Assistive Technology: A Toolkit for People with Disabilities and their Families in the Chicago Area
Tecnologia de Apoyo: Guia de recursos para personas con discapacidades y sus familias en Chicago
As one of the University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) Fellows, I had the opportunity to develop a project that would positively impact the lives of people with disabilities (PWD) and their families. I have always been interested in helping the Latino community. While working at the Assistive Technology Unit (ATU), I noticed the little influx of Latinos requesting our services and not a lot of resources were available in Spanish. This was surprising because the City of Chicago has a large Latino population, and more importantly, Latinos that are not proficient in English.
Collaborating with The Autism Program of Illinois (TAP) resource room, located in the Department of Disability and Human Development’s Family Clinic, provided the perfect opportunity and location to start taking action to make Assistive Technology (AT) resources readily available to Spanish speaking communities. Therefore, with the support of the ATU, I decided to develop an Assistive Technology toolkit and resource guide for PWD and their families. This guide, now located in the TAP resource room, is available in English and Spanish.
The purpose of this guide is to provide PWD and their families with general information of what is AT, AT areas available, clinics offering services in the City of Chicago, and funding. We hope PWD and their families can find this guide to be a beneficial resource and a catalyst to encourage and achieve self-sufficiency and empowerment.
I want to thank the team at the Assistive Technology Unit for the incredible support.
**If you or someone you know is interested in this guide, feel free to contact me at angelmar@uic.edu**
