70, $80,000 depending on the type of vehicle and the type of accommodations that you might need. It can really, really put things out of reach for folks. And so looking for funding options is super important.

Tracy Castillo:
Hey Brian, do you remember when we had that adaptive vehicle kind of car show in our parking lot?

Brian Norton:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Tracy Castillo:
Couple of years back. We recorded that. And if you want to see some of the different kinds of vehicles out there and the different accessories they can put on vehicles, you should check out our YouTube channel and look at that video. There are some really cool things out there available for people, especially for moving around those wheelchairs and electric chairs and getting them put in the vehicle safely. Some of the stuff is really neat that they have available. So I just wanted to mention that.

Brian Norton:
Yeah. If you go to YouTube, you can type in The INDATA Project and you’ll find our YouTube channel. And we do have, I think, maybe two or three different videos from that day. And we’re not selling anything, we’re just communicating what are those choices like; here are some different options that are available in adaptive vehicles these days.

Brian Norton:
And so that was, I think, maybe two or three, four years ago, so they may be a little out of date but they’re still relevant and can kind of help get the wheels turning.

Tracy Castillo:
Yeah. Yeah. You know what? That just brings up another thing. Brian, I think we should have it again. We should do this again. And maybe this time offer hotdogs and soda pops.

Brian Norton:
Yeah. We can make it kind of a fair [crosstalk 00:28:53].

Tracy Castillo:
Little fair, car show. [crosstalk 00:28:56]

Brian Norton:
I think we have to wait till COVID goes away to be able to do that.

Tracy Castillo:
COVID who?

Brian Norton:
That’s right. That’s right.

Tracy Castillo:
COVID who?

Brian Norton:
That’s right.

Belva Smith:
And I wanted to mention a website that I found, it’s called AMS Vans, A-M-S Vans, which stands for, believe it or not, America’s Mobility Superstore. This is a website that has used conversion vehicles, all different makes and models; you can do side entry, rear entry, and they say that they have vans for under $30,000. They actually have over 341 vans available.

Belva Smith:
They deliver nationwide. So if you have access to the internet, it might [crosstalk 00:29:44].

Tracy Castillo:
Oh, wow.

Belva Smith:
What?

Tracy Castillo:
No, I was just oh-wowing that they’ll deliver.

Belva Smith:
I know.

Tracy Castillo:
[inaudible 00:29:50] deliver.

Belva Smith:
So yeah, if you have access to the internet, it might be worth checking out their website, if nothing else, just to get information so that you are an informed shopper. We all know it’s very easy to be taken advantage of when you are in a needy situation.

Tracy Castillo:
Yes.

Belva Smith:
[inaudible 00:30:08] needy was the right word. But when you need something and somebody else has got it, if you are not informed, it’s real easy to get advantage taken of you. So I would definitely check out that website. Again, that was AMSVans.com.

Brian Norton:
Yeah. That’s the first I’ve seen that, Belva. It looks like a neat website too.

Belva Smith:
Yeah.

Brian Norton:
Easy to understand and has lots of choices and filters for you to choose.

Belva Smith:
Right. And let’s face it, some of these vans could be still practically like brand new because they may have been very rarely, if ever, used. So I definitely would consider doing something used.

Belva Smith:
And they say they do a wide checkpoint to make sure that they’re not selling you something that’s a piece of junk. So I would definitely recommend checking that out.

Brian Norton:
If you would get in contact with them, the one thing that I didn’t see anything on their website just as I glance at it would be making sure that, for a lot of folks, you need special equipment to just drive the vehicle, make sure that you connect with a local adaptive driving specialist to make sure whatever controls are in there, you’ve got good access to and are going to be able to drive successfully and not be put in a health and safety issue or any of those types of things.

Brian Norton:
But yeah, they do have some really nice vehicles for sure. That’s interesting. Excellent. Thanks for that link. So I just want to open this up to folks. If you have dealt with the same kind of question, looking for an adaptive vehicle and trying to figure out where to go and where to look for those and you’ve found some places in addition to what we’ve already talked about today, please let us know. We’d love to hear from you.

Brian Norton:
You can give us a call on our listener line, that’s 317-721-7124 or send us an email at tech@eastersealscrossroads.org. Again, we’d love to hear from you. Thanks.

