Wednesday, April 07, 1999
Technology center will help people with disabilities
BY RAY SCHAEFER
Enquirer Contributor
FORT MITCHELL — People with disabilities and their families from all over the Tristate will now be able to test various kinds of communications equipment before buying.
Redwood Rehabilitation Center on Orphanage Road and the Cincinnati Association for the Blind have worked for a year to open Redwood's Assistive Technology Center.
Redwood helps children and adults with disabilities use technology to live more independent lives. Organizers say the center will be the only technology lending library in the area that serves people of all ages with any degree or type of disability.
“We've had these services all along,” said Kim Harris, Redwood's public relations specialist and public events coordinator. “Now we're opening them to the community.”
Some of the equipment available includes communication devices, adapted toys, environmental controls and switches, computer peripherals for adapted access, as well as resource books and videos.
“This is a place where families can learn about new developments in the field and improve the quality of their lives through technology,” said Barbara Howard, Redwood's executive director.
Redwood has also joined the Kentucky Assistive Technology Service Network (KATS), an organization with offices in Louisville, Lexington, Corbin, Murray and Thelma, a town near Paintsville in Eastern Kentucky.
Deb Case, who coordinates Redwood's center, said Tuesday being part of the KATS Network will allow her to borrow resources from elsewhere. She said a family here can borrow something for up to four weeks at reasonable rates to see if it works for a disabled person, or try various computer software packages at the center.
Tuesday, John Brolley of Erlanger and his 8-year-old daughter Maria checked out a device that allows Maria to converse in complete sentences by touching a computer screen.
“The new center will do for a lot of children what Redwood did for Maria,” Mr. Brolley said. “Administratively, it puts everything in one place.”
No shortage of opinions on stadium
Net predator gets jail time, probation
Cincinnati Public Schools struggle to graduate freshmen
Church schools violate codes
Exercise plan for kids costly, critics say
Ex-Chiquita lawyer sought revenge, prosecutors say
Exhibit offers glimpse of future
N.Ky. area code may be split
Arson fires hit 2 middle schools
Cameras 'watch' school halls
Ohio romance writers rendezvous in Sharonville
Tooth decay and the soda factor
'ER' actress dreams about having it all
Author connects to aging parents
CCM to raise curtain on new space, offers free shows
The CCM 'campus village'
Bishop tells jail inmates: 'God is here'
Condos to be built in Monroe
Court: Miami must allow mentally disabled workers
Dispute between dispatchers, county reaches board
Families struggle despite working parent
Kenton commission nears jail decision
Kids, adults to formulate battle plan for drug war
Middletown picks mall liaisons
Part of road closes to stop erosion, slide
Probe continues into hot-tub shooting
Talawanda considers tax, bond issue
Technology center will help people with disabilities
TRISTATE DIGEST
Two firefighters die in Boone National Forest blaze
Warren to promote full returns in census
Wyoming building new water plant
