As a visiting and public health nurse for more than
11 years, Jane Gay saw firsthand how often people with
disabilities need help doing tasks that might seem
simple to more able-bodied folks.
Reading a book. Holding a fork. Calling a friend.
Any of these activities could be daunting for a person
whose body won’t cooperate because of illness,
advanced age, or injury.
Today, Gay’s job is to connect people with
disabilities to resources and technologies that can
make their lives easier. She is director of the Iowa
Program for Assistive Technology, or IPAT, a federally
funded state program created about 14 years ago on
the University of Iowa campus.
Initially, the goal of IPAT was to raise awareness
about the wide variety of equipment available to
help people with disabilities live and work more
independently, Gay says. The program’s goals
have since expanded to include lobbying for legal
change and promoting systemic changes that address
the unique needs of Iowa’s disabled population.
To some people, IPAT may be the fastest way to find
a new device to help them move, eat, read, or communicate.
For others, IPAT may have improved their life by
convincing the construction industry to build homes
that are easier to navigate with a wheelchair.
Julie Damiano, a physical therapist at Progressive
Rehab Associates in Iowa City, says she refers about
a dozen clients each year to IPAT.
“Some of our clients have unique needs. The
people at IPAT have been able to run computer searches
and compile information to help our clients find
out about different types of equipment that could
help them,” Damiano says. “One man needed
an adaptation to his bicycle so he could ride it.
They helped him find the equivalent of adult training
wheels so he could ride again. IPAT is a very valuable
resource for us and for our patients.”
Progressive Rehab is a privately owned outpatient
rehabilitation facility with eight offices in the
greater Iowa City area, but Gay says IPAT’s
services reach well beyond the program’s hometown.
In fact, IPAT records reflect that the agency reaches
about 50,000 Iowans with disabilities each year.
Gay accomplishes this with four employees and a secretary/receptionist.
Information specialist Ann Dudler has spent years
compiling a computerized list of more than 12,000
types of “assistive technology” or devices
for people with disabilities, ranging from wheelchairs
and walkers to voice-activated light switches, levered
doorknobs, and foam fork handles. She also runs a
used-equipment referral service to help clients find
devices at lower-than-market-rate prices.
“Maybe the people who call us want to go fishing,
or they want their child to get dressed independently.
If they give us an idea of what they want to do and
why they can’t do it, we can show them some
options,” Gay says.
Dudler adds: “You just never know when you
are going to help someone find something that’s
going to make all the difference and make every day
a little easier for them.”
With hundreds of thousands of devices available,
Gay says that one of Dudler’s most important
roles is showing clients all of their options.
“For a lot of families, just seeing the range
of options is new,” Gay explains. “Instead
of going to a vendor who says, ‘This is what
I sell,’ we can show them all of the options
available.”
In the same office, Amy Mikelson coordinates IPAT’s
statewide awareness and training efforts, and Jennifer
Britton, IPAT’s funding specialist, helps budget-strapped
families identify sources of financial aid. Britton
distributes tip sheets to agencies across the state
to help their clients or programs get services or
funding more quickly.
To inspire more physicians and clinicians to refer
patients to IPAT, the program is located in the Center
for Disabilities and Development on the University
of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics campus, but the program
collaborates with a variety of organizations both
on and off campus.
Student interns and faculty members in the UI College
of Law’s Clinical Law Program have helped IPAT
draft bills related to assistive technology, and
a few years ago, IPAT became the first assistive
technology program in the country to connect its
disabled clients with free legal help at the clinic.
More recently, the clinic helped draft a bill and
lobby Iowa lawmakers to grant a tax break for small
employers who purchase equipment or modify the workplace
to hire, retain, or accommodate applicants and employees
with disabilities.
“Ours was the first (state assistive technology
program) that said, ‘If we need to get the
system to change, we need to have legal advocacy,’” Gay
says. “Changing the system involves making
people aware of what’s available but also enforcing
the laws that already exist.”
Len Sandler, clinical law professor and Legal Clinic
supervisor, says the collaboration has been a tremendous
success.
Outside the University community, IPAT staff members
have educated daycare, preschool, and K-12 teachers
about the wide array of assistive devices available.
They also worked with the Iowa Department of Public
Health to create and distribute a booklet about devices
for patients who have suffered traumatic brain injuries.
This year, however, Congress needs to consider continued
funding for the state programs created under the
1990 federal Tech Act, which includes IPAT. In the
meantime, Gay notes, the Iowa state budget is helping
to cover IPAT’s expenses.
Despite the funding uncertainty, IPAT employees
are not slowing down. Over the next year, they will
collaborate on projects with the Iowa Department
of Transportation to get information about assistive
devices into drivers’ license stations. They
also will work with the American Medical Association
to train doctors to provide more information about
assistive devices to older drivers, Gay says.
On the legal advocacy front, Sandler and his law
students are lobbying for approval of a bill they
helped draft on new construction requirements for
Iowa homes and apartments built with public funds.
Proposed requirements would include a flat or zero-step
entrance; bathroom wall reinforcements to accommodate
grab bar installations; 32-inch-wide doorway openings;
and placing light switches, thermostats, and other
controls 15 to 48 inches from the ground.
Sandler says it’s just one of many ways in
which IPAT is empowering the thousands of Iowans
who need its services, directly or indirectly.
“We are devoted to making sure Iowans with
disabilities get the technology they need, no matter
how simple or complicated it is, so they can work,
go to school, or live independently in their homes,” he
says.
For more information on IPAT, see www.uiowa.edu/infotech.
by Sara Langenberg
|