Brian Norton:
All right, so our next question is, “I need to decide which amplified corded phone to buy that has the highest sound quality. My current phone has low sound quality although high volume; it goes up to 40 decibels for an older person. Which amplified corded phones have you had the most quality/clear sound when the volume is between 35 and 45 decibels? What do you think about the Clarity Alto sound quality?”

Tracy Castillo:
I’m not sure.

Brian Norton:
Yeah.

Tracy Castillo:
That’s very particular to each person. I would suggest trying one out. Go to your state’s Lending Library and see if they have one available for you to look at or to try. But yeah, I don’t know any… I’ve never had to use the Alto or any of the other ones.

Belva Smith:
So I have had clients who need these types of phones and I can tell you, I’ve not had good luck finding one that I would sit here and boast about. There are some, and Clarity is one that… That brand of phone is typically pretty good.

Belva Smith:
But you’re right, Tracy, in that it is very individualized and they all have not very good sound, and I don’t understand why. We’ve got people like Bose that can make speakers sound so amazing that I don’t understand why nobody has been able to put that technology into [inaudible 00:33:56].

Tracy Castillo:
That makes a lot of sense. Yeah, why wouldn’t… Hey, Bose?

Belva Smith:
Yeah. So I would also consider, possibly, a headset. Oftentimes a headset will work better in these kinds of situations. Which headset? I don’t know, because again, that’s going to really depend on the individual and the phone, because the phone’s got to have the ability to connect with a headset.

Belva Smith:
But there are phones now that do have the Bluetooth technology, so then they can connect to a Bluetooth speaker. So perhaps connecting something like a Bluetooth Bose speaker to the phone and then using speakerphone. I don’t know. I honestly can say I don’t have a good answer to that question.

Belva Smith:
I don’t like saying that but I’ve always said I don’t have all the answers and it’s okay to not have all the answers. This is a tough one and it’s also very individualized.

Tracy Castillo:
Yeah. Not sure what 35 to 45 decibels is. Is that pretty loud? Is that?

Brian Norton:
Yeah. I think that’s pretty loud when you start thinking about amplifying phones, especially a phone signal since it’s just not typical speech. A place that I would really send folks to be able to answer this question, when you start talking about phones, is I would send them to Harris Communications.

Brian Norton:
Harris is a great place, they deal with lots of different types of equipment for folks who are hard of hearing, and so I’m sure they get these questions all the time. And they would probably be able to tell you what are the better phones and which phones have better quality or clarity.

Brian Norton:
But then, Tracy, I think you also hit the nail on the head. They can tell you about those but it’s really… And Belva, you mentioned this too, it’s so individualized that it’s really important to try something out. And so what I would say to folks is, again, Tracy you’ve mentioned it. Contact us. Let us know.

Tracy Castillo:
Contact us. Yeah.

Brian Norton:
We actually have that Alto phone in our library. That’s one of the ones that we have and you can try it out, see if it works.

Tracy Castillo:
Yeah. So if you can go to our website at eastersealstech.com/states, and that’ll bring up a little survey you can put on what your state is and that you want to find your AT Act, you’ll get the contact information, that’s if you’re not in Indiana.

Belva Smith:
And I will say too from doing some different evaluations that I’ve done over the years, the phone line that you’re using [inaudible 00:36:41] to do with the sound that comes out of that phone as well.

Tracy Castillo:
[inaudible 00:36:46]

Belva Smith:
So being able to borrow the phone and take it into your home and plug it into your phone line and see what it sounds like. Also just getting it into your environment can really contribute to being able to make a good decision.

Belva Smith:
So I definitely would recommend trying to get your… I mean, no place that I know of can you go and try out one of these phones without being able to go to a Lending Library like INDATA. I don’t know why I said data.

Tracy Castillo:
Oh my goodness.

Belva Smith:
[inaudible 00:37:20].

Tracy Castillo:
Yeah.

Brian Norton:
That’s a good point. Yeah. So definitely try those things out. That’s such a personalized situation to figure out which one is going to be best, and so it is best to try it out, but definitely if you really want to hear more about the brands that do have that higher quality, higher clarity, talk to folks at Harris Communications.

Brian Norton:
You can Google Harris Communications, it’ll bring you to their website. And they’re very helpful when you want to start talking about some of those types of things, and so definitely reach out to those.

