A Fidgetarium of Possibility

One of my minor autistic traits is fidgeting. When I was a kid, I had to learn how to do hidden fidgeting, because people (especially adults) thought fidgeting meant I wasn’t paying attention, or I was acting weird. Actually, I needed to fidget to focus my attention, though I didn’t understand that at the time.…

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AT for Gardening: Containers and Beds

By Aimee Sterk, LMSW, MATP Staff I’ve been a gardener for years and a vegetable gardener for at least a decade. I joined a vegetable garden farm share program about 20 years ago and loved the fresh veggies from down the road and began exploring some easy options to grow some myself. My farm share…

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Stay Home, Stay Safe with Amazon’s Alexa

By Laura Hall, MATP Staff In the video linked to this blog, I demonstrate just a few of the things you can do with Amazon’s Alexa that could be helpful during this time of “Stay Home, Stay Safe”. The device used in this video is the Echo First Generation, but I also mention the Echo…

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AT for Cutting Without Cuts in the Kitchen: a Vlog!

By Jen Mullins, BS, CTRS, MATP Staff Due to precautions related Covid-19, many of us are cooking from home more.  For someone whose disability impacts their vision, fine motor, hand dexterity, and upper body strength and coordination, cutting and chopping food can be challenging.  Assistive Technology (AT) devices are available that may help.  In the…

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Wearable AT for Navigation!

By Jen Mullins, BS, CTRS, MATP Staff In a previous AT blog post, I shared that I have a disability that impacts my ability to navigate.  When I walk, bike, drive, etc., without my GPS, I can’t work out where I am or how I need to get where I need to go.  More than…

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Yay for Bidets!!!

A bidet seat with arm controls the options on the arm controls read: stop, rear, soft rear, front, dryer

By Aimee Sterk, LMSW, MATP Staff My friend, Joe Stramondo, is a great many number of things, a dad, a philosopher and professor, a disability justice activist, and he is a champion of bidets, spreading word near and far of just how awesome they are.  According to Joe, “Self-reliance when using the toilet is generally…

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Interdependence

By Paul Miller, Community Inclusion Specialist, MDRC Independence is something we strive for as we grow up, but as an adult I have grown to understand that interdependence is a more accurate view of life. Interdependence is a concept explained best by saying that our independence relies on the help of others. My Dad passed…

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Assistive Technology for Kids who Experienced Trauma

By Aimee Sterk, LMSW, MATP Staff I’m working on a trauma certificate and recently attended a symposium on Somatic Experience therapy for children who have experienced trauma. The presenter,  Maggie Kline, LMFT,  explained that for young children (birth to 18 months) who experience trauma, the body holds the memory and that therapy needs to focus…

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Veterans and AT for PTSD

By Aimee Sterk, LMSW, MATP Program Staff In June I was paging through my copy of Woman’s Day Magazine and was impressed with an article on Veterans and AT use: How My Veteran Husband Copes with His War Injuries . The focus is on caregivers/family/friends of veterans’ views and support, but the AT used is…

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