New CPD program opens doors in Salt Lake

A new Center for Persons with Disabilities program puts affordable assistive technology into the homes of Utahns who need it. This fall, it steps into public view for the first time, giving visitors a look at the devices available.

Citizens Reutilizing Assistive Technology Equipment (CReATE) refurbishes mobility devices and provides them at a low cost to Utahns who might not receive them otherwise. The program will team up with the Utah Center for Assistive Technology and the Computer Center for Citizens with Disabilities to hold an open house on September 18, from 3 to 7 p.m. at 1595 W. 500 South in Salt Lake City.

CReATE is administered by the Utah Assistive Technology Program at the Center for Persons with Disabilities. In August the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation awarded CReATE a $16,500 Quality of Life grant, which will help support its activities and provide some needed tools.

Individuals and organizations may both use CReATE's services and donate to the program. During the open house, CReATE is opening up its warehouse for tours, and attendees may learn how to acquire a refurbished device for themselves, a family member or a client.

The available devices depend on the current inventory and the devices donated. Available assistive technology may include power wheelchairs, manual wheelchairs, power scooters and walkers.

The multi-agency open house will also include electronic aids for daily living, augmentative communication devices and adaptive computer products. A funding specialist from the Utah Center for Assistive Technology and a representative from the Disability Law Center will be available to answer questions. Refreshments will be provided.

For more information about the open house, call Heather Young at 435-797-7412. To find out what assistive technology is available or make arrangements to acquire or donate, call (801) 887-9398.

UCC Crew Leader Andy Zimmer checks the accessibility of facilities at a campground in Box Elder county.

UCC project brings outdoors to everyone

This month, an accessible garden supported by the Center for Persons with Disabilities received the finishing touches that will make it operational come spring 2009. This garden for people of all abilities is being created by a team that includes people with disabilities.

The community garden project is the next step in an ongoing effort to make recreation accessible. The Center for Persons with Disabilities has supported the Utah Conservation Corps' Access to Service crew since it began surveying recreation areas for accessibility in 2007. This year, the crew's work on the garden's accessible planters continued through August 16. The garden will be ready for planting in the spring of 2009.

Saint Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, the CPD, USU Extension and private donors have all cooperated on the project.

While the idea of accessible outdoor recreation has been around for a while, crew co-leader Andy Zimmer said inclusive crews are new to the Corps Network, of which the UCC is a member. The experiment that has helped crew members realize just how many levels of ability exist. Zimmer uses a wheelchair himself, but areas accessible to his manual chair may still be inaccessible to motorized chairs. Quinton Williams, a crew member with visual impairment, can go where a wheelchair can't, but if the signs are not in Braille, he cannot read them. "They don't have Braille on the restrooms at the camp sites that I've seen," he said.

The project has demonstrated how many components come together to make an area accessible. For example, a restroom facility can meet all the requirements, but the trail leading to it could be too steep for a wheelchair to navigate. That said, one of the surprises for crew co-leader Jamie Mastro was how few changes were needed to make a recreation area usable for everyone. Since she is working on a master's degree in architecture, she is familiar with ADA guidelines, but this project has shown her the real-world situations that people with disabilities face. "It's turned out to be a really great experience," she said.

The Access to Service crew has blazed its own trail, right down to the implements it uses. "We discovered going out there that there was a lot of opportunity for (creating) adaptive tools ... since nobody has really done a project like this before," said Zimmer.
Assistive Technology Lab coordinator Stan Clelland modified gardening tools for people with limited hand function and designed accessible planters and a distance-measuring wheel that can be bolted to a wheelchair. Many of the implements were made in the AT lab, which is a program at the CPD.

This year, the crew continues to survey campgrounds and recreation areas in Utah, in addition to building structures in the community garden. Their survey findings will be posted on the Forest Service website, allowing users with disabilities to make more informed decisions on the best recreation areas for them.

Already, the crew's suggestions have led to improvements at Second Dam up Logan Canyon. "It was a little scary before," Zimmer said. "Now it's great. It's just like rolling down the sidewalk."

Under his leadership, the Utah Conservation Corps' Access to Service project was named 2007 Project of the Year by the Corps Network, and the Utah Commission on Volunteers named Zimmer the Americorps Member of the Year.