Brian Norton:
We’d love also to just open this up to listeners. If anyone has additional information to contribute, maybe you use a phone that has some adjustable sound for it, amplification for it, please let us know. We’d love to be able to share that with folks. You can give us a call on our listener line, that’s 317-721-7124 or send us an email at tech@eastersealscrossroads.org. Love to hear from you. Thanks.

Brian Norton:
All right, so our next question is, “I’m interested in learning more about the assistive technology services you offer. Will you please tell me more about the services you offer through your assistive technology department?” And so I’ll just open that up to folks.

Tracy Castillo:
Hey. Yeah, our assistive technology department is kind of broken down in two aspects. I will talk about my favorite guys, the good guys, the free guys, that’s us guys, so that’s The INDATA Project.

Tracy Castillo:
We have several different avenues in The INDATA Project, all of with the same goals, just to get the information about technology out there, and then to get that technology in your hands. So we have alternative financing and…

Tracy Castillo:
I should do a little bit in order but that’s just not me, so let’s just go around the world with this. We have the alternative financing program, which allows you to get a device paid for you through a financial place, and that’s available for individuals looking for money.

Tracy Castillo:
In our organization, it’s from $500 to $30,000. So that could be your iPad with a specific app on it or it could be a home modification or it could be a vehicle modification, but that’s one way to get your hands on it. We also have-

Belva Smith:
Wait a minute Tracy.

Tracy Castillo:
[inaudible 00:39:53]

Belva Smith:
I’m so sorry but I got to interrupt you.

Tracy Castillo:
Yeah, go for it.

Belva Smith:
[crosstalk 00:39:56] Well, because you said that’s one way to get your device paid for, for you.

Tracy Castillo:
Oh, oh, yeah.

Belva Smith:
[crosstalk 00:40:03] It’s a loan.

Tracy Castillo:
It is a loan. But it does pay for it for you but you have to pay somebody back.

Belva Smith:
Yeah.

Tracy Castillo:
No, it’s one way to get it funded.

Belva Smith:
Okay.

Tracy Castillo:
It’s one way to… Yeah. Sorry. Sorry about that. It’s not a grant y’all, it’s a loan. So that’s one way that you can find yourself paying for something. Is that better?

Tracy Castillo:
So another thing that we have, and it has my heart all over it, it’s called the Device for Use program, and I love that one. So what happens is individuals in the state of Indiana, they donated equipment to us such as iPads and computers and desktops. And then there’s volunteers and interns and a guy named Alvin and a girl that’s Tracy, and they put these devices back together and they give those away to people in Indiana that are living with disabilities.

Tracy Castillo:
So that’s a free program that they just fill out an application for, they ask for something. If we have it available for it, they can get that device through us.

Tracy Castillo:
Now, a lot of the things I like to talk about on this program is our state lending program. So there is an online library chalked full of just different types of technologies out there. And we really like to get the newest stuff out there in case something comes out and people want to try it and see if they want to buy it.

Tracy Castillo:
So what happens is if you see something cool on TV, you could be like, “Oh, wow. As seen on TV device looks really cool. I want to try it.” And then you do. You buy it and you get it home and it doesn’t really work for you, it doesn’t really meet up to your expectations. You feel like you were lied to and you’ve also lost money. Well, The INDATA Project has the Lending Library that can save you all those problems and you could just borrow one from us.

Tracy Castillo:
Now, I will talk about our demo program and then I’m going to hand it back over to Josh because our demo program is kind of like a miniature of what you will get from our clinical side. I have a gentleman that will come out to your house and show you different types of technologies that could help you or help you along in reaching your goals.

Tracy Castillo:
So all of the things I just mentioned to you are pretty much free, minus the interest that you may pay at the AFP loan. So there you go, that’s The INDATA Project. And now I will let Josh talk to you about the other side of assistive technology.

Josh Anderson:
So the other side of our program, that’s the clinical assistive technology program. We’re the folks that kind of work in the trenches. So we work one-on-one with individuals, with businesses, with vocational rehabilitation (the VA), and try to find unique solutions for individuals to meet their goals. And that can be on the job, in school, aids of daily living, anything that they might need to accomplish using assistive technology.

