A positive attitude makes all the difference in transitioning to a lifestyle with limited mobility. Battery powered hand shears are available at any hardware store, but Access Technologies also supplies this item from its lending library. Holm can check out a pair from the organization any time he likes.
Access Technologies is still fairly small, with about ten employees and a single office, but it offers many options for those looking to live their lives more independently. The company has a small showroom inside a shopping complex, where groups of phone accessories, adaptive childrens’ toys, and household tools like hammers and pliers are separated by function and rest on tables around the room. All of these technologies are designed to make activities possible that would otherwise be a major struggle for people who don’t have the full use of their bodies. But some of the items, Kirsch says, are not specially manufactured for handicapped individuals and can be purchased in regular stores. Picking up a battery-powered hammer, she explains: “Assistive technology is anything that helps people be more independent—iPads, hand tools, as well as specialized tools.” Hand tools, like battery-powered pruners and pliers, are tools anyone can buy at a hardware store, but Access Technologies carries them because they can make outdoor activities easier for those suffering from arthritis. In Holm’s experience, tools like these can make a world of improvement. He says adding an inch in length or slightly shifting an angle can mean the difference between being able to reach a door handle or Specially adapted utensils are also available at Access Technologies. not. “It’s amazing, just raising up something a little bit, changing the angle on it, and it’s like, voila,” he says. Gerdes agrees that simple changes can make all the Access Technologies relies on public funding and private donations. The difference in making mobility easier for someone with Tech Act, officially known as the Assistive Technology Act, is a law that a disability. The UO is constantly working to improve the accessibility of provides funding for the company to have a demonstration center and a all of their buildings by adding ramps and elevators to the older campus lending library, as well as allows individuals from around Oregon to work structures. When a building is not accessible, the Accessible Education with a specialist from Access Technologies to determine the technology that Center does its best to relocate classes to accommodate students with he or she needs. The company can only acquire some of its more expensive disabilities. Another addition the center is proud of is the Access Shuttle, a products, like motorized wheelchairs, by donation. fairly recent addition to the program that picks up students and takes them Kirsch says she hopes to expand Access Technologies, but acknowledges to and from home, or even from place to place on campus. “That’s been a this as a long-term goal. Currently, the company isn’t very well known, and huge improvement, even though the shuttle service is almost at capacity for recognition is one of its main roadblocks. “My biggest plans are for publicity, meeting that demand,” Gerdes says. seeing how many more people we can draw in and help make an impact on She also mentions a newer piece of technology the UO suggests to their life,” she says. make note taking easier for students with visual or hearing impairments, or Holm’s injury has certainly impacted him and his family, but it has made anyone who might have trouble keeping up with the pace of note-taking him look at his life in a new light. He is constantly touched by how often lectures. Called the “Pulse Smartpen,” it records what the professor says and people, even strangers, want to help. “Wherever I go, whoever I’m with, then takes pictures of a student’s notes while writing. If something is missed people really don’t want to see you struggle,” he says. “It’s opened my eyes, and a blank space is left, the pen will play back the appropriate part of the really, to the generosity of people.” lecture with it is pressed to the empty section of the page. The UO also occasionally rents these pens out to students.
ETHOS MAGAZINE SUMMER 2013
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