BrightSign is the only smart glove in the world that can translate any sign or gesture into speech - and does so into over 40 languages, with more than 450 different voice options, providing customization of language, accent, gender, age, and tone.

Founded in 2017, after 2 years of research and a further 2 years of working on case studies and refinements with users, the BrightSign glove finally launched towards the end of 2021 and is now sold in over 20 countries.

What is Voiceitt? A speech recognition app for people with speech disabilities, disorders, or impairments to put it simply.

In this week's Tech:Huddle, meet co-founder Sara Smolley and learn she is launching a community engagement initiative (Project Ensemble) to make automatic speech recognition accessible to everyone–and she needs your help to make it possible!

On this week’s Tech:Huddle, join the discussion and find out how avail®, a simple step-by-step digital instruction tool, builds confidence by providing reassurance through repetition with personalized tasks to fit the needs of each individual’s goals. Built-in assessments and reporting enables support staff to accurately and effectively track progress, extend support capacity, and ultimately help more individuals achieve independence at home, work, school, and in the community. 

You will hear about real-life examples from individuals who were told they'd never work or complete everyday tasks on their own and watch a live demonstration of customized, step-by-step digital instruction being created in mere minutes, based on the goals and preferences of an individual.

It’s free to join, you just need to save your seat!

PLAY MORE, REACH FOR MORE, ACHIEVE MORE

RESTORE-Skills is an online skill-building platform designed to gamify therapy and wellness. Turn any device into a powerful, engaging, and measurable tool with hundreds of customizable activities that motivate your clients to reach their goals. Unlimited community access offers the flexibility to play on as many devices, and with as many individuals, as you want. Track game data during functional skill sessions to continue achieving player goals.

MPower Me designs, installs, and supports personalized assistive technology to increase: Independence, Communication, Employability, and Inclusion, while enhancing existing services and reducing the need for human intervention. Our current priority is to establish access to key capabilities for those who are otherwise unable to connect with their community during the pandemic.

Connect a Voice is a mobile tool that saves DD care agencies time & money, easily proves compliance, and better manages their agency’s workforce.

The app is simple, which is critical when implementing across a team of DSPs. We often hear from customers and prospects that our solution is the most DSP-friendly in the market.

Carepool software platform creates access to transportation for healthcare and employment for ALL people with disabilities and the aging population. We envision America’s rural and urban communities working together in caring networks of drivers and passengers. Carepool is making rideshare accessible for all communities and strives to be inclusive for all.

CarePool is available in Wisconsin, Indiana, Tennessee, Colorado, and Kansas! Minnesota and Iowa coming soon.

Dose Health was founded to address the medication non-adherence epidemic. Every year medication non-adherence accounts for more than 120,000 preventable deaths, and nearly 300 billion dollars in avoidable healthcare costs, and is one of the main reasons people have to move into a more supported living environment.

To address this major problem, Dose Health was created and we invented our first service, the Dose Flip. The Dose Flip is a fully automated, portable, smart pillbox that easily fits into people’s everyday lives without disrupting their day-to-day activities. It alerts individuals when it is time to take their medications through audible and visual cues. It can send notifications via text, email, or phone to let a caregiver know if medications are or are not being taken as directed.

Feedback from individuals and their care teams allows us to constantly improve our services and create adaptive equipment to ensure accessibility. We also believe that funding is a big part of accessibility, so we primarily work with individuals who are covered through Medicaid Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) Waiver programs, where we serve thousands of enrolled individuals.

Waypoint Interactive is committed to elevating industry standards in Human Services through the exploration and development of cutting-edge innovations and training solutions. They firmly believe technology is the next emerging human right.

Their flagship product, Navigating Life, is an all-in-one communication and data collection tool, aimed to revolutionize provider culture and service delivery. Navigating Life acts as a private social network for an organization, empowering agencies to build virtual spaces for their physical programs. They connect all members of an organization's community by giving families the transparency they seek, clinicians the data they need, and staff the recognition they deserve.

ElliQ®, by Intuition Robotics, is a personal care companion that helps older adults lead healthier, happier lives at home. ElliQ offers companionship, entertainment, tips and advice, answers to their questions, and much more.

ElliQ was designed to empower older adults’ independence and offers many useful activities to keep them healthy, thriving, and engaged at home.

Throughout the day, ElliQ will proactively engage and guide them through a variety of activities, including conversation, health check-ins and measurements, mindfulness and physical exercises, cognitive games, messaging with family, general health info and much more. ElliQ users also receive access to a real-life wellness coach, and concierge services. Their wellness coach will suggest health tips, track patterns, and bring any concerns to their attention (as they may arise) - to help them stay on track of their health and wellness goals. Their concierge will be at their disposal to assist with all their day-to-day needs.