Josh Anderson:
So INDATA is all grant-funded and all those services are free to use. Clinical, all of ours are not grant-funded, so they are kind of fee-for-service style services, I guess. And that includes evaluation; so actually finding a person, finding what barriers they’re having, what they’re trying to accomplish, and then making recommendations for different technology to implement. It includes the training on all that stuff.

Josh Anderson:
Assistive technology isn’t really great for you if you don’t have any idea how to use it. Think of the first time you ever picked up a smartphone and how long it took you to figure out, “What does this app do? What does this app do? How do I open the darn thing? What does it mean ‘Swipe to open’? What is this code thing?” All that different stuff.

Josh Anderson:
So if you just think about that, when I think about that with the screen reader or with these other pieces of technology, it can take a whole lot of training. So our folks, again, work pretty much one-on-one with individuals, sometimes remote, because that’s how things kind of go now; but a lot of times one-on-one, in-person, usually in their environment, helping them, again, implement technology in order to meet their goals.

Josh Anderson:
And when I say technology, people always think of the really high-tech stuff, and it’s not always the high-tech devices. It’s also sometimes custom-made stuff. We’ve made plenty of stuff out of PVC, out of a trip to the Home Depot and some of the cool stuff you can find there, just to help folks really get the unique kind of thing that they need.

Josh Anderson:
And again, we do that. Sometimes we’re contacted by individuals, sometimes by vocational rehabilitation, the Veteran’s Administration, businesses themselves, Workman’s Comp. I know I’m leaving some out because there’s many more kind of programs that we use. But really and truly, the clinical side is just using AT to help people overcome barriers, I would say is the real melted down kind of version.

Josh Anderson:
And we actually have two teams on my team. We have the vision and sensory team, which Belva will probably tell you is the best one because she’s actually on this show. And then Craig Burns also runs our mobility cognition team, which is the other side of our team that still goes out and helps individuals.

Josh Anderson:
And we help individuals all over the state of Indiana, just like INDATA does as well. Brian did I leave anything out? Or Belva, did I leave anything out?

Belva Smith:
Yeah. I’ll take a minute here. So we also work with Perkins School for the Blind to provide iCanConnect services. iCanConnect is a program that’s funded by the FCC.

Belva Smith:
And the purpose in the program is to get equipment and training to individuals who meet three requirements; they must be visually impaired, hearing impaired, and have below the income requirement to qualify. If they meet all three of those qualifications, there is absolutely no cost to them to receive…

Tracy Castillo:
[inaudible 00:45:59]

Belva Smith:
Yeah. I know. To receive equipment and the training. So that’s a program that I’m very, very excited to be a part of. And we’ve been doing it now for about nine years. And then, as Josh already had mentioned, on the clinical side, we do do the evaluations and the training and also provide tech support.

Belva Smith:
We get lots of phone calls from individuals that we may have never even worked with but they’ve heard about us in one manner or another, and they just have a question that they want to know, perhaps about a new piece of technology that they’ve heard about or a new need that they’ve come across themselves or a friend has come across and they want some help getting through their trouble times.

Belva Smith:
And sometimes we can give them that information. And if not, hopefully we can get them at least pointed in the right direction. I kind of look at that as a tech support in a way. So we also get those phone calls that say, “Hey, my printer won’t print.” And most of the time, those come from individuals that we have provided services for, but not always. It may be someone who, again, who has just heard about us, and so they reach out to us to give them that information.

Belva Smith:
We also do some all-day trainings. Basically that… I know Tracy just went, “Oh.”

Tracy Castillo:
Oh, man.

Belva Smith:
Yeah.

Tracy Castillo:
I forgot about the trainings.

Josh Anderson:
It’s only so long of a show.

Belva Smith:
Yeah.

Tracy Castillo:
I know.

Belva Smith:
Before COVID, we would do those in person and everybody would get a nice free lunch, but since COVID, we’ve been doing them remotely. And we’ve discovered that doing them remotely is kind of, in its own way, very exciting. We can get more people to attend, so we get the word out there more. We also do tech tip videos that you can find on YouTube. So I think-

Tracy Castillo:
Yep. [inaudible 00:48:04]

Belva Smith:
When it comes to assistive technology, I think our department, our agency, we’re pretty much… We cover the whole state of Indiana, so we’re not just in the city. But I think we have a lot to offer for individuals with different needs. Thank you to whoever sent us this question.

Tracy Castillo:
I know. We get to talk about ourselves.

