ATU750 – ATAP Board with Rick Anderson and Tobias Orr

Hi. I’m Rick Anderson from the Assistive Technology Program in Arkansas.

And I’m Tobias Orr. I’m the director of the Nebraska Assistive Technology Partnership. And this is your Assistive Technology Update.

Hello, and welcome to your Assistive Technology Update, a weekly dose of information that keeps you up to date on the latest developments in the field of technology designed to assist individuals with disabilities and special needs. I’m your host, Josh Anderson with the INDATA Project at Easterseals Crossroads in beautiful Indianapolis, Indiana.

Welcome to episode 750 of Assistive Technology Update. It is scheduled to be released on October 10th, 2025. On today’s show, we are super excited to continue our series on the AT Acts, ATAP, AT3 and all the amazing things that make these programs run. Today, we welcome Rick Anderson and Tobias Orr. They’re the chair and vice chair of the ATAP Board of Directors. They’re here to tell us a little bit about their AT Acts programs as well as the ATAP Board and how it fits into everything.

We also welcome back BridgingApps with an app worth mentioning today. And we have to take just a minute to celebrate because as you might’ve heard at the beginning of the show, this is episode 750 or three quarters of the way to a thousand episodes. So I think as I’ve told you before, we’ve been coming out every Friday since June of 2011, so 14 years, 750 episodes. And we thank all of you listeners, whether this is your first time or your 750th. Thank you so much for taking this journey with us.

Hopefully during your time listening, you’ve been able to learn something or find out something about a new piece of technology. Maybe you’ve found something that could help yourself, or a friend, or a family member, or somewhere down the road. But if anything, we hope some of those 750 episodes have been in some service to you, those you work with, those you love, or someone else in your life. We hope to take you along on at least another 750 as we go. But for right now, let’s get on with the show and start off with BridgingApps with an app worth mentioning.

This is Ale Gonzalez with BridgingApps, and this is an app worth mentioning. This week’s featured app is called Productive Habit Tracker. Productive tracks your actions and progress to help you be proactive about reaching your goals and creating good habits. This app is perfect for anyone wanting to track and create productive habits, and especially those who get easily distracted like individuals with ADD as well as those who love structured routines.

The free version allows you to create five habits, which you can select from a pre-generated list of habits, or you can choose to write your own. The app acts as a great motivator by providing check-ins, habit tips, and motivation prompts. It allows you to track your progress through daily streaks, and even set location-based reminders.

This app is great to manage distractions and ADHD by concentrating on a routine. Productive is currently available for only iOS and is free to download. Users can purchase the pro version to access unlimited routines for 3.99 per month. For more information on this app and others like it, visit bridgingapps.org.

Listeners, so last week we learned more about the AT Act and the Association of Assistive Technology Act Programs or ATAP. Today, we’re joined by the chair and vice chair of the ATAP Board of Directors to talk about the board’s role in everything. Our guest, Rick Anderson and Tobias Orr also happen to be directors of their respective state’s AT Act providers. So we’ll dig a little into how they meet the goals of the AT Act in their states as well. Tobias, Rick, welcome to the show.

Hey, thanks for having me.

Yeah, thanks for coming on guys. I’m excited to get into talking about everything. But before we get into talking about the AT Acts and the ATAP Board, can you tell our listeners a little bit about yourselves?

Sure. So I’m the Director of the Nebraska Assistive Technology Partnership, also known as ATP. And we are Nebraska’s AT Act program. And I don’t know what else we want to know about me, Josh.

Oh, anything. I don’t know. You know? Are you an avid golfer? No, I mean, I don’t know anything else important. I guess just because I always find it interesting. How did you end up working for the AT Act?

So I took a roundabout way a little bit. So my education is actually in mental health counseling. And I realized I did not want to be a mental health counselor, but a job opening at Nebraska Vocational Rehabilitation or Voc Rehab came up. And so as an employment counselor, I was able to use my counseling skills for something I truly believed in, helping people get to work. And so, I spent a little time at Nebraska VR. And then, the position at the Assistive Technology Program, which is housed underneath VR, came open. And I went for it, whether qualified or not. They gave me the position. And then, I’ve been in this position now over 10 years.

