GEORGIA AT DEPOT:
GEORGIA'S ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY COOPERATIVE WEBINAR
~ February 15, 2011 ~
LIZ PERSAUD: This is Liz Persaud. Welcome to
today's webinar, the Georgia AT Depot, the Georgia
Assistive Technology Depot, which is Georgia's assistive
technology cooperative.
Before we jump into the subject matter of the
webinar, I wanted to just give a brief overview of the
webinar system so those of you who are on for the first
time are familiar with the system and so those of you who
haven't been on with us in a while can get reacquainted
with it.
So if any of you have a microphone in a headset or
a microphone and would like to actually speak comments or
questions -- I know Justin in South Carolina, you've got
your microphone connected, and you've been responding to us
via your voice, and that's been wonderful.
So we just wanted to let folks know that, when you
are ready to speak, you're going to hold down the "Control"
key on your keyboard and speak as you're holding down the
"Control" key.
But just remember that, as soon as you're finished
speaking, please let go of the "Control" key, so that way
we can take the mic back, answer your questions, and that
will open up the platform for other speakers as well too.
If you don't have a microphone and you just want to
type your comments or questions into the public-chat
area -- again, a lot of you are writing to us right now --
right above the "Attendee" list it says "Public Chat," so
feel free to type in your questions or comments. We'll be
keeping our eye on that throughout this webinar.
Underneath that there's a list of all of the
attendees for the webinar. So you can scroll through and
see your peers across the country that are visiting us, and
you can also send them private messages by double clicking
on their name as well, too, if you want to communicate with
them.
If you are using a screen reader, or if you have
any accessibility options that you need to adjust, you can
just go under your menu settings on the top left corner
under "Options," click on the submenu of "Accessibility,"
and feel free just to play with those options to suit your
needs.
So with that being said, we're going to jump on
into the webinar. I wanted to let y'all know that we've
got some speakers that were supposed to be on the webinar
system that couldn't make it.
So y'all are stuck with Martha Rust and I today.
We promise that we'll do our best to cover all the aspects
of AT Depot as we're really excited to bring this new Tools
For Life venture, the new wave in our projects here at the
Tools For Life program, to you and be sure to answer your
questions as thoroughly as possible as well too.
And we're jumping on to the next slide. If y'all
are able to see it, feel free just to let me know just so
we can make sure that we're in sync.
The next slide is the agenda of what we're covering
today. If you have difficulty seeing it or it's not
showing up, just hit your "Refresh" button on the top
left-hand side, and that can refresh your screen and
hopefully pull up the PowerPoint for you as well too.
So today's agenda, I just wanted to give y'all a
quick run-through. We've got until 3 o'clock with y'all,
and we're hoping to use all of that time just to really,
you know, spend with you guys.
We really appreciate you taking time of your busy
day and your busy schedules just to join us and to learn
more about this exciting activity that we've got going on.
So just wanted to give y'all an overview of some of the
things that we're going to cover in our short time with you
today.
So we're going to define Georgia AT Depot. Again,
it's Georgia's new assistive technology cooperative. We're
going to discuss a little bit of TFL's activities, really
go through the AT Depot goal of what we're here to do and
what we really are thriving to accomplish.
Martha is going to give some examples of product
lines and savings that we've been able to work on that we
can pass on to y'all.
We're going to describe a little bit about AT Depot
customers, give you a tour of the ATDepot.org website,
discuss some other funding resources, and then of course
answer any questions or address anything that y'all would
like to bring up to us as well.
We are very excited to let you know that we do
offer credits for all of our Tools For Life webinars. We
offer CEUs and CRCs.
So for CEUs all you need to do is visit the AAC
Institute. It's www.aacinstitute.org. If you go on to
there, click on the "CEU" section, you'll be able to find
this webinar and get the information.
Now, I wanted to address -- I know a lot of you
have e-mailed me and said upcoming webinars or this current
webinar has not been posted yet.
Unfortunately, I'm working with the AAC Institute.
They're kind of slow at just getting the information up
there. So please be patient with us and just know that I'm
working on it to get the information up there to you.