Belva Smith:
It’s just like a live commercial and we [crosstalk 00:48:36].

Tracy Castillo:
It is a live commercial. Brian, plug.

Belva Smith:
And I just want to end by saying I’ve been a part of this department for a long time and I absolutely love my job and love meeting the people that we get to meet. And I too, like Tracy, I’ve always kind of been a gadget geek. So if I hear about something new, I want to know about it, I want to [crosstalk 00:49:03], I want to feel it and see what it can do.

Belva Smith:
Now, if it’s not easy to use, I’m going to be the first person to throw it aside. And I might go back to it later.

Josh Anderson:
Yes, you are.

Belva Smith:
I know. I might go back to it later-

Josh Anderson:
… [crosstalk 00:49:16]

Belva Smith:
And I might not. I like my technology to be easy. I do believe in keeping it simple.

Tracy Castillo:
Yeah.

Belva Smith:
Yeah.

Tracy Castillo:
You know what we didn’t mention? And it’s been neglected for about a year now, neglected in the way that not many people have come and visited, but over at our location on Keystone Avenue, we have a lab that is set up with the most beautiful devices, all technology, all set up in ways that you can look at it.

Tracy Castillo:
We gave tours. People would come through. We had real people that would come to our building with no mask on and just kind of tour the different stuff that we have. We had new stuff, old stuff, blended stuff, things that we just put together that work for people. I can’t wait till we start to be able to have tours again and have people come in and check out just what we have to offer at our location.

Tracy Castillo:
I know that my favorite thing when I first started working at Easterseals Crossroads was the podcast studio because I had never in my life worked anywhere that there was a radio station inside, not radio station but just like a studio. Cool.

Brian Norton:
Very cool.

Josh Anderson:
It’s kind of a closet with a window, but [crosstalk 00:50:33].

Tracy Castillo:
There’s foam on the walls.

Josh Anderson:
There is foam on the walls, that’s [inaudible 00:50:37].

Belva Smith:
And let me lastly say that though most of our clients do have a funding source, okay. We do do private pay services as well. So if you are an individual who’s using some sort of assistive technology and perhaps you don’t have an open vocational rehabilitation case, you’re not a veteran, you’re not part of the iCanConnect program, but you just need to know how to do something or whatever, we do do private pay as well.

Brian Norton:
That’s excellent. Excellent job of kind of covering all the services we have. What I’ll do is I’ll just kind of wrap it up with two things. First, if you want to dig a little deeper and see everything that we do, go to our website eastersealstech.com.

Brian Norton:
If you go under Services, it kind of gets into a little bit more of the weeds about what clinical services look like, what INDATA services look like. You’ll even find information about what the services at Easterseals Crossroads, our parent organization, looks like. And so there’s a lot there with regard to what we offer.

Brian Norton:
And then the other thing I’ll just encourage you guys, we are Indiana, we serve Indiana mostly. Our clinical services do kind of go sometimes into the surrounding states occasionally, but mostly we’re in Indiana.

Brian Norton:
If you are from outside of Indiana but at least within the United States, we can oftentimes direct you to folks who would know who the service providers are in your particular state. So what we often tell folks if we don’t have an answer for you, we probably know someone who does and we’ll point you toward them and get you connected with them, and so we can definitely make that happen.

Tracy Castillo:
Right. And one thing I noticed what’s really interesting about the AT Act, that we’re in different territories. And I think in my mind, correct me if I’m wrong, the furthest territory is Guam, which seems to me to be pretty far away, but we do have an AT Act there.

Brian Norton:
Yeah. Whatever our furthest territory is, if it’s Guam, yeah, Guam or [crosstalk 00:52:47].

Tracy Castillo:
Is it? I don’t know.

Brian Norton:
I don’t know. I don’t know. Virgin Islands, all those different places have an AT Act Program as well.

Tracy Castillo:
Okay.

Brian Norton:
But yeah, definitely. Well, hey, thank you guys for jumping in there. I don’t know if we need any feedback from other folks about the services we provide, but again, those are the things that we provide, and so hope that’s helpful for folks, so thanks so much.

Male:
And now it’s time for the wild-card question.

Brian Norton:
All right, so our next question is the wild-card question, and this is a question that Belva’s had time to think about but hasn’t told us anything regarding the question, and so we get to make answers up on the fly. So Belva, what do you got for us today?