Wow. Nice. Nice. Rick, what about you?

Well, it’s funny. A lot of us have very similar kind of roundabout origin stories. We find that out when we go to these symposium meetings. It’s funny. Mine’s very, well, not similar, but mine is a roundabout. So I started off didn’t know anything about assistive technology, worked for a DME company, and kind of cut my teeth on rehab repair, and that kind of stuff. And had an opportunity to work with the Easterseals program here in Arkansas, where I did repairs and did adaptations for kids that worked within… It’s a housed intensive care center for children.

And that’s where I learned what assistive technology really was, and kind of worked on the job. So I’ve been in the assistive technology field for 26 years. And worked my way kind of through that, and ended up with… Our Tech Act program is also housed within VR. So I ended up working with VR doing assistive technology evaluations for them. And then, made my way over to the Tech Act program, which was once I found this, I knew this was my home, helping people with disabilities.

Our program has no barriers. You know? There’s some barriers, but we are totally open. You don’t have a disability. You don’t have to prove that you have some sort of income thing. I felt like this is really the thing. And I’ve been doing it for, like I said, 26 years. And then, I’ve been with the Tech Act program or the Assistive Technology program for Arkansas for 14 years. I have a grown child and I have one that thinks he’s grown, 13. Two book ends. Two only children. My free time is pretty much family time. But when I’m at work, boy, this is what brings me to work is helping people get back into their lives.

Yeah, and I couldn’t agree. I know we all had very roundabout. I probably talked about my path kind of here because it was… Well, not like either of yours, but very roundabout as well. It seems like a lot of folks do kind of come to the AT Acts in a roundabout way. Yeah, I’ve been with Crossroads for 14 years, started off as a job coach.

And 12 years ago when I moved into AT, I barely knew what it was and even had any kind of idea. Now I get to live and breathe it every day. And Rick, I love you talked about the kind of access and things. I swear I spend at least one day of my week explaining like, “No, it’s free.”

Yeah.

You can borrow it. “Well, I can take this home?” “Well, yeah. We’re going to need it back, but you can borrow it.” “Can I borrow that too?” Yeah. Yep, yep.

Yeah.

You can try these things out. But it seems like, yeah, half my time is like, “No, you qualify. You’re here. You live in the state. You can do that.”

Well, so many federal programs do require some sort of mandate. And so, people that have to navigate that are pleasantly surprised when they don’t have to do that with our programs, so.

Yeah, yeah. It’s nice to not have to sell them anything.

Yeah.

I always feel like, yeah, we’re here for the information and the access and absolutely love it. Well, guys, beyond just you’re kind of duties leading your respective state AT Acts, you’re also the chair and the vice chair of the ATAP Board of Directors. So I guess just kind of big picture, what is the ATAP Board of Directors?

So ATAP is, and I guess you’ve figured this out, but it’s an organization and membership of all the assistive technology programs throughout the nation. And what the board kind of does is, we’re that fiduciary oversight and policy oversight for the executive director. It’s all member run. So each one of us just sit on the board for a finite period of time, and they’re all going to be directors from various Tech Act programs throughout the State and territories. And then, we also try to have representation from each one of those areas in the way that we’re kind of housed.

And what I mean by that is, each assistive technology program is housed under either VR or state programs, university settings, or nonprofit organizations. And so, we will even kind of distribute that representation through those three categories as well. So the main thing is it’s the governing body or the representation of the membership that kind of oversees the actual whole membership at-large. And then, of course, the executive director does all the day-to-day stuff and makes all the decisions. We’re just kind of the oversight. Does that sound right, Tobias?

Yeah. I think you covered it well, Rick. It’s that the only other thing, so the board does hire the executive director. We also assist with strategic planning, things like that. And then like Rick said, the fiduciary responsibility to make sure that ATAP’s budget is on track, and that the organization’s healthy and doing well.

Very good. And you kind of mentioned, it’s kind of a finite amount of time. How long do board members serve?

