Wrapping up my email interview series with IndependenceFirst, the last questions delve into assistive technologies – what IndependenceFirst have to offer as well as experiences that disabled users have using them. We also cover a little bit about their social media presence.

Q: Do you provide usage, renting, etcetera of computer assistive technologies such as screen readers or refreshable Braille?

A: We have open lab times where people who require assistive devices have internet access with our devices in our labs or just develop proficiencies with a computer and the internet, we have a Try-A-Gadget Lab which allows people to investigate Assistive Technology (AT) options for work or home use e.g. environmental controls, telecommunications, voice communications and more…as well as low tech options e.g. adaptive gardening devices, adaptive feeding equipment, memory/communications boards, etc. before they would purchase an item for their own use.

We lend equipment to some people to try in their work or home environments for up to a week if they want to do that as well. We are the only Microsoft Accessibility Resource Center in WI and we have expertise with their products and built in features. We do have adaptive computer inputs, screen readers, voice activated controls and many devices–over 700 in there! We will lend hardware, but not software or computers themselves.

Q: Can you share some of the experiences — both positive and negative — that people using such technologies routinely encounter?

A:
Positive experiences: A man who is quadriplegic received a computer through our Computer Recycling Program, says it’s now his lifeline to go to school online, find info about his disability, coordinate his transportation and trips out to local businesses, keep in touch with friends. That story was featured on Fox 6 News.

A lot of people with disabilities who have received computers through our program have felt like it has opened doors to them that they didn’t feel were possible due to their financial limitations. Positives are also just the doors that AT can open. Technology can be the means of achieving mobility, communication, employment, etc for people who have barriers.

We often hear people saying “I never knew that there was a way that I could do that.” Sometimes the experience is so emotional they cry. It always touches us when that happens, because to us it means that the door opened by technology really means a lot.

Negative experiences: Our Deaf staff and consumers cannot watch videos online nearly 100% of the time. No captioning. No text version of the audio on the videos. Not good. Negative experiences people may encounter include incompatibility issues because computer operating systems evolve before software and hardware adaptations do. Another issue is lack of local resources. AT is a relatively small market, so it is not always possible to comparison shop close to home. One of the biggest issues for technology users is lack of unbiased information. There is a lot of slick marketing out there, and people are often convinced that they need a particular product when something else might be a better fit. There is also a misconception that people who sell products for people with disabilities are all nice people who have their customer’s best interest at heart. Vendors are business people who are trying to make a profit. Some are good, some are pushy, some lie. Good consumer skills are essential when buying AT, but people often assume the vendor is trustworthy because he is helping people with disabilities.

Q: You have been active for some time on Twitter via @Independence1st, and now have almost 700 followers (edit: now past 700!). How has this experience been for you?

A: Twitter is a great way for us to create conversation around access and disability topics, cultivate relationships with potential and current consumers, donors and volunteers; as well as open people’s minds to inclusion around topics of independent living, housing, employment, aging in place and access among other issues. It’s another advocacy, marketing and customer service tool.

It also helps people to get their questions answered in real time and generate a wider network of contacts around the issues (around the world!) and build our brand. If there’s a hot topic, the viral nature of Twitter can really help to raise awareness for us and the issues which ultimately can change the world in a positive way for people with disabilities.

Special thanks, again, to Carol Voss of IndependenceFirst for all of her wonderful answers. I hope those of you reading this have gained as much insight about all the wonderful things that IndependenceFirst do as I have.

More about IndependenceFirst:

• IndependenceFirst web site
• IndependenceFirst Facebook fan page
• IndependenceFirst Twitter profile

Tags: assistive technology, disability, facebook, Independence1st, IndependenceFIRST, metro milwaukee, milwaukee, SEWCIL, Social Media, southeastern wisconsin, Southeastern Wisconsin Center for Independent Living, twitter

In my previous post IndependenceFirst Interview – Part 1 of 3, IndependenceFirst shared their overall mission, core values and success stories for each one.

In the next series of questions, we discussed disabled people’s usage of the Internet, and how it compares and contrasts from how non-disabled people use it.