Belva Smith:
So do you guys think that vocational rehabilitation services should provide technology just because it’s new and maybe it’s easier to use? Not necessarily because it’s going to make me be able to do something that I shouldn’t do, but it’s something that I heard about and it’s new and it’s going to be real easy to use.

Brian Norton:
So let me just say this is my take on vocational rehabilitation services; they are always going to look at the lowest cost. It must be functional, it must help the person do something that they’re trying to do, but they’re always going to look at that low-cost option.

Brian Norton:
As an evaluator, I think that’s what I’m charged with, is to come into the situation and figure out what’s really going to work for somebody and what’s the most functional least-cost alternative for them to be able to perform something or do something that they’re not otherwise able to do at this particular moment?

Brian Norton:
And so I think that might look a little differently. I’m not sure it’s always the newest, the greatest, probably the more expensive option. There might be something that’s lower cost that might be not as new but just as functional, if it does the task just as much as everything else.

Josh Anderson:
So Belva, in a quick answer, no, probably not. But if the technology they have no longer meets their needs, then yes; but unfortunately, it can’t just be when something new comes out. And I only say that because I’ve known people who’ve tried to beat the system by doing that or trying to ask for that.

Josh Anderson:
Kind of like Brian said, it does have to be the lowest cost option. So for example, let’s say a student who is visually impaired comes out of high school, has used a Mac their entire lives, so they know how to use VoiceOver like the back of their hands. They can get a Windows computer for cheaper than a Mac computer, but they’re going to have to pay for JAWS, which is going to bring it up to, if not exceed the price, plus they’re going to need a lot of hours of training to learn how to use it.

Josh Anderson:
So suddenly that cost becomes much more expensive. Even though the equipment cost may be more expensive for the Mac, once you add in the training it’s going to be a lot more expensive for the Windows computer, so I guess it kind of depends.

Josh Anderson:
If there’s something that can speed things up, so let’s say that just to stick with the visual… Or let’s say with maybe an input device, let’s say someone’s using a Sip/Puff or something like that, so it works but it takes a lot of setup.

Josh Anderson:
You can do everything with it, I guess, but let’s say a new input device comes up that uses a different component of the body that the individual has control of. Well, it might make sense to get that because their productivity might be able to go up, they might be able to increase their value on the job, they might be able to get promotions, raises, things like that, so then I can kind of see where it might come in. Short answer, no. Long answer, yes.

Belva Smith:
So the reason that I came up with that question is because a lot of states with the iCanConnect program do just automatically get people stuff after three years just because.

Belva Smith:
We, the state of Indiana, Perkins, they don’t do that. So I often will get phone calls that say, “Well, in Ohio they get new computers.” And I’m like, “Well, that’s Ohio. That’s not a practice that we have.”

Belva Smith:
And I support that because I don’t get to run out and buy myself a new tablet every time a new one comes out, just like I don’t get to run out and buy myself a new car every time one comes out, even though, “Hey, it’s got features that I think are fantabulous and they’re going to make my driving experience so much…” I don’t get to do that.

Belva Smith:
So recently I, aside from iCanConnect, had a situation where an individual was using a Mac Mini, and it’s old, it’s old, time is up, and he would like to have a MacBook Pro now. The MacBook Pro is about $2,000 more than a Mac Mini. That’s a hard justification, isn’t it?

Josh Anderson:
It really is.

Belva Smith:
It really is.

Josh Anderson:
It really is.

Belva Smith:
Because I get that he would like to be mobile throughout his home but I, other than that, can’t see any reason why the MacBook Pro is going to help him perform any of the actions that he needs to do any better than the Mac Mini.

Belva Smith:
I don’t know. I think some people, and especially folks that are from the old school, they have an impression that just because they want something or they like something, that’s what they should be able to get. And I think, Brian, you started out saying it perfectly; that’s not the purpose of voc rehab, it’s not the purpose of any of the programs that I’m aware of.

Belva Smith:
The purpose of all the programs is pretty much the same; to get each individual whatever is necessary for them to eliminate whatever the barrier is that they’re faced with, whether it’s walking, talking, typing, whatever, but at the most affordable cost so that they can help more people.

Brian Norton:
Right.