So we also offer CRCs, which I know is a big hit,
and we're really excited for all of y'all joining us, and
we're really glad that we're able to offer you CRCs.
If you are in need of CRCs, send me, Liz, an e-mail
with your name, organization name, city and state and your
corresponding e-mail address. I need to have all of your
contact information to build our attendee list. It's very
important that you do that.
And also, if you could actually, in the public-chat
area, go ahead and just type in your name and your
organization and city and state that you're in, I can copy
and paste that as well too. It's really, really important.
That is for the CRCs.
MARTHA RUST: This is Martha.
CRC is for certified rehab counselors. It's a
credit that rehabilitation counselors need to get. So if
you are in need of a CRC, just go ahead and e-mail Liz.
Otherwise, definitely go for the CEUs.
LIZ PERSAUD: Thank you, Martha.
So if you guys are willing, just go ahead and type
in your name and your organization program that you're with
in the public-chat area. What that does is help us build
an attendee list, and that's really important for us to
turn in for CRCs.
So once I get your information that you are needing
CRCs, I will e-mail you the verification form, and then
y'all can handle that how you normally do.
I also wanted to let you know that this webinar is
being recorded. And we usually post those within three to
four weeks. As you can see, Kimberly Griffin, our
wonderful transcriptionist, is on with us today.
Hey, Kimberly. And we really appreciate you being
on here.
But Kimberly is great at working on transcribing
this webinar. And again, it will be on the Tools For Life
website in about three to four weeks.
And I do see comments on there that someone is
having a hard time registering for CEUs. I am definitely
working on that. I do appreciate you guys having patience
with us.
Just trying to work with the AAC Institute so they
can get their information up on the website. So I promise
you I am working on that and will do my best again just to
get that up as quickly as possible.
And again, thank you everyone for typing in your
information. That really, really helps us here at Tools
For Life so we can offer these credits to you guys.
So AT Depot. Let's get on to the content of the
webinar. This slide says "The next wave in AT Support from
the Tools For Life network."
The reason why we say "next wave in AT Support" is
because here at Tools For Life we see ourselves as really
fluid, always adjusting, always exploring new things that
are coming our way.
It's our goal to get information, resources out
there about assistive technology. But not just, "Hey,
here's a piece of technology," or, "Here's software. Isn't
this great? Don't you wish you could use it?"
But it's important for us to work on acquisition of
that. How do you get your hands on assistive technology?
And how do you work with getting the folks that you work
with assistive -- or put people with disabilities --
parents, teachers, those that are interested -- in using
assistive technology, how do they get that? How do they
afford it?
So as always, we are constantly working on getting
those new resources, working on those funding
opportunities. So this is our next wave in AT support from
the Tools For Life program and the network, bringing the AT
assistive technology cooperative to you and how we can work
with y'all to get great savings on assistive technology.
MARTHA RUST: So again, thank you all for joining
us. This, again, is Martha Rust. And we're going to go
ahead and jump into what is the Georgia AT Depot.
Well, Georgia AT Depot was an idea that we started
talking about about three years ago. And it's so cool to
see how far we have come with it.
Unfortunately, Rhonda Perling, who is kind of
over -- this is one of her projects at Tools For Life -- is
out not feeling well today. So we hope that she has a
speedy recovery. Otherwise she would be on the webinar
today too.
The Georgia AT Depot again was an idea that came
out about three years ago. It's a cooperative buying
arrangement so that individuals could buy pieces of
assistive technology for a discount which would be easier
for them to pay for.
We are working with the Maryland Assistive
Technology Cooperative, MATCOOP, with this endeavor, which
is really cool. They have been doing this for quite some
years, almost about ten years maybe, if not longer, where
they have worked with a variety of different vendors all
over Maryland and throughout.
And they have extended their savings to us here in
Georgia, so we're really excited about that. So we're
definitely working hand in hand with Maryland, MATCOOP,
right now.
We have over a hundred participating manufacturers
and publishers, so tons of pieces of equipment; instant
access to thousands of products within these one hundred
participants; and then discounts almost on all the items.
