Assistive Technology Services Expand in Utah (UT UCEDD)

August 15, 2016

People with disabilities in the Uintah Basin in central Utah will soon have more help meeting their goals for independence, thanks to a grant from the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation and the new Assistive Technology Lab at Utah State University in Roosevelt. The lab and the $73,925 award from the foundation will open new possibilities in obtaining and learning about assistive technologies that could make a difference to people with mobility, communication, vision, hearing or other disabilities. "We have a physical presence over there in the Uintah Basin now,"  said Alma Burgess, the grant's principal investigator. "That allows us to do something similar to what the AT Lab does in Logan now."

The funding will support the lab's services. It will also enhance the device loan bank already operating in Roosevelt. The loan bank allows people to find out if a piece of assistive technology "which can sometimes be costly " will truly work for them before they make a purchase. The Roosevelt AT Lab will also provide training on how to use assistive technology, how to build, modify and maintain devices and how to work with people with disabilities. In addition, it will perform services similar to those already offered in the CReATE program in Salt Lake City, offering affordable refurbished devices to people who need them. CReATE and the assistive technology labs in Logan and Roosevelt are part of the Utah Assistive Technology Program within the Center for Persons with Disabilities at Utah State University.