Belva Smith:
[inaudible 00:59:09]

Brian Norton:
And I’ve often heard, and the case has been with voc rehab, they are a one-time purchaser. And so as an evaluator, at least here in Indiana, there’s often the conversation with the consumer that ongoing costs, repair, you get a virus, those types of things, that may become your cost; the cost of updating, the cost of fixing or whatever.

Brian Norton:
If it’s a problem or an issue that was created or that comes along with your particular equipment, VR is a one-time purchaser, they may not always step in and help either repair something or fix something or upgrade stuff, that becomes your cost. And so you’re assuming the upkeep of that equipment once it’s been provided.

Josh Anderson:
And the hope, of course, especially after vocational rehabilitation, is once you find a job, hopefully your employer can help with updates and upgrades. Or, not to sound completely and totally callous as I’m sure this will come out, but you have a job now-

Belva Smith:
You can.

Josh Anderson:
… You can buy those things you need. Yeah.

Belva Smith:
You can.

Josh Anderson:
Yep.

Belva Smith:
Exactly. [crosstalk 01:00:18]

Josh Anderson:
You can buy those things that you need.

Belva Smith:
Sorry. Go ahead.

Josh Anderson:
Yep. I was going to say, I’ve had a lot of people actually do that, people I’ve worked with call me and say, “Hey, I still use this for work. My job’s going to give me this, but I really want something for home that can do XYZ and I don’t know what to buy. This is $5,000 in this is 200 bucks, what’s the difference?”

Josh Anderson:
And I can sit there, and that’s when I usually send them to Tracy and say, “Hey, go over to the Loan Library and check them out and see which one’s going to work best for you.” Because they’re happy. They have a job, they have money in hand. They’re like, “I can get these things that VR couldn’t get because they weren’t job-related, but now I can get them for myself to be able to do these things.”

Josh Anderson:
And I always think that’s a great part. That’s where the tech acts really come in handy, because yeah, you get to try that thing out, even have someone demo it for you. Borrow it, see if you like it for a while before you actually go out and buy this thing.

Belva Smith:
Yeah.

Brian Norton:
Excellent. Well, hey, thank you guys for that great question, Belva, appreciate it. Thank you for the answers. Hey, just want to open this up to all of our listeners just for all the questions that we tried to answer today.

Brian Norton:
If you have anything, any questions that have come to mind while listening or if you have any feedback with regard to the things that we talked about today, we’d love to hear from you. Give us a call on our listener line, that’s 317-721-7124 or send us an email at tech@eastersealscrossroads.org. Thanks so much.

Brian Norton:
Just want to, before we leave, just give folks an opportunity to say goodbye. Tracy, I’ll start with you. Tracy, do you want to say goodbye to folks?

Tracy Castillo:
Yes. Bye everyone. I hope that you will tune in to listen to us again. Send us your questions.

Brian Norton:
Excellent. Excellent. Belva, do you want to say goodbye?

Belva Smith:
Sure. Everybody be well and keep sending us your questions.

Brian Norton:
Perfect. And Josh.

Josh Anderson:
Hi everybody, or bye everybody. Dang it, I messed that up.

Brian Norton:
Excellent.

Josh Anderson:
Bye everybody.

Brian Norton:
Yep. Have a great week guys. Thanks for joining us. Looking forward to talking with you in a couple of weeks. Take care. Bye-bye.

Brian Norton:
And it seems like every week we have at least one blooper, so here you go.

Belva Smith:
Brian, get us going, we’re getting [inaudible 01:02:18].

Tracy Castillo:
I know. Sometimes when I do stuff like that, I try to move on really fast.

Brian Norton:
I’ll just guarantee you that textual healing is going to show up in our bloopers. [inaudible 01:02:33]. Let me try that again.

Tracy Castillo:
I got a couple of [inaudible 01:02:37].

Brian Norton:
Yeah, no kidding.

Brian Norton:
Information provided on Assistive Technology FAQ does not constitute a product endorsement. Our comments are not intended as recommendations nor is our show evaluative in nature. Assistive Technology FAQ is hosted and produced by Brian Norton, gets editorial help by Josh Anderson and Belva Smith, and receives support from Easterseals Crossroads and The INDATA Project.

Brian Norton:
ATFAQ is a proud member of the Accessibility Channel. Find more of our shows at www.AccessibilityChannel.com.

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