Three year terms, and no more than two consecutive.

Yeah. But there are some situations where one of us have started on the board to fill in for a person that couldn’t fill their term. So you might see some of these in the past and future, people staying longer than six years.

Okay. Yeah.

But that’s not common. Yeah, it’s two three year terms.

Guys, how many people actually make up the ATAP Board?

The board is made up of nine members, equally distributed between the nonprofit type organizations, state agencies, and AT programs located in universities.

Okay, very good. And how are folks kind of elected to the board?

So the membership nominates. Well, like Rick was explaining earlier, so we have equal representation between the nonprofit agencies, the state agencies, and the universities. So as positions open, let’s say, a nonprofit position comes open, we will put that out to the membership. The membership then can nominate a director that oversees a nonprofit. And then at our annual meeting, we have our vote, and the membership votes in our new board members.

And Rick, you are the chairman of the board, I guess. So Frank Sinatra himself. I guess what are some of the special duties of being the chair of the board?

Well, of course run the meetings. And then as the board chair, you do have some kind of duties of, like that fiduciary portion where we’re included on the bank account and making sure that there’s good transition between memberships. I’m sorry, not memberships, between leaderships. So to have another person, another signing person on that. So the chair person might decide to bring a motion to the board or call for special sessions. You know, all the things that a board director would do. I know I had to, during my tenure, find a new executive director. That’s very uncommon.

And so, we kind of had to figure that out. Thank God, I had Tobias and some other great board members to help kind of do that. But ultimately, kind of responsibility came to me to figure out that process, and how we wanted to go out and recruit. And then, of course, decide. And then, grade. I mean, we did it as much from our experiences as we could in doing hiring within our respective needs. And we kind of meld that altogether and did that on a national level. And Tobias, I think it worked really well. I mean, I was happy with it. We got a great executive director out of it. But what do you think about that process?

I think the process went extremely smooth. And like Rick said, having all the board members and their experience to weigh in on the process and the interview questions, the interviews themselves. And just to get their feedback on the candidates was awesome. So yeah, I couldn’t have been happier with the way the process went. And I’m very happy with our new executive director.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, and I’m sure everybody’s got such a vested interest in that kind of position as well, you know? Because ATAP is very important for the AT Acts and all the work that they do for us. So that probably helped a little bit in the decision making, or made it a lot harder. I’m not sure kind of which one that actually would-

Probably both. Probably both.

Yeah, probably a little bit of both. Tobias, you’re the vice chair. So I guess besides filling in if something, God forbid, happens to Rick, what’s some of the responsibilities of the vice chair?

Yeah, so the two main responsibilities as vice chair position is I oversee the nomination’s committee. So slots do come up, we put a committee together. Usually grab a couple directors from different programs. And so that way, in case we don’t get any nominations, then the committee will reach out and talk to some potential candidates to see if they’re interested. And then, I also oversee the bylaw’s committee. So once a year we get together kind of an ad hoc group, and we review the bylaws of ATAP, and make sure that everything is up-to-date and makes sense. And then, we bring those recommendations back to the board for approval.

And I guess what I didn’t mention is that I was vice chair. So typically the way we do it is, when the vice chair is picked, unless they just flat out don’t want it, then they move into the chair position.

Okay.

So I was able to do those very duties that he’s talking about too as well. And during my tenure as vice chair before, we actually did a whole revamp of the bylaw’s committee, so I get both of the great jobs.

Oh, heck. Yeah. Nice, nice. Guys, kind of just for all the other directors out there, all the other kind of folks, what do you see as the advantages of being on the kind of ATAP Board, either for, I don’t know, for ATAP, for the AT Acts, or really just for you, kind of personal growth and those kind of things?

I’d say for myself, Josh. I mean, for me, I’ve got a much better understanding of some of the programs out there. I’ve got to meet other directors I guess more easily than just being an AT director. You know, we get together at the leadership symposium once a year. But being on the board, I found I’ve had a lot more interactions with some of the other directors across the nation. And just being on the board, it’s nice to have a little bit of input into the direction of ATAP and the services ATAP’s bringing back to the AT programs.

