Jim Williams, president and chief executive officer of Easter Seals, said, “Transportation is literally the link to schools, the work place, and every other destination in community life.”

Employment, recreation, education … accessing all of these experiences require transportation. One thing the group could agree on is that the current public transportation system has many barriers. Inaccessible fixed route systems, limited para-transit and a complete lack of resources in rural areas were all mentioned.

The people at this event were focused on solutions. Solutions such as incorporating transportation education into high school curriculum standards, providing sensitivity training to public transportation operators, and promoting self-advocacy skills throughout a student’s years in special education.

The conversation at the roundtable was just the beginning. This group and others will continue to work towards ensuring that youth with disabilities have the transportation they need to lead the lives they deserve.

Easter Seals’ national Director of Autism Services, Patricia Wright, has published a number of posts here about assistive technology available free-of-cost to people with autism. Just last month she wrote about SketchUp, a free software program offered by Google that people with autism have found helpful.

In a post called Making the Internet work for people with autism, Patricia linked to an Associated Press article about a creative grandfather who wanted his grandson to have access to the web. His grandson has autism and needed some accommodations.

LeSieur tried to find online tools that could guide autistic children around the Web, but he couldn’t find anything satisfactory. So he had one built, named it the Zac Browser for Autistic Children in honor of his grandson, and is making it available to anyone for free.

The browser is available at www.zacbrowser.com.

In another post Patricia touted a symbol-based browser called Webwide and explained how to use it for free on a 30-day trial basis.

I have tried Webwide myself and know individuals with autism who are able to interpret and understand information more successfully using the symbol supports and added visual cues Webwide provides. It’s a fantastic tool.

Please help us spread the word about these products that are available free of charge. Maybe at least some of the frustrations of autism could be solved if the technology got into the right hands.

Larry and Beth Markin have a 22-year-old son, Eric, who is autistic. Two years ago, because of his aggressive behavior and the problems involved in caring for him, Eric was declared a crisis case by the state. The Markins knew he could no longer live with them in their Buffalo Grove home. But neither of their options was acceptable in their eyes.

“One was to drop him off at an institution,” says Larry, who points out that that would have meant signing away his parental rights. “The state would take him and they’d spend $150,000 or $160,000 [a year] to manage him in a state institution. My other choice … was to take whatever money [government programs] would give me, about $55,000, and I’d have to house him with six other people” in a group home. Neither setting would be conducive to Eric’s well-being.

And so, the Markins bought Eric’s grandparent’s home — a place Eric had visited all his life — and hired a contractor to convert it into a home that takes Eric’s behavior and special needs into account. The house will also accommodate a second person with special needs plus a caretaker provided by an agency.

Attractive, accessible housing is essential for children and adults with disabilities as they go about their everyday lives. Parents who are thinking of retrofitting houses for their children with special needs will find help and advice at the Easy Access Housing for Easier Living Program on our website.

Easter Seals teamed up with the CENTURY 21 Real Estate Corporation to establish the Easy Access Housing for Easier Living Program — it provides homeowners with helpful educational brochures, an expert panel with additional resources and easy-to-implement tips for making an accessible home a reality.

CENTURY 21 has displayed unwavering commitment and dedication to Easter Seals for nearly three decades. Throughout the years, the CENTURY 21 System’s efforts have raised more than $91 million for Easter Seals. To see how Easter Seals and CENTURY 21 System’s Easy Access Housing for Easier Living Program might work for you, Take an Accessible Home Virtual Tour – there’s no place like home.

The group looked at all aspects of Starbucks — including the physical store, marketing campaigns and product displays. We had a discussion about the rise in the number of people diagnosed with autism and talked about how Starbucks could possibly share information at the stores about Autism and services for autism. You know, like they did recently for the presidential election. We also spoke about having “smart” stores where the environment could be modified for people with sensory needs. Suggestions were made about possibly changing the volume of music, dimmer lighting, and so on.
It was a great two days of idea sharing, and I had a chance to meet a lot of really great people from all over the country. The Starbucks representatives seemed very receptive to our suggestions.

After the meeting, we heard very little from Starbucks (except that they were going through some corporate changes). But then last week, I received an e-mail from Marthalee Galeota, Program Manager of Accessibility at Starbucks. The email introduced the new Braille and large print beverage brochures at Starbucks — these brochures were based on a recommendation from our group. Marthalee credited the guidance and support provided by our group for this accomplishment! It was a long time coming, but hopefully just the start for Starbucks and their increased awareness of people with disabilities as a strong customer and employee base.

The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) reports that nearly 20 million people with disabilities are expected to vote in this election.

“A 20 million strong voting block can easily decide a presidential election, and in this great country, elected officials respond to those who vote,” Dickson {Jim Dickson, Vice President for Government Affairs at AAPD} said. “We look forward to working with the newly elected president, Congress and state and local officials to improve employment and living conditions for the nation’s largest minority.”

Dickson says the expected increase in numbers of voters with disabilities is due in part to the $850 million in federal funds allotted from Congress to improve voting accessibility.

I can’t wait to put those headphones on, crank up that talking voting machine and make my choice independently and privately — just like my fellow American citizens do.

