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Newsletter

In this issue:

We Want You!

The AT Advisory Council currently has open positions for individuals with disabilities who use AT. The council meets quarterly to discuss the needs of AT users and make decisions regarding the AT Act programs. If you are interested in serving as a representative of AT consumers in Mass, please email at@mrc.state.ma.us.

Take the Survey!

Massachusetts is studying the needs of people with disabilities for AT. If you are an AT user, work with AT users or have family members who are AT users, we request your responses.

Download the survey Adobe PDF Document

Please call 617-204-3851 to request a foreign language or alternatively formatted version of the survey.

Ask the Expert

Question:
I recently started using an electric wheelchair. What are my options in terms of independent driving and transportation?

Answer:
The best way to determine your options is to obtain a driving evaluation from a qualified facility. The evaluation will determine your general vehicle choices as well as specific driving equipment/modifications to match your abilities for safe driving.

In terms of vehicles available, most likely, you will have a choice of a full-size van with an automatic wheelchair lift and doors or a minivan with a lowered floor and automatic ramp. In some cases, used vehicles can be utilized for modifications. Financial assistance for vehicle purchase may be available from the Massachusetts AT Loan Program and other sources.

Depending on the complexity of your modification job, it may take several weeks to several months to finish your vehicle. For more information about providers, driving evaluations and vehicle modifications as well as funding sources, please contact me.

Eugene A. Blumkin, CPE
Principal Engineer
Rehabilitation Technology
Email: Eugene Blumkin

Contact Us

MassMATCH
27 Wormwood Street
Boston, MA 02210-1616
Phone: 617-204-3851
TTY: 617-204-3815
Email: AT @ the MRC

There's No Place Like Home
By Karen Langley and Rahel Gottlieb

“There’s no place like home,” chants Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, tapping her heels three times. Dorothy is right. There is no place like home, and for people faced with a new or progressive disability, living at home independently shouldn’t feel like a dream at the end of a rainbow.

That’s why the MRC created the Home Modification Loan Program (HMLP). People want to live in their own homes and often the “deal breaker” is as simple as an access ramp, a lift, a wider doorway, roll-in shower or some blend of modifications. The HMLP offers up to $30,000 in loan funds to eligible households to make modifications necessary for family members with disabilities. Loans may be 0% deferred, 3% deferred or amortizing based on household income. The Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission (MRC) and Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC) jointly administer the program through contracts with seven regional housing agencies. Since the program’s inception in 1999, the HMLP has been a veritable yellow brick road for over 770 households, helping them keep or return family members home.

Take, for example, a recent borrower from Framingham. A stroke in 2006 left him unable to leave a nursing facility because home was inaccessible for his wheelchair. His family, learning about the HMLP, contacted one of the seven regional agencies to help them with an application. Based on his income and “functional need” he was found eligible for a 0% deferred payment loan of $25,000. The funds put a ramp on his home, widened doorways and improved access to his bathroom. After 8 months in a nursing home, he was able to return home to his family.

For “housebound” applicants the problem isn’t so much about getting or staying home, but getting out and about. Indeed, one borrower’s diabetes had progressed to a point where his blindness and difficulty walking made exiting his home dangerous. Using an HMLP loan, however, he was able to add a ramp, repair a very unsafe entryway, and widen a door.  Because of these “access improvements,” he can now get in and out in his scooter, take his dog on short walks, and do his own shopping. “It’s the first time in a year I’ve been able to go to Market Basket” he reports. “I feel safe, independent.”

Outcomes like these make work satisfying for HMLP program coordinators like Kassia Pereira (of SMOC). Pereira tells the story of a borrower in Walpole whose multiple sclerosis had left her unable to get to her second floor bathroom. “Her living room had been transformed into a bedroom and bathroom. She had a commode next to a hospital bed separated only by a curtain. She was so embarrassed. She felt defeated and really afraid that she would need to move into a nursing home.” But help from the HMLP changed the woman’s outlook on life. “I visited her a few weeks ago when the project was done,” Pereira reports, “and what a difference! She was smiling, so proud to show me the new bathroom, how easy it is to get in and out, how she can also go outside the house to the garden and to the kitchen. She could not stop smiling and being thankful that we could help her with the loan.”

Pereira had a similar experience with SMOC’s first project in Wayland. It was for a 17 year old child with cerebral palsy. The boy’s mother’s biggest concern was getting him in and out of their existing bathtub. “She knew it was painful for him and—since she isn’t getting any younger—feared that one day she would drop him on the floor.” Pereira helped the family with a loan application for a new bathroom complete with raised tub. “When the work was done I went to visit them and that woman’s happiness was contagious. For the first time in years she didn’t have back pain. Her son could transfer safely into the tub and really enjoy it.  She gave me a picture of the happy boy in the new tub!”

The HMLP is state funded. Applicants may include any homeowner with a disability, any homeowner with a household member who has a disability, or homeowners who rent to an individual with a disability. Regional provider agencies can provide guidelines for choosing and hiring architectural, design, and contracting professionals and may also assist applicants with the application process.