And I’ll have to echo that. I mean, before I was on, I really didn’t have a great understanding of… I knew it was an association and I knew that they were an advocacy arm for all the US Tech Act programs, but I didn’t have a great understanding of how much it’s member-driven and how we’re really always focused on that membership and learning from each other. And we’re always doing that. Even like you said, when we’re talking to each other and we’re like, “Oh, this is how you do this in your state. Man, that’s a great idea. I’m going to steal that.” You know? Or whatever, you know? We’re going to take ideas from each other and try to make it a better overall experience in our local area. That’s what I love about it is that we have that, I guess, more exposure to that, you know? Instead of just once a year, we get more opportunities to kind of share information.

Oh, yeah.

And have some insight on what’s going to happen in the future. We’re in an exciting time right now with ATAP. We have a really potential to grow the membership into a really useful and powerful entity for the Assistive Technology Act Programs all over the United States, so.

Awesome. Awesome. Guys, do you have a favorite story or maybe kind of something that’s happened while you’re on the board? Maybe just something that you’d like to share really sticks out for you?

I guess I’ll jump in, Josh. One thing I really like is, so annually all the programs get together at the leadership symposium. But the board goes out a day early, and actually has an in-person board meeting for the whole day. And so, it’s really just fun and exciting to really be in the same room as everybody. The strategic planning. The ideas that get bounced around. It’s a lot different being in person than being on a Zoom meeting. So the two that I’ve been to, I’ve enjoyed that immensely.

Nice.

It’s so funny because when I looked at that question or what I was thinking about on a question like that is, that’s very similar to me is… You know? When we all have the ability to come together face-to-face, those are my most exciting times. Or the things that I think about the most and those little sub-conversations that you have while you’re having the big discussion, and how you can kind of break off into your little areas. But then, still stay within that subject.

It’s hard to do that course on Zoom. And our board is representative across many time zones. So we don’t ever get those opportunities to have a meeting like that because we have someone from Alaska to the East Coast. So yeah, that’s what I love is… And when we all got together this last time, we had a great strategic planning session that just makes me excited for the future.

Nice, nice. I imagine that has to be kind of some of the best. Especially as I’ve told people, I’m going to say new director for at least two more years. But as a kind of newer director, getting to learn from other directors who’ve done it for a while and just… Although our states and territories are so different, I mean, in kind of geography and makeup and population and all that, it seems like a lot of the challenges that we face are very similar. You know, getting the word out, actually having people know we exist, whether we’re the most populous state or the least, reaching people kind of that aren’t in the major metropolitan areas.

I mean, I know I wouldn’t be surprised if there are people within my own agency that have no idea what exactly we do just because it’s just so hard to get everyone to understand it. I’m sure you both kind of work on the government side of agencies. I’m sure there’s folks somewhere in your building probably that may not know exactly what it is you do or kind of how to help. But it’s great to learn what the other acts are doing or how they’re kind of doing it. You can’t think of everything. You can’t do that. And if other people have done it, I don’t know whether it works or not, it’s just great to have those kind of ideas and those kind of things to bring back and be able to share.

I couldn’t agree more.

You guys kind of already answered this a little bit, but just in case I didn’t get it all. Is there anything that you learned since being a part of the board that you either didn’t know or didn’t fully understand before you were there?

I’d say the sheer work that ATAP puts into representing us at the national level.

Yes.

As just a director, not on the board, you get your monthly updates. And here’s what’s going on in Washington, here’s some things coming up. But actually working with the ATAP staff, and Jeannie, and Hunter, and all that. The sheer hours and effort they put into keeping us informed and keeping us at the table is phenomenal.

And I mean, it is evident. If you don’t realize how much work they’re putting in, that means they’re doing their job great, I guess. You know? It’s because they are. That’s the thing that I didn’t realize was how much advocacy is what I would call it, is that how much we had a person. And I don’t know how she was doing it when Audrey was doing both roles as ED and as a policy person. Keeps us in the conversation, keeps the Tech Act programs within the conversations in DC to make sure that people understand how important our programs are and how our return on investment is so important. It’s so big.

