Happy National Assistive Technology (AT) Awareness Day!

Happy National Assistive Technology Awareness Day! Hello. I'm Martha Rust. I'm the Education and Development Manager here at Tools for Life. Tools for Life is Georgia's Assistive Technology Program. Every day here at Tools for Life is AT Awareness Day. And what does that mean to me? Well, that means, to me, that I have seen lots of people's lives transform with the use of assistive technology. Individuals that use assistive technology have become more independent in so many different areas. I've seen people return to work or begin working with the use of assistive technology. I've seen people begin to live and play in their community of choice. So happy National Assistive Technology Day to you!
My name is Hunter McFeron, and I'm the Assistive Technology Acquisition Services Manager with Tools for Life. I remember one particular student that I was working with as a speech language pathologist who was very difficult to understand, and he was having a hard time picking up on the articulation skills that we were working on in our sessions. So we had our assistive technology team come out and to try out some different communication devices, and it was a game changer. That realization immediately clicked in that he could communicate whatever and whenever he wanted, and that sense of independence and empowerment really pushed him to develop his speech and language skills on his own, which, in the process, significantly improved his understandability.
My name is Rachel Scarboro, and I'm an AT Specialist at Tools for Life. For me, assistive technology awareness means giving more people the tools and the agency to do the things they want to do. One of my favorite experiences is when someone comes into our office and says, “Oh, you don't have anything to help me.” Because I love getting a challenge and, a lot of times with some problem solving, I'm able to prove them wrong. A lot of times people will come to our office for one particular need, and after they see everything that we have, they leave with several other ideas about how AT might benefit them, and I just love to see that spark as they kind of realize the possibilities. I want people to know that assistive technology is not always expensive or complicated, and that you might already have what you need in your pocket; it may just mean downloading an app or enabling a feature in your device settings. AT awareness is so important because not only does it help people with disabilities achieve their full potential, but it also drives innovation as companies are more likely to develop their products with accessibility and inclusion in mind, and it also drives policy change to increase access to assistive technology and just help enable people's full participation in society. So happy AT Awareness Day!