Assistive technology gets red carpet welcome

SANDPOINT — Any disability, any age, any task with any technology.

That’s how assistive technology professional Mike Mann describes a wide-sweeping federal program that literally puts items that range wheelchairs, walkers and hospital beds to high-tech devices and iPads loaded with helpful apps into the hands of the people with disabilities who need them.

On Thursday, Feb. 5, at noon, the Friends of the Library will host Mann as their featured monthly speaker in the meeting room at the East Bonner County Library.

The library is actually his professional home away from home, since he travels from his office in Coeur d’Alene to Sandpoint on the second Friday of each month to meet with clients and offer free assessment and consultation on which devices or technologies might best suit their needs. Mann has nothing to sell, but plenty of ideas to offer up. To use his own words, he’s a “matchmaker.”

To the general public — Mann and the Idaho Assistive Technology Program are still somewhat unknown commodities — precisely the reason the Friends of the Library will be hosting him in a couple of weeks. To educators and the professionals who work in schools with children in the special needs population, he is not only well known, he’s something of a rock star.

“When teachers hear that Mike’s going to be there, they want to be there, too,” said Lisa Barth, who has worked as a para-professional in special services for the Lake Pend Oreille School District and has a son, Jackson, on the autism spectrum. “It’s a very complex population to educate, so technology is a brilliant form that allows them to develop reading, writing and life skills.

“As parents and as educators, we’d be drowning without this stuff,” she added. “Because, for some kids, assistive technology is the only means of communication.”

In her son’s case, technology has allowed Jackson to create his visual school schedule, do his homework, communicate with friends and family and share important aspects of his life and activities through the photos he shares. As a student who now works in the library at Sandpoint High School, he was able to master the steps of the tasks involved by capturing them on his iPad, putting them in order and revisiting the steps until he had them memorized.

Apart from his work in the schools, Mann’s outreach services are available at no cost to the public. This past Friday morning, Friends of the Library membership chairman Myrna Evans and her husband, Gary, met with him to discuss ways they could adapt their lives to Gary’s accelerating hearing loss.

One big concern, according to Myrna, has been the ineffectiveness of hearing aids in Gary’s case.

“They’re really not doing the job very well, so we wanted to talk to an expert,” she said, adding that the couple also was looking forward to trying out some possible new solutions for free through the Idaho Assistive Technology Program lending library. “That’s a good idea, because you don’t want to make an expensive mistake.”

Barth and her husband used the “try before you buy” lending library when they were researching technology for Jackson.

“We wanted to get our hands on all this stuff before we started investing money in equipment,” she said.

Just moments after he had arrived and greeted the Evanses, Mann unpacked several devices he brought along in carrying cases and a plastic storage bin. Soon, a long table in the upstairs conference room at the library was covered with an amplified phone, a captioned phone, a hearing aid pendant and other options, such as an alarm clock that vibrates the owner’s pillow when it goes off, a vibrating wristband that signals when the phone is ringing and a visual fire alarm with a flashing light attached.

“I never realized they had so much available,” Gary said.

“Everything here can be checked out and tried out for 30 days,” Mann told him, explaining that the only caveat to the lending library was that the end user must have some form of disability.

Users can also check out devices online, after which they will be shipped from Coeur d’Alene to Sandpoint, where they can be dropped off at the library after the 30-day trial period. Although Mann attempted to bring the outreach to at least one other large library in North Idaho, only Sandpoint jumped at the chance to add his expertise to the roster of services provided. According to Myrna Evans, the assistive technology program is a good fit for an organization that prides itself in public service.

“In order to survive,” she said, “a library has to become a community center.”

“And a library has to work to stay relevant,” added Mann. “Sandpoint’s library is doing that better than most.”

The program got its start on the heels of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1990 — legislation designed to give users access to information without having to go through a salesperson to get it. The outreach in Sandpoint was begun about six months ago and, in keeping with the growing number of educators using Mann’s services, has picked up steam.

“This program is gaining momentum here,” the technology professional said. “There may be a time in the near future when we bump it up to two days a month.”

Mann listed Coeur d’Alene, Wallace, Kellogg, Moscow, Lewiston, Potlatch, and Bonners Ferry among the communities he travels to and serves.

“But Sandpoint is unique in North Idaho — I’ve seen the red carpet welcome here,” he said. “If Idaho is the Gem State, then Sandpoint is like the diamond.”

Among the programs offered through Idaho Assistive Technology at no cost are initial assessments and follow-up assistance, in-depth device, software and applications demonstrations, a used equipment and equipment exchange program, as well as training and technical assistance.

The program also offers 3.25 percent, three-year financing in collaboration with Zion National Bank. There are no income thresholds for the loan program and individuals with a disability can use the money to purchase items priced as low as $500 and up to $10,000.

“We don’t buy things for people, but we do help them to buy it,” the technology professional said.

Mann got into the assistive technology field after spending 25 years as a physical therapist. In 2005, he was certified to start working with school districts and became a full-time employee for the Idaho Assistive Technology Program — which operates under the auspices of the University of Idaho Center on Disabilities and Human Development — in 2012.

“I’ve never looked back,” he said. “You come to a point in your career where you want to do something else — this is my something else.”

Although he is charged with keeping abreast of cutting-edge technology, Mann insists his true expertise lies elsewhere.

“I’m not that technically gifted — I couldn’t fix my car to save my life,” he said. “But I’m a wonderful researcher and I understand disabilities. What I do is make good matches.

“I’m not thinking about the future of technology,” he went on. “I’m interested in ‘What technology can I use right now to help this person?’

“I’m constantly amazed at the pace of development,” he summed up, adding that the new technology chase is an endless one. “In that way, it’s ridiculous to do what we’re doing. It’s never boring, though.”

Those interested in learning more about the Idaho Assistive Technology Program should plan to attend the Feb. 5, Friends of the Library gathering, scheduled for noon at the East Bonner County Library.

To contact the program, call toll-free at (800) IDA-TECH, or call Mann directly at (208) 292-1406. Additional information can be found online at: www.idahoat.org.