May 2012 Highlights

PROJECT WIDE NEWS

Save the Date - Employment Summit and Two Project Directors Meetings - Bethesda, Maryland May 6-9, 2013
Three meetings are planned for the spring of 2013 for AT Act Entities. The Catalyst Project will host an Employment Summit May 8-9, 2013 for all AT Act Entities at the Bethesda, Maryland Hyatt Regency. Two Project Director Meetings will be conducted in conjunction with the Summit. ATAP and the Catalyst Project will co-host a Statewide AT Program Directors May 6-7, 2013. In addition, there will be a Financial Loan Best Practices Institute May 7, 2013 for AFP/Telework/Title 1 loan program staff. The RESNA Catalyst Project has been working with an Employment Summit Planning Committee, the Catalyst Steering Committee Subgroup for Statewide AT Programs and the Subgroup for AFP/Telework Programs to plan the three meetings. So mark your calendars now and stay tuned for details. If you have ideas for any of these meetings, please contact Nancy Meidenbauer at nmeidenbauer@resna.org.

ATIA Archive Webinar Seats Still Available
There are still plenty of seats available for ATIA archived webinars.  The Catalyst Project purchased a combination of live and archived seats of ATIA’s public for-fee online education programs so that AT Act Entity program staff and regional partners could attend the webinars free.  There are very few live sears available.  However, we still have plenty of seats available for Archived ATIA webinars.  Anyone wishing to attend one of the ATIA webinars free needs to have a special code.  The code and more details on the free program are available in the grantees only section of the Catalyst website at http://www.atia.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3931  Contact Nancy Meidenbauer if you have any questions at nmeidenbauer@resna.org.

WebEd Webinar 2012: GMU02: Conducting Distance Demonstrations - Thursday June 7, 2012, 1:00-2:30p.m. Eastern
This session will provide an overview of conducting AT demonstrations and assessments remotely using distance education technology. Presenters will provide an overview of synchronous technology tools (such as Skype) as well as discuss the benefits and challenges of conducting remote demonstrations based on their experiences in the field. Participants will have an opportunity to ask questions and share their experiences. The presenters will be Peggy Shireley, AT Coordinator with the North Dakota Statewide AT Program (IPAT) and Marci Kinas Jerome, Assistant Professor in Special Education and Assistive Technology at George Mason University. To register and to receive more information, go to http://www.resnaprojects.org/statewide/webed.html.

Archive information on past WebEd Webinars is available at http://www.resnaprojects.org/statewide/webedarchive.html.

AT for Employment Work Group Call – May 24, 2012
The Work Group talked about the construction of the Employer Web Portal, and discussed statewide AT Act programs contracting with their state Vocational Rehabilitation agency. MP3 and call notes from this call will soon be available in the Employment Hub at http://www.resnaprojects.org/crossprograms/employment/index.html. If you have resources that you wish to share for the Employer Portal or for the Employment Hub as a whole, contact Paul Galonsky at pgalonsky@resna.org.

STATEWIDE AT PROGRAMS

New Members Join RESNA Catalyst Project Steering Committee – Statewide Subgroup
Two new members have been added to the RESNA Catalyst Project Steering Committee.  Welcome to Amber Fulcher, Project Director of the Vermont AT Program and Anne Blackfield, Executive Director of the Maryland TAP Program.

Statewide AT Program New Directors Call-Thursday, June 14, 3:00 p.m. Eastern
The New Directors call takes place every other month. This upcoming call will allow new directors to discuss issues they are currently facing. To join the call, dial 800-351-6810, and use pass code: 46172076 #.

Sign up for Purchasing Work Group
If you have not submitted your registration information to Jason Luciano to participate in the on-line Device Purchasing Work Group, please do so now. Contact Jason at jluciano@resna.org. This website should be live in June and an announcement will be sent out when it is operating.

PAAT PROGRAMS

Teleconference Training: “Overcoming Medicaid’s Most Common Reasons for Saying No to Durable Medical Equipment Requests: Turning a No Into a Yes” June 28^th, 2:00 to 3:45p.m. Eastern
Diana Straube and Jim Sheldon of the National AT Advocacy Project will be presenting. This session has been approved for 1.5 hours of continuing legal education (CLE) credits through the State of Louisiana (check your state rules for reciprocity). NOTE: $35 registration fee per phone line (covers two CLE certificates; $10 per CLE after that). Registration for this teleconference training will be posted on the National AT list serv, or you can obtain registration through Lynn Urquhart (lurqhart@nls.org).

Save the date (July 26^th) for the final session in this series titled “Practical Ethics: When Can You Withdraw from Hearing or Court Case? When Can You Settle for Less Than Prayer for Relief?”

