WARWICK – TechAccess of Rhode Island, a nonprofit organization formed to provide disabled persons with assistive technology services, will hold a series of workshops in March and April to teach how modern devices and software can help disabled persons perform tasks that might otherwise be difficult or impossible.
Founded in 1991, TechAccess is the central information, resource and demonstration site for the Rhode Island Assistive Technology Access Partnership, a statewide coalition formed under the Rhode Island Tech Act of assistive technology organizations.
The Assistive Technology Access Partnership’s main initiatives include assistive technology device demonstrations, device loans, device reuse, and training and public awareness. Its members include the Adaptive Telephone Equipment Loan Program, the East Bay Educational Collaborative, the Ocean State Center for Independent Living, the PARI Independent Living Center and TechAccess of Rhode Island.
TechAccess offers information on all types of assistive technology – which includes low-cost, low-tech devices such as pencil grips and adapted rulers as well as expensive, high-tech devices like an iPad – and also houses an on-site adapted computer lab for people of all ages and disabilities.
All assistive technology workshops will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. and will take place at TechAccess offices at 110 Jefferson Boulevard in Warwick. The cost of attendance for each workshop is $40. For more information or to pre-register, call (401) 463-0202 or visit http://www.techaccess-ri.org/workshops.
- Monday, March 10: GoTalk Now app
- Thursday, March 13: Tablet Technology: The Surface and the Nexus 7
- Wednesday, March 19: Best Therapy Apps
- Thursday, March 20: Using the iPad to Support Struggling Writers
- Wednesday, April 2: Switch Use for the iPad
- Tuesday, April 8: Chromebooks as Assistive Technology
- Thursday, April 10: ProloQuo2Go 3.0
In addition, a special workshop will be held on Friday, March 28, entitled “Assistive Technology Solutions in Minutes – Using Ordinary Items to Create Extraordinary Solutions.” This session will include hands-on training in how to fashion more than 50 adaptations of assistive technology for use on a wheelchair, bed, car, crib or table.
The special workshop session will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the New England Institute of Technology’s East Greenwich Campus at 1 New England Tech Blvd.
