April 2023

Accessible Times

The official newsletter of the

Utah Assistive Technology Program (UATP)

Shawnie needed UATP to help her with grabbing things that were out of reach.

Click above to see video of Shawnie using her newly created, custom-built electric grabber from UATP.

Assistive Technology in action

Shawnie has low grip strength due to muscular dystrophy. She asked UATP to design something so she could grab items that had fallen out of her wheelchair. UATP created an electric grabber. She can now grab items which were previously out of reach.

UATP Welcomes Journalist, Social Media Expert to the Team

Utah Assistive Technology Program (UATP) has a new Social Media Outreach Assistant to help Utahns discover the many resources and services available to help them become or remain independent in their lives.

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Small grant fuels big dreams in tech development for wheelchair users

Dan O’Crowley had both physical and cost barriers in mind when he began a project to develop a device that would combine the health and accessibility benefits of a walking exoskeleton with the energy-conscious, battery-saving benefits of a wheelchair.

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We will give you lots of good ideas to help you imagine Assistive Technology in your life or the life of a loved one! Add us to your social feed.

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How to make a child therapy chair

ATP's, PT's, and OT's working with children with physical disabilities often need an appropriate seating system to provide support to enable the kiddo to engage with their environment and participate in strengthening exercises. In the past we measured each child and built it, usually out of Tri Wall, to their size to ensure a good fit. The benefits of this new design is the chair is more durable/easier to clean than Tri Wall, and is adjustable. Written and video instructions are available!

Photo Essay: Not Left Behind via Utah State Alumni Magazine

UATP serves Utahns statewide. Logan’s staff members use tools, volunteers, experience, and innovation to create custom-made and affordable devices for people seeking to keep or improve their independence.

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What is Assistive Technology?

Assistive Technology built into your cell phone. Found under Accessibility

Technology has enormous potential to improve the lives of people with disabilities, and yet information technology can be a terrible barrier if it is not designed to be accessible. Here are some resources dedicated to helping web developers—and the average person—make sure their communication can be received by all.

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Project Relate helps with speech

Shawnie's entire life, she’s experienced frustration trying to verbally connect with people. She found a speech translate app (Project Relate) to help her now have interactions like this — where she told a reporter she had a pretty smile!

She found the free app in beta testing on the Google Play Store a month ago and said using it has been “like being on cloud 9!"

Now Available: YouTube videos en Español

UATP has created a Spanish language playlist on our YouTube channel! We have also translated four of our most popular videos and added them to the list: How to build a therapeutic trike, How to adjust brakes on a Rollator walker, LAMP words for life, and a demonstration of the Lyriq device for the Blind.