For more information contact MRC at 617 204-3724 or go to www.mass.gov/mrc/hmlp for details and contact information for HMLP providers.

Red sequined shoes are not required.

New Mini-Grant/Mini-Loan Program Being Developed
By Jason Luciano

Easter Seals Massachusetts is in the process of exploring the development of a new program designed to help people obtain AT devices and services when the total cost would be less than $500.

Easter Seals Massachusetts received a grant from the statewide AT Act Council, managed by the MRC, to conduct a feasibility study to determine the best approach to helping Massachusetts residents with disabilities. During the past 3 months multiple focus groups have been held and consumer input has been sought. The program will be proposed to the AT Act Council this fall for approval and funding.

It is anticipated that this program will complement the existing AT Loan Program, so Massachusetts can continue in its national leadership role of providing services and devices to people with disabilities. If you would like to share your thoughts on the need for funding for low cost AT devices, please contact:

Jason M.Luciano, Ph.D.
Easter Seals, Massachusetts
Phone: 800-244-2756 x 428/431.

Accessible IT Isn't Just the Law, It's the Right Thing to Do
By Joe Lazzaro

In June of 2006, I was hired as the manager of the Assistive Technology Group of the Commonwealth's Information Technology Division (ITD), a state agency responsible for running the statewide computer network, and for developing software applications for many state agencies, including the human services sector.

The mission of the ITD Assistive Technology Group is to assure all information technology procurements and deployments are fully compliant with recognized accessibility standards; and are usable by persons with sensory, physical, learning, cognitive, and other disabilities. This will be accomplished by building and maintaining links between the Information Technology Division, assistive technology vendors, mainstream IT vendors, standards bodies, state agencies serving the disability community, advocacy groups and disability related stakeholders.

The ITD Assistive Technology Group is charged with the establishment of an assistive technology testing/usability lab to provide an environment that can be utilized for testing the accessibility and usability of existing applications, and applications that are under development or procured.

The ITD Assistive Technology Group is also in the process of establishing an information portal on the ITD web site to distribute information about accessibility best practices. The site will include links to assistive technology resources, guidelines that support accessibility, guides to accessible document design, accessible web and software design and other AT resources.

As the Assistive Technology Group develops, ITD will be seeking qualified individuals with assistive technology expertise to fill several key positions. These will include developers competent with accessible web and software design, systems integration involving assistive and information technology, help desk, as well as training and documentation specialists. For questions concerning the newly created ITD Assistive Technology Group, please contact:

Joe Lazzaro
Phone: 617-626-4410
Email:joe.lazzaro@state.ma.us.

The Assistive Technology Loan Program Benefits People with Disabilities
By Jason Luciano

Over $3,000,000 have been loaned out to Massachusetts residents

Massachusetts has become a national leader in the realm of Alternative Financing with the success of the Massachusetts Assistive Technology Loan Program (MATLP).  Having been established less than three years ago, independent studies have consistently found that the Massachusetts program is the fastest-growing program across the country, and has statistically higher loan approval ratings than all but the most established, and much older, programs.

There are 33 Alternative Financing Programs across the United States, and each is state-focused.  Alternative Financing Programs allow consumers of assistive devices and services greater access to low-interest financing; without which these necessary devices could be cost-prohibitive.

Managed by Easter Seals

The Massachusetts Assistive Technology Loan Program – the only one of its kind in the state – is managed by Easter Seals Massachusetts in partnership with Sovereign Bank and the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission. The program is funded by a federal grant to MRC from the Alternative Financing Program of the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, US Department of Education.

From January 2005, when the program was launched, through September of this year (2007), over $3 million have been loaned out to Massachusetts people with disabilities and their family members.  These loans can be used for assistive devices, services, and other AT needs for residents of Massachusetts.

Most of this $3 million was used to buy modified vehicles that can accommodate wheelchairs and the special transportation needs of people with disabilities.  Other loans bought computers and software, stair lifts, wheelchair lifts for vans, medical equipment, Braille displays, ramps and hearing aids.

Memory enhancement aids, print magnifiers, electric wheelchairs and scooters, as well as certain vehicle and home modifications are also eligible for loans under the program.

In addition, the MA AT Loan Program offers funding for assistive technology services that help people determine which device may be right for them. These services also help people locate and purchase the items, train them on their use and provide maintenance and repair.

The MA AT Loan Program offers lower interest rates than traditional bank loans, with repayment lengths based on the expected useful life of the device purchased.  Most loans for computers are repaid in three years, for example, while vehicle and home modification loans can be stretched out up to a 10-year period, lowering monthly payments.

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible for the program, applicants must meet the following requirements:

  • They must have a disability or represent someone with a disability.  For example, a parent might submit the application for a child with a disability.
  • The devices being sought must be used primarily to increase the independence of someone with a disability.
  • Applicants must have been Massachusetts residents for the past six months.

For more information on the MA AT Loan Program, please call (800) 244-2756 x428 or x431