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Delaware Assistive Technology Initiative

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Vol. 10 No. 2 Spring 2002

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Delawareans Join National Efforts to Save Assistive Technology Projects

Federal funding for 23 state AT projects will be eliminated this year unless Congress takes action very soon. Eleven Delawareans joined others from all over the country at a standing-room-only U.S. House of Representatives hearing in March, where they heard testimony emphasizing the AT Projects’ contributions to individuals with disabilities of all ages. Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) of the Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness agreed that the projects fill a unique role that is not likely to be picked up by the private sector should federal funding cease. Representative Patsy Mink (D-Hawaii), noting that this was the first House hearing on the topic in nine years, said that the elimination of funding for state programs would be “a disaster.”

Photo of Theda Ellis, Pat Maichles, Beth Mineo, Debbie Whitby Norman, Dawn Stewart, and Eden Melmed; (front row) Griff Campbell. Not pictured: Zoan Thomas El, Howard Shiber, Sonja Simowitz, and Joann McCafferty
Among those traveling to Washington for he March 21st hearing: (back row from left) Theda Ellis, Pat Maichles, Beth Mineo, Debbie Whitby Norman, Dawn Stewart, and Eden Melmed; (front row) Griff Campbell. Not pictured: Zoan Thomas El, Howard Shiber, Sonja Simowitz, and Joann McCafferty

“We didn’t know 13 years ago (when the precursor to the AT Act of 1998 was passed) where technology would go,” says Paul Raskinski, executive director of the Maryland Technology Assistance Program, in noting the explosion of new technology. “Remember, none of us was using e-mail then.” He recited a laundry list of assistive devices developed since then that have helped him lead a productive life despite his paralysis. “If we strike down the infrastructure we’ve build up, we’ll have to start all over again,” he noted.

Carol Novak of Tampa, Florida testified that her 25-year old son, who has cerebral palsy, uses a variety of AT—power wheelchair, accessible van, word prediction software, ceiling track life—and the cost of his technology, which will serve him for years, is less than the cost of a single year in a nursing home. Novak urged expanded funding for the loan programs, recycling of AT, and consumer training.

Delaware faces the end of federal funding under the AT Act next year unless the Act is reauthorized or new legislation is passed. On March 21st, AT users, parents and grandparents of children who use AT, and representatives from several advocacy organizations and state agencies traveled to Washington to express their support for continuation of the DATI. Letters from consumers, families, and agencies urging continued federal support for DATI were also sent to Congressman Mike Castle, who sits on the House Education and the Workforce Committee with jurisdiction over the AT Act.

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