Intuition Robotics is currently offering a program to place ElliQ into the homes of qualified candidates, free of charge.

Daivergent is a technology platform that maximizes job-readiness for individuals in the I/DD and ASD communities through its AI software that delivers to them and their families the right interventions at the right time. Daivergent's platform builds personalized, lifelong plans for adolescents & young adults, and taps into its curated intervention library of proprietary and third-party online content to provide upskilling in three critical domains: vocational, social, and life skills. Read more about Daivergent at https://www.daivergent.com

zPods™ is the first U.S.-based company to provide kids with a customizable sensory friendly, sleeping pod. These sleeping pods come jam-packed with features such as intelligent lighting control, white noise generation, an innovative air filter, and more.

With these tools, we believe that children can find better sleep, which means parents can sleep better as well.

Life Sherpa is a digital coaching platform that provides a force multiplier to organizations delivering individualized support and training, reminders and reinforcements, content and communications via smart devices so that staff and clients can achieve more.

Join us to learn about NextGenAT’s Remote Support platform that’s designed to give I/DD service providers cutting-edge do-it-yourself remote support capabilities that would otherwise be out of reach. NextGenAT’s all-inclusive RS platform includes all the hardware, software, cloud infrastructure, training, and support needed for the local I/DD service provider to quickly, easily, and safely begin providing RS to the people they serve.

This paradigm shifting, platform as a service approach, eliminates financial, technical, and knowledge barriers that prevent I/DD provider agencies from offering this 21st century option of support to their clients in a 2021+ COVID-19 environment, and beyond. Now, any/all provider(s) can provide remote supports without having to subcontract it out to another agency.

“Currently, there are more than 100,000 Alexa skills available, which let you control the best smart home devices, order pizza, play trivia games, listen to the news and weather, shop online and even start your car.”

That sounds great… but how can I use Alexa to promote and support self-determination for individuals with “differing abilities? And how do I begin???

Alice will share tips and techniques for how to utilize Alexa to assist with communications, set up routines, set up a Smart Home and “Care Hub” be a source of information and entertainment and even help with cooking!  And of course, assist with reminders and calendars! 

May 25th, 2021 | 12:00-12:30p Eastern

Employment Pathfinder helps job developers, employment specialists, and counselors quickly assess the job seeker’s readiness, job interests, and relative skills. The job seeker uses the Employment Pathfinder App, while staff weigh in using the companion cloud-based dashboard. This helps create a comprehensive assessment that leads to a detailed report describing any gap areas and the strategies, tactics and tools they might use to bridge them.

Ever since the Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act (WIOA) was signed into law in 2014, staff have used a variety of methods to help fulfill the Gold Standard of Competitive Integrated Employment – real jobs, with real wages. Employment Pathfinder pulls these strategies together into one integrated platform. The system is designed around the principles of self-determination and informed choice to help the job seeker play an active role in the career discovery and planning process.  For more information, write us at info@createabilityinc.com, or call us at 317.728.6670. Check out our YouTube brief explainer video at: https://youtu.be/lsf9lqD4QJU

If you are tired of searching online for health info for hours and wish you could just speak to someone who knows the answer, you are in the right place!

Join our community to chat with experts who can answer all your special needs or disability parenting questions. Stop searching and ask an expert instead.

The Vitalxchange app and community has many experts and parent mentors (VitalGuides) who are available to answer any question you have on your child or taking care of yourself.

• Ask questions, chat with as many experts as you want

• Introductory chats are free!

Our story began, when we, like most people, were constantly searching for health information all the time to understand a symptom, to find a doctor, to help a child with learning issue, to confirm a diagnosis or know when to seek a second opinion.

We googled and sorted through hundreds of search results, felt overwhelmed and most of the time did not know how to process and what to do next. Medical sources like WebMD were only useful only if you knew the exact terms to look for. The formal language was difficult to process and often we falsely self-diagnosed, resulting in even more anxiety! When we tried joining health groups like those on Facebook, we got quite concerned about the accuracy of highly opinionated information and exposing all our private health information to be exploited by Facebook. We were also afraid of being judged or trolled by other members of the group, which we could see was quite common.

We were quite frustrated and knew that most others felt the same way.

So, we created Vitalxchange.