So this kind of falls into our Tools For Life --
this definitely falls into our Tools For Life mission
statement. Our mission is to increase the access and
acquisition of assistive technology devices and assistive
technology services for all Georgians of all ages and
disabilities so they can live, learn, work, and play
independently in the communities of their choice.
This is why the AT Depot just kind of naturally
falls into our mission statement, especially with the
acquisition part.
So to go along with that, we want to talk a little
bit about how this falls into our state plan as well. We
are designed to increase access and, again, acquisition of
assistive technology.
And we focus on employment, education, community
living, and IT telecommunications. You can find a lot
about us, if you're not familiar with Tools For Life, by
going to look at our website, which is www.gatfl.org.
And if you've never been there, I'd just encourage
you to go take a peek. It's full of tons of resources and
information. And again, you'll find our webinar from today
that will be on there, too, in a few weeks.
So going forward with this, the goal of the AT
Depot is to break down those barriers which prevent
individuals with disabilities to effectively acquire the
assistive technologies they need to gain greater
independence.
That was our goal for the Georgia AT Depot, is how
do we get equipment into the hands of the people that need
it at an affordable price?
And with that, we want to make sure that the AT
products are available to the Georgians with disabilities
at a much lower price.
So you'll notice throughout this webinar today is
that, with the AT Depot, we are offering products and
software at a reasonable price, a much lower price, and
trying to eliminate that funding barrier.
As we all know, funding with assistive technology
is one of the greatest barriers. So if we can break it
down just a little, that's what we're here for.
This is a map of Georgia, and we have participating
ATRC centers. So we wanted to throw the map up of Georgia
of our participating ATRC centers that are working with us
with our AT Depot.
And we have Tech-Able in Conyers, Walton Options
out in Augusta, and then Disability Connections in Macon.
And also included is CFII, the Center for Financial
Independence and Innovation, also right here in Georgia,
which is the home of our Credit-Able, our alternative
financing program for loans for pieces of equipment.
So I wanted to make sure we included them on the
map because we will be talking about them later on in this
webinar on how they can actually help assist individuals to
purchase the equipment they need.
This is just a sampling, even a little bit of a
sampling, of some of the things that are actually in our
catalog for items that are discounts.
And as you can see, I highlighted some of the top
ones that are getting a lot of requests. Like right now
7 percent off of Bagatrix products, 8 percent off Ablenet
products, 13 percent off of MagicTouch touch screen kits
and Marblesoft/Simtech software, all the way up to
20 percent off of TextHELP Read & Write Gold.
And those are the ones we just kind of highlighted
right now because we're getting a lot of requests for
those, and we know that a lot of school systems have
requested these items.
But just wanted to let you know, too, that this is
just a few of the many that are out there. We also have
Nuance with Dragon. We have discounts on that to different
types of switches to many different things.
LIZ PERSAUD: So how much can be saved with AT
Depot? That's the exciting part, is that we're saving
people money.
Already the Georgia AT Depot has saved people
12 percent on AT purchases. Thousands of dollars have
already been saved. And we're getting access to AT at
extremely amazing advantageous prices.
So that's something that we're extremely excited
about. Because, again, we're here to eliminate those
funding barriers. As Martha said, funding can be the
greatest barrier to someone getting the assistive
technology that they need.
So again, that's what AT Depot is for. And we're
so excited that really and truly thousands of dollars are
already being saved, and people are so excited that we've
been able to have that relationship with the Maryland AT
Coop as we're all negotiating prices with vendors on your
behalf.
So who are the AT Depot customers? We put this in
here because we wanted to make sure we clarify who the
AT Depot direct customers are. So these are the folks that
will submit and purchase the orders, calling the AT Depot
number or getting in touch with AT Depot via the website or
the e-mail address.
So schools and universities, public and private;
and agencies. And we said "not limited to" because, again,
they are growing numbers every day.
We have just started this endeavor. We're learning
as we go as well too. Again we've already saved thousands
of dollars. But we are learning as we expand this
throughout Georgia. So agencies like Vocational
Rehabilitation and also our participating Assistive
Technology Resource Centers here in Georgia.
