Resources for Obtaining Adaptive/Accessibility Technologies
Federal Legislation, roles, and responsibilities:
This is a government website that deals with No Child Left Behind. It is also
part of the U.S. Department of Education. The U.S. Department of Education is
the agency of the federal government that establishes policy for, administers,
and coordinates most federal assistance to education. This website provides
resources for students, parents, teachers, and administrators.
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
This is part of the U.S. Department of Education
website that deals with IDEA. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA) is a law ensuring services to children with disabilities throughout the
nation. IDEA governs how states and public agencies provide early intervention,
special education and related services to more than 6.5 million eligible
infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities. This website allows you
to view the different laws for various age groups from birth to 21 years of age.
Section 508 was enacted to eliminate barriers in
information technology, to make available new opportunities for people with
disabilities, and to encourage development of technologies that will help
achieve these goals. There are many links from this website for you to learn
more about the law and accessible and adaptive technologies.
DisabilityInfo.gov
This website is run by the Federal Government to
connect people to disability related information and resources. It is a
collaboration by many federal agencies to put together all the resources on one
webpage. People with disabilities can find information on education, housing,
health, technology, and much more.
State legislation, roles, and responsibilities:
Commission on Quality of Care and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities
The CQCAPD promotes the inclusion of people with disabilities in all aspects of
community life; ensures programmatic and fiscal accountability in the State's
mental hygiene system; provides individual and systemic investigative and
advocacy services; advances the availability and use of assistive technology for
persons with disabilities; and offers impartial and informed advice, training
and recommendations on disability issues.
New York State Learning Standards
This website contains all the learning standards for
New York State. There is also a place to find different resources for
Individuals with Disabilities. This is a great website for teacher's to use for
many resources.
Office of Temporary and Disability
Assistance
This website offers assistance and support to eligible families and individuals.
OTDA provides temporary cash assistance, provides assistance in paying for food,
provides heating assistance, oversees New York State's child support enforcement
program; determines certain aspects of eligibility for Social Security
Disability benefits; supervises homeless housing and services programs, and
provides assistance to certain immigrant populations. This website offers a lot
of information about programs and services and how to apply for those services.
It is also available in many languages.
Vocational and Educational Services for
Individuals with Disabilities
VESID's mission is to promote educational equity and excellence for students
with disabilities. They aim to ensure the rights and protection individuals with
disabilities are entitled to. On this website, people can find information on
special education, specialty schools, lifelong services, and job opportunities.
Local Legislation, roles, and responsibilities:
The Wayne County ARC offers a variety of services to
meet the needs of people with disabilities and their families. This website
offers information on the many services provided at Wayne ARC and also
employment and volunteer opportunities.
Wayne-Finger Lakes BOCES
Wayne-Finger Lakes BOCES is an organization which provides quality education
services and programs for 25 school districts and residents of Wayne, Ontario,
Seneca and Yates counties. BOCES enriches education through computer services,
occupation training, and special education programs. It provides workshops for
professional development and community programs.
Assistive Technology
Services
MCISD recognized that assistive technology can
eliminate barriers and enable students with impairments to be participating and
contributing members of society. They accept the responsibility, in partnership
with students, parents, and relevant community agencies, to provide assistive
technology services, when appropriate, as a tool to facilitate the achievement
of education goals. This website offers a loan library where many different
types of technologies can be loaned out to anyone to help someone participate
and become a contributing member in society.
Families Together in New York State
Families Together in New York State is a non-profit, family-run organization
that strives to establish a unified voice for children and youth with emotional,
behavioral, and social challenges. Their mission is to ensure that every family
has access to needed information, support, and services.
Community Resources (agencies, tools, etc.) :
Advocacy Center
The Advocacy Center provides consumer-driven
services to support people with disabilities and their families in achieving
their goals. The Advocacy Center is a non-profit organization located in New
York State that educates, supports, and advocated with people who have
disabilities, their families, and circles of support. This center believes that
people with disabilities should experience educational and vocational success,
successful transition to life after high school, meaningful relationships,
freedom to pursue individual goals, access to financial resources, meaningful
employment, and access to all areas of the community.
Exceptional Family Resources (EFR) partners with
individuals with disabilities and their families, providing services,
information, advocacy and other supports to enhance lives and foster community
acceptance. Exceptional Family Resources will work with families to gain
accessible and adaptive technology that will help to achieve their goals.
The Center for Disability Rights (CDR) is a not-for-profit, community-based
advocacy and service organization for people with all types of disabilities. CDR
believes in working for the full integration, independence, and civil rights of
people with disabilities. This website offers help with employment,
registration, memberships, services, and advocacy.
Emerging Technologies:
RehabTool.com
RehabTool.com offers a variety of high-tech
assistive and adaptive technology products, augmentative and alternative
communication devices, computer access equipment, multilingual speech synthesis
and voice recognition software. The specialize in computer adaptations and build
custom software solutions for children and adults with disabilities.
eSchool News
This website is completely dedicated to technology
in education. It talks about all the ways technology can be included in a
classroom and has news articles on real teachers who have implemented this
technology into their own classrooms. There is also a Ed-Tech Insiders portion
that focuses on new and emerging technology that is affecting the education
world as we speak.
Ability Hub
This website will direct you to adaptive equipment
and alternative methods available for accessing computers. This helps to find
Assistive Technology for people with a disability who find operating a computer
difficult, maybe even impossible.
Support Groups/Advocacy:
Council for
Exceptional Children
This site provides information on the
largest international organization dedicated to improving the education for
individual with exceptionalities. The CEC serves as an advocate for children
with disabilities that are not receiving the services they deserve. It also
provides professional development and resources to help people seeking
information about available and appropriate services for exceptional children.
Special Child: For Parents and
Caregivers for Children With Special Needs
This website is an online support
network dedicated to parents of children with special needs. It promote
disability awareness and also highlights a special child each month. Special
Child is provided by the Resource Foundation for Children with Challenges. It
talks about how to deal with family issues and has a listing of success and
horror stories. It has an excellent page that gives tips from other parents on
different strategies to use to handle life while having a child with
exceptionalities.
Our- Kids
Our-kids is a support group for parents devoted to
raising Special Kids with Special Needs. The website has over 800 parents,
caregivers, and others who are working with children with special needs that
represent varying diagnosis. On the website people can share their stories and
gain support and inspiration from others.
Training:
Sylvan Learning Center
Sylvan Learning Center has been around for
more than 25 years helping millions of students learn to read, write, calculate,
and organize. It is a great resource for students with special needs to gain the
added attention to personal needs they may require. Sylvan has a proven track
record for success. Individualized tutors help students with positive
reinforcement and help students to achieve their goals.
Assistive Technology Training Online Project
The Assistive Technology Training Online Project (ATTO) provides information on
AT applications that help students with disabilities learn in elementary
classrooms. It outlines the basics of assistive technology and provides
tutorials on how to use some software and hardware programs.
Adaptive Hardware and Software:
Software Brief- Dragon Naturally Speaking
Hardware Brief- iGesture Pad
Hardware Brief- iSight
Virtual Hardware Brief- Ken-a-vision gooseneck camera
Back