Philadelphia Artist's Hearing Loss Inspires Her Wearable Sculptures
Artist Rea Rossi displays a piece called "Cilia" she hopes will bring awareness to the experience of hearing loss.
Rea Rossi is no stranger to technology. Born with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, she was using hearing aids by the age of three months. Today, Rea credits assistive technology with allowing her to better understand the world around her. Hearing aids clarify sounds that would otherwise be muffled and difficult to understand, closed captions make TV and movies accessible, and cutting-edge technology like Bluetooth streams phone calls, music, and other audio directly to her hearing aids to make everything from working in the studio with her music on to connecting with friends over the phone easier.

From a young age, Rea learned to self-advocate as the only deaf student in her school. She also discovered a passion for art. These two parts of her life ran parallel to each other for years. It wasn't until she began her major in Jewelry and Metal Design at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), and took classes through RIT's National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID), that they began to intertwine.

 Continue reading about Rea's experiences with Art and Hearing Loss...

Visit our Programs Page to learn more about how we can help you get the assistive technology you want.
Everett at age 19 with his team_ the Fightin_ Scotts_ at Edinboro University.
Everett at age 19 with his team, the Fightin' Scotts, at Edinboro University.
Adaptive Sports Provide a Lifetime of Competition and Community

Everett Deibler was 8 years old when he saw his first wheelchair basketball game at a school in Lebanon County, PA. An avid sports lover, he was instantly drawn to the competitive nature of the sport and became eager to get involved.

His passion and interest in the sport led his mother, Chris Deller, to push for the establishment of a wheelchair basketball team in his community. It wasn't until they started competing that Everett discovered other players were using sport wheelchairs instead of playing in their everyday chairs. He soon found that it could cost anywhere from $2,000-$4,000 to purchase one. Unaware of any resources to pay for the sports chairs, their local team began to host fundraising events so they could put money towards new sports chairs for the team.

Continue reading about Adaptive Sports...

Learn how we can help you get the adaptive sports equipment you want here.
Screenshot of homepage of www.patf.us.

Check Out Our New Website, Our New Look!

Our fresh, new look is not only pleasing to the eye (if we do say so ourselves), it is also more user-friendly than ever before, and of course it is fully accessible. We're excited to continue to provide information about our programs, helpful resources related to assistive technology and funding, and informative blog posts about assistive technology, financial education and more, on our new site.

  Experience our new website here.
Penny Pincher
Financial Tips with Penny Pincher
10 Best Money Tips for College Freshmen
From Forbes, Article by Robert Farrington

With college starting for freshmen across the country, now is also the time to be thinking about money. Why? Because for many freshmen, this will really be their first time handling money on their own. They will have to pay bills, handle budgets, find a bank, and be faced with choices around credit cards and insurance.

It's important that parents prepare their college freshmen for these money choices, just like they would prepare them for other life decisions.
 
Upcoming Events
 
Carbon County Senior Expo
Jim Thorpe, PA - September 8 from 10am-1pm
Join us at Jim Thorpe Memorial Hall (101 East Tenth Street, Jim Thorpe, PA) for the 2016 Carbon County Senior Expo, where senior citizens and their families will have the opportunity to learn more about services and programs available to them.

Allison Park, PA - September 16 from 10am-1pm
The Expo is free and will feature a variety of informational booths geared toward senior citizens and their family and caregivers. Exhibitors range from state and federal agencies to local non-profit organizations that provide services affecting the health, safety and welfare of senior citizens.
AmazonSmile: You shop. Amazon gives.
Support PATF While You Shop

Don't forget, if you're shopping on Amazon, log in through AmazonSmile and choose PATF as your charity to support using this link: http://smile.amazon.com/ch/23-2953796. It operates the same as Amazon.com and a portion of every purchase you make will be donated to our programs.

There are lots of ways to support PATF's work. Learn more about how you can help us carry out our mission.
STAY CONNECTED:
1004 West 9th Avenue, King of Prussia, PA 19406 | 888.744.1938 | [email protected] | www.patf.us