For Alanna Raffel, finding ways to make the world more accessible has become a priority. Through her work at Technology for Our Whole Lives, a part of the Institute of Disabilities at Temple University, she has been able to make these kinds of changes.
“So much of our work is focused on the social model of disability,” said Raffel, an assistive technology specialist with the program. “Not trying to ‘fix’ anyone or ‘cure’ anyone, but that the world is inaccessible, and we’re trying to change that.”
TechOWL includes resource centers and hubs accessible across the state, as well as a community space in Philadelphia, Raffel said. Opened one year ago, this space offers a unique setting for flexibility and accommodation.
“People, especially people with disabilities, already have so many appointments and so many things to deal with and everything can be so complicated,” she said. “Being able to just say, ‘Come stop by during these hours and we’ll help you figure it out, or we’ll help you check out a wheelchair that you need or test out a device or come try the accessible video game.’ So being able to have that flexibility and availability has made a really big difference in who we’re reaching and how many people we’re reaching.”
TechOWL is Pennsylvania’s designated Assistive Technology (AT) Act Program. Each state has a similar program – designed to provide assistive technology resources for older adults or those with disabilities, as well as increasing awareness around these products.
While TechOWL has statewide hubs, its headquarters are in Philadelphia, Raffel said. She explained that while the organization has existed for many years, the need for a more accessible space was vital.
“Going to the fourth floor of an academic building isn’t necessarily the most accessible thing,” she said. “It’s physically accessible, but you don’t just stumble upon it. And it always required appointments.”
A more inclusive setting
The TechOWL community space, located at 1392 Cecil B. Moore Ave., offers a more open layout and availability than other services, Raffel explained.
“Having the community space allows us to be on the first floor, and we have big windows where people can discover us just by walking by,” she said. “People can stop by during our open hours throughout the week and interact with our programs and services. And it’s made such a big difference with feeling like we’re more accessible to the community.”
In addition, Raffel said the space has a lot more dedicated room for big events – like workshops and other programming – that its previous home did.
“We can bring in groups of people,” she said. “So we can do a lot of workshops with school groups. We’ve done a lot of field trips, whether that’s classrooms of students with disabilities or not, or classrooms that include kids with disabilities and kids without disabilities. They can all come on a field trip and explore different things and learn. A lot of them tend to be students that are interested in engineering and printing of assistive technology, which we do there.”
The community space offers four main services for the community. The first is providing demos for people to try out different assistive technology.
“That’s often these one-on-one demos, where we can try different things with someone, and that usually happens now at the community space, where we can have access to lots of different things to try,” she said. “People can walk in for things like that. Someone can just show up and say ‘hey, I’m here and I’m curious about vision equipment. I’m losing my vision and I want to try out different vision equipment.’ We usually recommend making sure that our vision specialist is on that day and making sure that they can connect to that person. So if you’re looking for a really specific demo, we usually encourage them to give us a heads up.”
Second, the space provides various workshops and trainings. These may be open or geared toward specific groups, such as occupational therapy students or school groups.
Third, the organization offers a used equipment program.
“People can stop in and donate things like wheelchairs, walkers, canes and shower chairs,” she said. “So another huge development is that we have space for all this stuff. We have many things that people can just stop by during open hours to drop off, we refurbish it, and then other people stop by during open hours to pick it up. So they’ll stop by and say, ‘Hey, do you have this particular kind of wheelchair right now that I can have?’ Or they just show up and say, ‘Hey, I need a walker.’ ”
Raffel usually recommends those wanting to grab used equipment call ahead and give a heads up to ensure TechOWL has the equipment and can make sure it is ready. Even so, walk-ins are welcome.
Finally, the group has a loan program, which provides short-term rentals for assistive technology.
Beyond these main functions, the space also offers unique, fun features.
“We also have our adaptive gaming program,” she said. “So we have all different kinds of adaptive custom gaming setups, and then the maker space, where we 3D print assistive technology, so people can kind of see us make stuff and come check out all the stuff we can 3D print.”
Why the space is important
Raffel adds the openness and front-facing nature of this space helps to destigmatize assistive technology and allow others to come in and explore the space, even if they are just curious. She said some of the best community partnerships have been formed with people who wandered into the space.
“I just met someone the other day who found out about us, because they popped in to get a tissue once,” she said. “And now we have this partnership between our organizations, but it started from them popping in for a tissue.”
The community space has received an overwhelmingly positive response in its first year, said Jack Ouligian, assistant director of communication and dissemination at the Institute on Disabilities.
“People emphasized how much easier it was to get to the programming and how much of a welcoming space it was,” he said.
The community space is open Mondays and Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Tuesday and Thursday from 1 to 5 p.m. Other hours are available by appointment.