Exercise options for people with disabilities can be incredibly limited. Typical gyms are generally not designed to be inclusive of people who need extra support. Their classes may move too fast and not have sufficient modifications available. Their weights and machines may not have any necessary adaptations. Even many of their buildings are not designed to be wheelchair accessible. 

Access to fitness options for people with disabilities has become even more limited since the start of the pandemic with so many people with disabilities quarantining at home. This inability to involve regular physical activity into their lives is one of the big reasons that the CDC has found that people with disabilities are 58% more likely to become obese than the general public. That is where SPIRIT Club comes in.

 At SPIRIT Club, we believe exercise is not only essential to living a happy and healthy life, it is also a human right. Therefore, fitness should be made accessible to you, regardless of your circumstance. Whether you’re experienced with exercise or a total beginner; comfortable in gyms or don’t feel like they are the right fit for you; able to participate in typical fitness programs or face limited opportunities due to a disability, SPIRIT Club is the place where you can successfully work toward your fitness goals.

Through our creative use of technology, we have brought daily supportive, virtual fitness to thousands of people with and without disabilities across the country. Come have a look at what we do and how we do it at the Disability Cocoon tech huddle on 3/9 by clicking the link below:

OrCam offers wearable technology for people who are blind or visually impaired. In this session, Stacey Crown will provide an overview OrCam the company, as well as demo MyEye and OrCam Read devices.

MyEye is a voice-activated device that provides increased independence by communicating visual information, audibly.

Blitz is dedicated to helping providers recruit and retain more amazing Direct Support Professionals.

You'll learn about the challenges that are preventing you from getting more DSPs (it isn't money), and the path to take to find, get, and keep DSPs.

Presenters Craig & Scott de Fasselle:
-Hosted more than 25 workshops
-Presented for ANCOR, provider associations in 14 different states, and 11 county boards of DD
-Are a father & son team with a personal connection to the I/DD field

RoutineFactory was born out of the need and desire to create a tool designed to assist individuals with disabilities to become more independent and reduce stress on staff. With the RoutineFactory Information Board clients can easily find answers to their daily questions: What task is next? What is for dinner? Who is working today? Do I need to wear a coat when I go outside?

During the demonstration, we will show you how the Information Board can be used in your assisted workplace, assisted living facilities, or for your clients who live independently. As well as the RoutineFactory app. The app is used by clients so they can easily view their schedule and receive step-by-step guidelines that are managed and customized to the clients’ specific needs and abilities. Ready to learn more about RoutineFactory? Sign up now to learn more! We look forward to meeting you!

Shift is transforming how people, organizations, and states implement enabling technologies through Technology First Accreditation and Affiliated Certification and Credential Programs for all provider and service coordination organizations.

Shift acts as a catalyst for the Technology First movement in the I/DD supports community through resources that inspire possibility. We are committed to organizational transformation through education, experiential learning, and professional collaboration with a goal of developing standardized best practices for organizations and states leading the way in the Tech First movement.

Shift includes:
•An online learning community offering courses, professional connections, interactive webinars, and community discussion
•A relevant resource library including cutting edge advances in enabling technology and community supported living
•Access to tools, materials, and websites developed by collaborative partners
•Continuing education and recertification opportunities

GlassOuse is an assistive device designed to help people who cannot use technology due to limited abilities and give them more control of their computers, phones and smart TVs.

GlassOuse V1.3 is a customizable handsfree bluetooth head mouse which allows persons with disability to control devices via there head movement.

The first version of GlassOuse was born from the sheer will of its founder Mehmet Nemo who wanted to help a friend who met an accident, making him paralysed from neck down. He wanted to design a device for his friend which can allow him to operate a mobile phone and computer.

To accompany GlassOuse Device, we also have nine different kinds of apadtive switches which let users to make clicks on the devices. They can choose the switch according to their needs and comfort. These are:

Bite Switch ; Puff Switch; Foot Switch ; Finger Switch ;  Press Switch (100 gm & 150gm) ;  Pillow Switch ; Touch Switch ; Proximity Switch

In this era of touch to communicate, GlassOuse continues its journey to meet the needs of a wide variety of people having difficulty to connect the world. To reach out more and more people in need, the team behind the concept encourages individuals and professionals in Assistive Tech community to be a part of this ongoing challenge - to make it more successful than ever.

Shifting the Transition Paradigm with FREE Game and AI-Based Technology

Steven Keisman, Senior Vice President at Identifor
Independent Transition and Neurodiversity Employment Specialist

“Meaningful work” is a basic human right for all people, with or without a disability, and an essential component of a satisfying life. Merely a few month ago, the US economic climate was its best in half a century, yet the needle was still mostly stuck in regard to employment for people with autism and other intellectual disabilities, especially for the majority, who are middle-impacted. Sadly, many young adults with cognitive disabilities leave high school completely unprepared for the “real world” and merely graduate to the couch making them vulnerable to a host of significant threats especially as their parents are no longer able to supervise them. CoVid has immediately impacted our community especially because the largest source of employment is suddenly gone.