Registration Now Open! 16^th Annual “Bridges to Better Advocacy” Conference – October 23-25, 2012
The Annual “Bridges to Better Advocacy” Conference will once again be held at the Hilton Garden Inn in Austin, TX. This year’s conference will include a one day preconference focusing on Medicaid and Complex Mobility Equipment, and two-day conference with workshop topics including “The Journey of Shelby Nurse: Getting the Right AT During the Transition Years and Meeting the Challenge of Funding It,” “Structured Negotiations: An Alternative to Litigation to Achieve Systemic Changes Related to AT,” and “Medicaid and Private Insurance: Keeping Up with and Meeting the Challenges.

Conference flyers/registration forms are available through Lynn Urquhart, lurquhart@nls.org, and will soon appear on www.nls.org. Sign up by July 13^th for Super Early Bird rates!

22 postings are now available at http://www.nls.org/did%20you%20know.htm. Coming soon: Coming soon: National AT Advocacy Project’s Resources Can Support Your AT Advocacy.

ALTERNATIVE FINANCING AND TELEWORK LOAN PROGRAMS

Welcome to New Directors
Three new loan Program Directors have recently been named. Tiffany Hewett is the new person heading the South Carolina AT and Telework Loan Programs. Her contact information is thewett@alliedinc.net; phone number is (803) 896-6112. Larry Maestes is the new Telework Loan Program Director for New Mexico. He can be reached at maestaslarrylar@comcast.net. Finally, Melanie Quinton is heading up Florida’s AFP and Telework Programs. Her email is mquinton@2faast.org; phone number is (850) 487-3278 x107. Welcome to all three. We look forward to working with you!

Teleconference Series – Application Red Flags: Low Credit scores and how to address them in an application – May 9^th 2012
Milissa Gofourth from Oklahoma and Cheryl Fatnassi from Vermont discussed how their programs address the red flag issue of low credit scores, and other credit report problems. The call was recorded and can be found on the RESNA Catalyst website at http://www.resnaprojects.org/afp/teleconf/index.html.

Teleconference Series – Asset Development: Financial Literacy Curricula your Loan Program – May 30^th 2012
Basil Kesslar and Lorna Moore from Kansas, and Ferol Smith from Massachusetts presented this second call in the Asset Development teleconference series, focusing on how each program incorporates financial literacy curricula into their respective programs. The call was recorded and will soon be archived on the RESNA Catalyst at http://www.resnaprojects.org/afp/teleconf/index.html.

Telework Program New Directors Series
The RESNA Catalyst Project will again sponsor a Loan Program New Directors series, focusing on Telework Loan Programs. New Directors will be invited to attend. If you are not a new director, but would like to participate anyway, please contact Jason at jluciano@resna.org for more information.

Data Collection Work Group
The Data Collection for AFP Work Group will have another meeting in June (to be determined). Please contact Jason at jluciano@resna.org if you want to participate in this group. The Work Group is looking at how to best gather data that tells the story of all of the work the programs.

OTHER RESOURCES

RESNA 2012 Conference in Baltimore - June 28 - July 3, 2012
Join us in Baltimore, Maryland for RESNA's annual conference. Sessions include presentations by several AT Act Programs. To see the preliminary program, go to http://web.resna.org/conference/2012-conference-documents/RESNAprelimprogram.PDF.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Hosts Accessibility Clearing House
This FCC website is designed to help people with disabilities keep up with the communications revolution.  There are good resources for mobile apps, service providers, hardware, software, fact sheets, directories of organizations, and resources.  The Statewide AT Programs are all listed in the "Programs and Initiatives" section. To learn more, visit http://apps.fcc.gov/accessibilityclearinghouse/index.html. 

Labor Department Announces Disability Employment App Challenge - Deadline August 23, 2012
The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) has launched its first disability-related application challenge. The goal of the "app challenge" is to create innovative tools to improve job opportunities for people with disabilities. ODEP is looking for apps that help employers find job seekers with disabilities provide skill-building and job training tools, increase transportation options and improve the accessibility of communication technology. Awards with cash prizes totaling $10,000 will be given to the top three submissions. Register for the contest by creating an account. Submission deadline is August 23, 2012. Visit Disability.gov for job search and career planning tools, as well as information about recruiting and hiring people with disabilities.

New AT Radio & Podcasts in Indiana
INDATA has launched an internet radio station. AssistiveTechnologyRadio.com broadcasts 24/7 and includes a wide variety of AT programs.  Programs include INDATA’s two podcasts as well as various AT training sessions. To view and listen to the growing list of episodes, visit: http://www.eastersealstech.com/content.aspx?pId=492.

INDATA will include audio content from other AT projects. To submit radio content or to learn more about INDATA's AT radio and podcasts contact Wade Wingler at wwingler@eastersealscrossroads.org.