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| Version | User | Scope of changes |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 13 2007, 8:36 PM EST (current) | ladybeames | 62 words added, 2 words deleted |
| Nov 13 2007, 8:32 PM EST | ladybeames | 382 words added, 33 words deleted |
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In December of 2006, PACER partnered with India's National Institute for the Mentally Handicapped to cosponsor a joint technology conference. The Indo-U.S. Conference on Information Technology Uses for Adults and Children with Disabilities was held Dec. 5 – 6, 2006 in Bangalore, India. Paula Goldberg along with others from PACER (Gretchen Godfrey and Kristi Hansen) and other experts in the field of assistive technology such as Joy Zabala and Janet Peters, traveled to India to share best practice information and current trends in assistive technology with parents and professionals in India.An outcome of this conference was to create a model assistive technology center in the city of Bangalore. Out of the many interested organizations, PACER partnered with the Spastics Society of Karnataka (SSK). Recently celebrating their 25th anniversary the SSK provides a wide range of services to children and young adults with disabilities.
Over the course of the next year IBM executive, Kristi WeisnerWieser facilitedfacilitated phone conferences with representatives from the SSK and PACER. Loose thoughts and plans began to take shape. Assistive technology vendors donated software and equipment totaling approximately $18,000.00 to this new center in Bangalore. IBM India donated 10 PC computers, 4 Young Explorers and tech support for the first year of the center.
In October of 2007, Bridget Ames, Coordinator of the Simon Technology Center, traveled to Bangalore to train select staff of the SSK on the donated software and devices. In a whirlwind 8 days Bridget trained the SSK staff on approximately 80 different programs and devices. The staff receiving the training at the SSK quickly learned a vast amount of information in a short amount of time. Representing a variety of professional disciplines they began to think about how the tools they were learning might impact the education of the students they worked with. As the training wrapped up, a three year plan unfolded that includes training additional staff members at the SSK, developing parent trainings, conducting individual assistive technology consultations, and networking with other disability organizations to make the impact of assistive technology felt at a local and eventually national level.
In November of 2007, Rabidran Isaac, Coordinator of the SSK Assistive Technology Center, journeyed to Minnesota to continue the training started in India. During his visit, Rabi attended a variety of PACER workshops, met with local assistive technology vendors, visited with parent advocates and much more.
During her visit to Bangalore, Bridget had the opportunity to introduce assistive technology to a variety of young men with disabilities. The impact of such programs with features such as word prediction and text to speech was immediate. And that is the whole point of assistive technology, making a positive difference in the life of someone who has a need. Assistive Technology has the potential to change the landscape of possibilities for people with disabilities in not only Bangalore but in all of India.