Steve will demonstrate Identifor, the world’s first game-based career assessment tool designed to assess teens and young adults with autism and support them with an artificial intelligence driven, customizable, Life Coach app. He will discuss the current Co-Vid landscape for today’s “hidden workforce”, share strategies to prepare for, find and keep automation, robotic and AI-proof jobs and explore ways this FREE platform shifts the current paradigm leveraging a person’s skills, abilities, and interests to plan a more meaningful life.

Medherent is a comprehensive end-to-end solution that combines Terrapin’s pharmacy fulfillment process and multi-dose packaging with an in-home dispensing device and care management software to promote adherence among complex, high-risk patients. The Medherent system prompts patients when to dispense medications from the in-home device, monitors when patients activate the device, alerts caregivers in real time if patients fail to dispense medications so they can intervene immediately, provides access to up-to-date historical adherence data, and maintains current medication lists for patients using the device.

Medherent substantially increases medication adherence rates, which helps improve clinical outcomes and patient wellbeing as well as reduce the cost of care.

NOSS’ remote caregivers have successfully provided over 18 years of person-centered Remote Supports.

Please join us to see some new exciting additions to their menu of services, and learn how they can work collaboratively with providers to develop professional, ongoing relationships, tailored to meet individual(s) needs.

accessibleGO is a travel platform for people with disabilities offering bookings, reviews and community, currently focused on the USA domestic market.  There are 53M Americans with a disability who spend over $17B annually on travel, not factoring in companion travel or even the baby boomer demographic. People with disabilities are frustrated with the current options and are ready for a travel bookings site that addresses their unique requirements.   

Many venues, hotels and attractions offer limited or inaccurate accessibility information. Even following time-consuming research, many travelers face unpleasant surprise situations lacking accessibility.  Until now, there was no single site or community of reviewers where this information is collected and verified with recommendations and warnings.

accessibleGO offers a full service travel platform based upon a foundation of data. Users plan trips using our resources including reviews, content & directories. Users then book their travel needs including hotels, cars & flights with our unique accessibility data combined with user reviews and our certification. We are gathering accessibility data for US hotels, on target to cover majority by end of 2022. Members pay it forward by sharing experiences.

Control Bionics makes the NeuroNode Trilogy AAC, the fastest, lowest-fatigue eye gaze system, powered by the world's leading wearable EMG control device, the NeuroNode. Now join James Schorey, Chief Technology Officer for Control Bionics, and his teammate Jill Adlin, Regional Consultant, to discover all the novel uses of the NeuroNode with the new “Context & Effect” (C&E) App. This app gives the clinician and user a full complement of access methods that are switchable on the fly and “mix and matchable” from one communication and control panel to the next. The "Cause" (access method) can be changed in seconds while keeping the "Effect" (e.g. animation of toys, control of an Xbox) constant, making the process of determining the best access method faster, easier and more engaging. The Context & Effect empowers the user with a world of new possibilities in toy control, robotics control, and advanced gaming.

SimplyHome is a national company focusing on customizing enabling technology solutions for community supported living and aging in place. SimplyHome is on a mission to empower independence through innovation.

In 2020, SimplyHome launched the Firefly. The Firefly System communicates with multiple sensors to observe activities of daily living, prompts the completion of daily routines, and proactively alerts caregivers if assistance is needed. This sleek and affordable device puts the control in the individual’s hands and ensures their safety while supporting their interests, priorities, and strengths.

Shift acts as a catalyst for the Technology First movement in the I/DD supports community through resources that inspire possibility.  We are committed to organizational transformation through education, experiential learning, and professional collaboration with a goal of developing standardized best practices for organizations and states leading the way in the Tech First movement.

Shift’s curriculum and community impact:

Direct Support Professionals: Experiential knowledge that can be applied to person-centered planning and technology integration as a natural support and heightened awareness of the Technology First movement and its impact on person-centered support programming

Enabling Technology Integration Specialists: Professional skill development that guides agency transformation through mentoring and coaching; skill application related to effective assessment and integration of enabling technology in alignment with standardized best practices of the Technology First movement

Technology First Organization: Programmatic, operational and cultural transformation utilizing best practices to support technology integration, sustainability, and innovation