The Community Research for Assistive Technology Project needs your input!

We've been very busy this summer gearing up for Phase Two of our project, 
which consists of moderating focus groups to find out from consumers what 
barriers
exist regarding AT usage. We've almost completed Phase One - finding out 
what we know now regarding the issues surrounding AT for employment, 
health, function
and independent living.

To help with the completion of the first phase, we would like your 
assistance in investigating what we know about AT and employment, health, 
function and
independent living. We've produced four position papers that now need 
feedback. We are looking for people to tell us what are their priorities 
within the
papers that need research as well as items or importance we may have missed 
during our initial research.

Because of the length of the papers, we have also created a shorter survey 
for those who still would like to help. The Community Concerns Research 
Questions
survey allows people to rank the topics that are most important for them to 
be researched under each research area: Employment, Health, Function and 
Independent
Living.

We have also created surveys for employers, even those who have little or 
no knowledge of AT. We want to know if they have employees with disabilities,
what AT they are using, how it was paid for, barriers they encounter, as 
well as success stories.

These surveys can be found at:
http://www.atnet.org/CR4AT/cr4at.home.html
Lastly, we are gearing up to start conducting focus groups with consumers 
and users of AT to determine the barriers regarding AT. We are looking at 
several
consumer groups to hold focus groups with. These topics include:
·       Employment,
·       Health,
·       Function,
·       Independent Living,
·       Spanish AT users,
·       Consumers with psychological disabilities,
·       African-American AT users,
·       Issues on funding,
·       Native American AT users,
·       Developmentally disabled consumers,
·       Persons with speech disabilities,
·       Blind,
·       Rural,
·       Aging,
·       And the Deaf communities

We are in need of agencies that can assist us in hosting these focus groups 
as well as aiding us in recruitment of consumers to participate. We would be
more than happy to work with you on any issues that you feel are important 
to the usage of AT. Please let me know if you have further ideas.

Sincerely,

Amy Noakes
Community Research for AT, Project Coordinator
[log in to unmask]
Voice: 916-325-1690
TDD: 916-325-1695

Amy Noakes
AT Research Project Coordinator
CFILC
660 J St., Ste. 270
Sacramento, CA 95814
916-325-1690
[log in to unmask]
www.cfilc.org
www.atnet.org



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