Wearable AT for Navigation!
By Jen Mullins, BS, CTRS, MATP Staff In a previous AT blog post, I shared that I have a disability that impacts my ability to navigate. When I walk, bike, drive, etc., without my GPS, I can’t work out where I am or how I need to get where I need to go. More than…
Read More“I didn’t quite catch that. Can you repeat it?” -Siri on iPhone
By Jen Mullins, BS, CTRS, MATP Staff Voice Assistants (VAs) are software that has been programmed to listen to users and (hopefully) perform resulting actions. “Users can ask their [voice] assistants questions, control home automation devices and media playback via voice, and manage other basic tasks such as email, to-do lists, and calendars with verbal…
Read MoreYay for Bidets!!!
By Aimee Sterk, LMSW, MATP Staff My friend, Joe Stramondo, is a great many number of things, a dad, a philosopher and professor, a disability justice activist, and he is a champion of bidets, spreading word near and far of just how awesome they are. According to Joe, “Self-reliance when using the toilet is generally…
Read MoreDisabled And Here
By Jen Mullins, BS, CTRS, MATP Staff One of the most engaging aspects of my job is marketing! I am a storyteller by nature and so I enjoy listening to others tell their stories and crafting my own narratives. A well told story can bring people together by sharing about a specific cause and/or increasing…
Read MorePumpkins, Pirates and Pride: AT and Halloween
by Laura Hall, MATP Staff Member Each year around this time, I write a blog about Haloween costumes that incorporate a person’s assistive technology. It’s one of my favorite posts of the year, which is interesting because Halloween has never really been my favorite holiday. When I was a kid, I always found that choosing…
Read MoreDIY Light Up Cane!
By Jen Mullins, BS, CTRS, MATP Staff Recently, I got to meet and talk with Alisa Grishman of Access Mob Pittsburgh (AMP). Alisa is the inventor of the “Light Up Cane”; although she says that she’s not an inventor and just “had a good idea”. Sure sounds like an inventor to me! The Light Up…
Read MoreInterdependence
By Paul Miller, Community Inclusion Specialist, MDRC Independence is something we strive for as we grow up, but as an adult I have grown to understand that interdependence is a more accurate view of life. Interdependence is a concept explained best by saying that our independence relies on the help of others. My Dad passed…
Read MoreMATP in Marquette: James’ Story
James works at Pathways in Marquette doing janitorial work and at times needs to communicate with his employer or even the bus driver who brings him to work. Due to his many disabilities, one of them being extreme hearing loss, James has a very hard time communicating clearly with others. His mom, Judy, is usually…
Read MoreAssistive Technology for Kids who Experienced Trauma
By Aimee Sterk, LMSW, MATP Staff I’m working on a trauma certificate and recently attended a symposium on Somatic Experience therapy for children who have experienced trauma. The presenter, Maggie Kline, LMFT, explained that for young children (birth to 18 months) who experience trauma, the body holds the memory and that therapy needs to focus…
Read MoreVeterans and AT for PTSD
By Aimee Sterk, LMSW, MATP Program Staff In June I was paging through my copy of Woman’s Day Magazine and was impressed with an article on Veterans and AT use: How My Veteran Husband Copes with His War Injuries . The focus is on caregivers/family/friends of veterans’ views and support, but the AT used is…
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