Q: What experiences do you have in working with disabled individuals that are using the Internet?

A: People with disabilities are not on the internet as much as they could be–that’s partially why we started our Computer Recycling Program–to provide recycled computers and computer training for people with disabilities who can’t otherwise afford one.

Computer skills and internet research are taken for granted by many people without disabilities. To level the playing field on a fixed income, people with disabilities need to gain those skills to be more employable, get their information quicker, develop personal relationships through social networking, etc. Much like people who don’t have disabilities, once people with disabilities get comfortable with the internet and all there is there, they get more active with it.

Many people with disabilities also find that there are fewer barriers on the internet than in the community if they have physical disabilities. People on the internet can’t tell if you have a disability unless you disclose that–there is no “first impression” or “stereotyping” that happens in an email or on social media related to disability.

The internet can be community-building as well–around advocacy issues if physical meetings can’t take place and people with disabilities may be able to communicate with others who have similar disabilities or more readily gain information about their disability or medical conditions on the internet. I’ve heard good things about online order forms e.g. ordering a pizza or sub for delivery through online form so they don’t need to venture out to get food or speak on the phone if that is difficult for example.

Q: What are some of the frustrations these individuals encounter?

A: People who use screen readers and other AT devices can have a harder time if web access isn’t built into websites. Accessible web design is good for SEO and there’s new hope that access will be more in the forefront as a result of this trend.

However, the new, quick media including audio and video clips e.g. news websites, You Tube, etc. have limited videos with captioning, text descriptions and even now alt tags on photo images on websites are often overlooked which, continue to be a problem for people with some disabilities.

Q: What sort of activities or information do disabled web users seek out? Is it radically different from those without disabilities?

A: No not radically different. If you need information about a location–there’s a map, transportation options, info about store hours, etc. just like everyone without a disability might want. I think people with and without disabilities who have computer training, use the internet similarly.

Our challenge is to be sure there are opportunities for people with disabilities who want to have a computer and gain the training so they can improve their skill level. There may be more desire to get information about their disability online if someone has a disability.

You really can’t generalize since many people with age-related disability are getting email addresses, joining Facebook and becoming users of the internet. Our IT Network Admin has a spinal cord injury and uses a wheelchair–he’s very technologically savvy!

Once again, I’d like to thank Carol Voss of IndependenceFirst for these insightful answers. In the third and final installment of my email interview with her, we cover assistive technologies and a little bit about IndependenceFirst’s Web presence via Twitter.

Tags: Independence1st, IndependenceFIRST, Independent Living, metro milwaukee, milwaukee, SEWCIL, southeastern wisconsin, Southeastern Wisconsin Center for Independent Living

IndependenceFirst has been in operation since 1979, previously known as the Southeastern Wisconsin Center for Independent Living (SEWCIL) prior until 1995.

Servicing the greater metro Milwaukee area, they offer services from independent living skills training to referrals, counseling, advocacy — as many facets as there are to providing services to people with any kinds of disabilities.

I first became aware of IndependenceFirst through their Twitter presence (Independence1st), helmed by PR/Marketing Director, Carol Voss.

I recently asked Ms. Voss a few questions about their services, and she very graciously offered these insightful answers.

Q: In a nutshell, what services do you provide?

A: We really want to be the FIRST place people call when they have questions about disability or access issues. We answer over 5,000 information/referral inquiries annually from people with disabilities, their family members, friends, business owners, employers, general community.

In addition to that, we offer over 20 direct services for people with disabilities– all are geared towards helping people achieve their goals and chart their own course. Services range from Wheelchair Sports & Adaptive Recreation program opportunities for youth and adults, to employment and benefits counseling, internships, assistive technology consultations, accessibility or aging in place consultations, personal care services, computer recycling program and much more.

We have a vision of full inclusion of people with disabilities in every aspect of our community and everything we do is to realize that vision. We see people with all types of disabilities and throughout all age groups. People who have age-related disability are welcome to access our services and get involved at our nonprofit of course too!