I mean, for the little bit of money that the federal government gives the Tech Act programs in each state and territory does twice or more services. And so, you don’t really get that kind of programs in each one of the different kind of mandated programs, but the Tech Act does do that. And so, we have a great person in our policy person that keeps that on that forefront. And that’s what I didn’t realize how much they did. I was like Tobias until I came on the board and how it’s a daily thing. You know?

Yeah. Yeah. I can’t even imagine. I don’t even know if I want to know. I’d probably get a little bit scared. But yeah, I don’t know who’s doing all of that stuff at once. And I like the kind of setup they have and everything now. Well, guys, if our listeners want to find out more, it may be about the ATAP Board of Directors who all’s on there and all that kind of stuff. Is there a place they can do that?

Sure. They can go to the ATAP website. So that’s ataporg, A-T-A-P-O-R-G.O-R-G. And I believe there’s a tab at the top that says ATAP Board. And I think our bios around there, might even be some pictures, Rick, I can’t remember.

We did take pictures, but I’m not sure. I haven’t looked, to be honest.

Man, you didn’t even go check out your own picture. Come on. You guys got to do that.

Well, you know? I’m telling you. The ATAP staff, they keep things on board. We don’t have to oversight them that much, you know?

Isn’t that nice? That does make it a lot better. And guys, also, since we kind of talked a little bit about your respective AT Act programs, is there a way our listeners could learn more about the programs in Arkansas and Nebraska?

Absolutely. I mean, they could go through the AT3, which is the AT3centers.net. Is that right, Tobias?

Sounds right. Hold on. [inaudible 00:24:24].

AT3center.net, I believe. Anyway, that’s the arm of ATAP or the Assistive Technology Partners. Technical assistance.

Technical assistance. There you go.

Technical assistance. So sorry. And what they are in charge of doing is telling everything about what the Tech Act programs do, including trainings and technical assistance. They have a directory of all the states participating, which they’re all of them and the territories and how to contact them, their websites, or by email, or by phone in their directory.

Nice, nice. And listeners, just to let you know, AT3 folks from that center will be here next week to tell us even more about their kind of amazing stuff, but yeah.

I’m sure they’ll be a little more articulate than me too. They can tell you better.

That’s fine. Hey, you set the stage. You set it up. They’ll knock it down. So that’s absolutely perfect. Well…

It is AT, and then the letter, I mean, the number three, and then center.net by the way.

Rick, we just set the bar really low. And then-

Yes.

… the AT center is just going to knock it out of the park.

They could just go.

You guys did great. Now, come on. Don’t sell yourself short. Well, Rick, Tobias, thank you so much for coming on, for telling us about the ATAP Board, the lessons learned, and everything else. Like I said, my goal these kind of three weeks is to really just explain, not just how all these things work, but how they work in concert, just how important they are to really help all of us out in the AT Acts and the services that we’re able to provide. So thank you so much for what you do. Thank you so much for coming on.

Thanks for having us, Josh.

Absolutely. No problem. That’s great.

Do you have a question about assistive technology? Do you have a suggestion for someone we should interview on Assistive Technology Update? If so, call our listener line at (317) 721-7124. Send us an email at tech@eastersealscrossroads.org. Or shoot us a note on Twitter @INDATAproject.

Our captions and transcripts for the show are sponsored by the Indiana Telephone Relay Access Corporation or InTRAC. You can find out more about InTRAC at relayindiana.com.

A special thanks to Nicole Prieto for scheduling our amazing guests and making a mess of my schedule. Today’s show was produced, edited, hosted, and fraught over by yours truly.

The opinions expressed by our guests are their own and may or may not reflect those of the INDATA Project Easterseals Crossroads, our supporting partners, or this host.

This was your Assistive Technology Update. And I’m Josh Anderson with the INDATA Project at Easterseals Crossroads in beautiful Indianapolis, Indiana. We look forward to seeing you next time. Bye-bye.