The Autism Society of America (ASA) website features a presidential election resources page with full statements by Republican Sen. John McCain and Democratic Sen. Barack Obama.

If you prefer going directly to each candidate for information, the McCain campaign’s website highlights his healthcare and education policies, plus a statement about autism. Obama’s homepage and his disabilities page give information about the candidate’s policy issues.

I’ll be voting on my own this year using a touch screen with audio output — the Help America Vote Act of 2002 requires “voting systems” to provide independent and private voting for all voters, including citizens who have disabilities. I toyed with voting early, but in the end decided to wait until election day. I’m actually looking forward to standing in line with my fellow Americans.

The new rules are meant to clarify what qualifies as a service animal — and to avoid confusion — when it comes to implementing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Of particular interest to people concerned with autism assistance dogs is DOJ’s categorical statement:

Animals whose sole function is to provide emotional support, comfort, therapy, companionship, therapeutic benefits, or to promote emotional well-being are not service animals.

Control of the service animal in public settings is also emphasized in the NPRM. A post on a widely read blog called AutismVox expresses a concern that people with autism may have to “re-categorize” themselves to qualify their dogs as service animals.

… there is generally a lot of hesitation to referring to autism and autism spectrum disorders in the category of “mental disability/impairment/health, etc.” But what if recourse to such categories is necessary to ensure that an autistic child can have a therapy dog in school with them?

It’s not just schools that are scrutinizing autism assistance dogs — a story in a New Zealand newspaper last week reports that Quantas forbid three autism assistance dogs from boarding a plane in Los Angeles.

Qantas said it allowed service dogs to travel in the cabin if they were registered, such as guide dogs, hearing dogs, mobility assistance dogs or any other dog that a person with a disability required to help them with their travel.

“The passenger must carry and present a recognised Service Dog ID card or documentation at the time of check-in,” a spokeswoman said. “In this case, although Qantas operated the flight, the passengers travelled as customers of American Airlines. Therefore, American Airlines has responsibility for booking, ticketing and providing passengers with information.”

She said Qantas would investigate the way the matter was handled and contact the customers directly.

Your opinion on the rule changes proposed about service dogs are welcome. The Department of Justice has made it easy to submit your comment to them by email. Just make sure to go to the site this week — August 18, 2008 is their deadline for accepting comments.

The essay features sound bites of my talking computer and focuses on the internship that got me started here at Easter Seals in 2006. I became involved with Easter Seals when I participated in the Technology Opportunities Program (TOP) grant Easter Seals received from the U.S. Department of Commerce. The Interactive Marketing Group at Easter Seals Headquarters used the grant to work with Convio, a software company, to create web content management tools for people who are blind.

Easter Seals recruited blind and visually impaired interns from all over the country to work with the software and learn web content management skills.

I was one of those interns. Once my 10-month TOP internship was completed, Easter Seals Headquarters hired me as the “Interactive Community Coordinator.” What that fancy title means is that I’m the one moderating the Easter Seals and Autism blog — I read through blog comments on a daily basis and forward your comments to Easter Seals blog authors and information and referral staff.

I use assistive technology to do my work — a computer program called JAWS reads the text on my screen out loud. That’s how I’m able to read your comments. I tell people I’m the only blind woman in America being paid to moderate a blog. I’m not sure if that’s true, but so far no one has challenged me on that statement.

Tomorrow I’m presenting a “Blogging by Ear” session at the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER) International Convention here in Chicago. So now I’m adding another unsubstantiated claim to my resume: I am the only blind woman in America leading sessions encouraging others to blog!

If any readers are interested, you can try Webwide for free for 30 days by sending an email to trialwebwide@widgit.com.

Please include your name, address, phone number, email address, and organization.

I have tried Webwide myself and know individuals with autism who are able to interpret and understand information more successfully using the symbol supports and added visual cues Webwide provides. It’s a fantastic tool — check it out!

I also happen to be blind.

A computer program called JAWS reads the text on my screen out loud to me. That’s how I’m able to read your comments to the Easter Seals autism blog. People I meet are fascinated with my talking computer -– I suppose anyone can close their eyes and imagine what it is like to be blind, so they take a special interest.

Imagining what it is like to have autism –- and how computers can help people with autism — is not as easy. So I appreciated this blog post explaining how communicating online can help people with autism develop skills they need for everyday interaction.

You see, for people with Autism, it is difficult (if not impossible) to read our society’s unwritten social rules. How do I know when someone is angry? When they are happy? When they are frightened? Most of us, from time to time, and in a given social setting, intentionally or unintentionally, give off mixed signals to the world around us. And most of us, from an early age, learn to decode and understand these signals. People with Autism misinterpret or lack understanding of these signals … The online environment simplifies those emotional states (a smiling face for “happy,” a frown for “unhappy,” etc). For people with Autism, it is a safe way to develop skills they need for everyday interaction without leaving the security of their own computer.

You know, until someone told me what emoticons were, I could not figure out why the heck my talking computer kept shouting out the words “colon right paren” after every funny line in an email message. I’m glad I found this blog post — I mean, who knew those silly smiley faces could be so helpful?