Most of our services are free of charge. A few have minor fees for things like sports programs. Finally, there is some eligibility for employment services or personal care since those are contracts services with individual entities like the WI Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, WI Medicaid, etc.

Q: Your core values are Education, Advocacy, Independent Living Services, and Coalition Building — for each of these, what are some examples of how you help empower people with disabilities?

A: Education – We help people get the information they need to make their own choices–we feel that people with disabilities should have the right to choose their own course and we don’t tell people with disabilities what to do. Rather we provide them with information they can use to realize their goals. We also hold many community forums with elected officials, candidates, training sessions around issues including self-directed supports, transportation and much more.
Success Story – We provided customer service training for the hospitality industry twice through VISIT Milwaukee to help businesses realize how people with disabilities are an untapped customer base and a market that can be profitable as age-related disabilities become more numerous with the aging of the boomer population.

Advocacy – We help people understand how to advocate for themselves–understanding their own rights and responsibilities so that they can feel comfortable speaking for themselves when they may experience barriers in the community, want to advocate with their elected officials on a particular issue that is important to them, know who their elected officials are and how to contact them, etc. We also have a number of advocacy teams that are comprised of staff and consumers with disabilities around particular issues that are important like ADA Access, Housing or Transportation so they can learn from each other and get involved in creating change in society and for themselves ,
Success Story – We attempted over and over again to generate awareness around the lack of access in Milwaukee’s Riverwalk district and 3+ years ago with consumers who wanted access, after finally filing a formal ADA Access complaint with the Department. of Justice, a settlement was reached to make the Riverwalk accessible for people with disabilities. This was in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and other news sources. Since then, we’ve been consulted on a number of projects in the Menominee Valley, at Miller Park, many locations and have been subcontracted for accessibility consultation with 3 casino/hotel expansion projects throughout the US because of our expertise in that area.

Independent Living Services – We offer training sessions on independent living skills areas and direct 1:1 participation with IL Coordinators who work individually with consumers on their individual IL skill and goal achievement. Other IL services including Peer Mentoring, Wheelchair Sports & Adaptive Recreation, Youth Leadership Summit and 1:1 goal setting, Girls First Youth Peer Group, A Peer Power program for youth with disabilities, high school transitions classes, financial literacy series, etc. IL Skills training and 1:1 services in IL areas provide people with disabilities the tools they can use as they move towards realizing their dreams and goals for independent living.
Success Story – A shy young girl who never tried sports had spina bifida and was encouraged by her parents to try wheelchair basketball in our recreational program. She found she was very good at it, stuck with it. Her confidence built along with her skills. She got into competitive sports and she won a gold medal in the Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team USA paralympic games in Beijing last fall.

Coalition Building – Staff and consumers participate and take leadership roles in organizing cross-disability coalitions around particular issues including community based long term care reform, transportation/paratransit, housing trust fund, more. There is power in numbers and through coalition building we can leverage our organization and the power of collaboration to achieve goals that other organizations also benefit from. There is no duplication of service and reinventing the wheel around issues if everyone is on a coalition, working together to affect positive change for people with disabilities.
Success Story – In the last County budget cycle we were able to coordinate a rally outside of Scott Walker’s office with transit consumers and other disability nonprofits and stop a fare increase.

We empower people with disabilities directly through our programs and the skills they develop but also we impact the community to be more inclusive of people with disabilities who have the same goals and dreams as their non-disabled counterparts. People are more alike than different and everyone has something to contribute in society. Over 50% of our staff, management and board have disabilities themselves so we really walk (or roll!) the talk. When people meet IL Coordinators or come to our programs, they see other people who have been through similar things as what they are going through. There are role models there for them and people who understand exactly the situation they are in. It helps with outcomes and understanding that goals can be met.

In the second part of this interview series, we talk specifically about disabled users of the computers and the Internet, covering topics such as assistive technologies.

Tags: Independence1st, IndependenceFIRST, Independent Living, metro milwaukee, milwaukee, SEWCIL, southeastern wisconsin, Southeastern Wisconsin Center for Independent Living