Some of the indirect customers are those who need
assistive technology services that are associated with the
purchase. So folks with disabilities, families, and
businesses.
Right now our mission, as Martha said, it relates
to filling the orders and providing discounts of assistive
technology to the folks. Currently we are working on ways
that we can work directly with people with disabilities.
But for now we work directly with the schools and
with some of those other agencies, the participating
Assistive Technology Resource Centers, and via our agencies
to purchase on behalf of folks with disabilities. So we're
just trying to kind of mesh through some of those details,
if you will.
AT services, it's very important to remember, are
referred to and provided by the Tools For Life network and
the participating ATRCs. So just some very common examples
are purchasing, consulting, training on the equipment, and
also demonstrations and product implementation for
individuals as well too.
Again, this is just kind of reiterating what I
said. Individuals work through a school or an agency to
place the order. And then, again, we'll refer them to a
participating ATRC.
It's very important that we just not get the
assistive technology in the hands of folks but follow up
with the training as well too. And that's where we are
relying on the Tools For Life network and participating
ATRCs for them to really work with the folks and provide
training, description, demonstration of the assistive
technology so people are extremely and very familiar with
it.
MARTHA RUST: This is really just a flowchart of
how this process works. I'm a very visual person, so I
kind of created this flowchart just to show that a family
member or a person with a disability would meet with a
participating ATRC center to see what they need, what type
of equipment or what type of software they would like to
order.
And then that participating ATRC would then place
the order for a discount with us at Georgia AT Depot. And
we have all the forms and everything online. And we will
be going over those in just a few minutes, too, to show you
how you can order equipment.
And then us here at AT Depot, we then place the
order to MATCOOP in Maryland. So they will actually place
the order with the vendor. So it seems like a long
process, but it works kind of fast actually.
And then the vendor ships the order directly to the
participating ATRC. So that ATRC that's placing the order,
the vendor will ship it directly there. And then that
participating ATRC, again, will deliver to the person with
the disability, the family member or whatever. And then
they'll talk about support and training that comes along
with that.
So this is an example of how AT Depot and the TFL
network can work. Someone actually went out and purchased
a new computer, and they called us after their old computer
broke down and they went and bought a new one. And they
realized, after they bought the new one, it did not meet
their physical needs. It did not meet what they needed to
do for their employment and while at home. It wasn't able
to give them what they needed.
So they were referred to us and a participating
ATRC to see how we could help them in this situation. And
what it was was something simple. Their old computer just
needed to be repaired. It was a simple fix.
And our participating ATRC center, which is really
cool, went ahead and fixed the computer and met with the
individual and found out that the new software that this
individual needed could work right along on the old
computer after the repairs were made and did not really
need to make that payment for a new computer.
So that individual, in turn, was able to return
that new computer at the time because they really could not
afford a brand-new one, but they needed a computer. So
this is a really cool story of how they were given our
contact, we were able to work with them with a
participating ATRC and the AT Depot, and they were able to
get their old computer up and running and using their new
software.
So it was great. So it was a win-win for both the
participating ATRC center and the individual that needed
that. And they did return their new computer for a refund.
So they got all their money back.
So some of the benefits of working with Tools For
Life network and the participating ATRC, again, is the
product support. Again, AT Depot, we place the order, and
we don't necessarily do the support. So it's nice to have
the participating ATRC and the Tools For Life network do
the support and also training.
That's a big thing. We don't want to just make
sure someone has the software. But what are they going to
do? They get the software home. You know, if the
individual ordered Dragon, do they know that they need to
train Dragon for about 30 minutes while it gets used to the
way they talk and stuff? Do they know that? So it's good
to be involved with the participating ATRCs to get that
training.
Again, AT evaluations, services and support are
very important. So many times I've heard individuals say,
"Well, so-and-so uses this piece of equipment, and it
really works for them, and that's what I want."
And in reality, once we start talking and looking
at the piece of software, it's not exactly that software
they need; they need something with other features.
So it's really good to have the participating ATRCs
and the TFL network to be there to help with the
evaluations to see what type of features that are needed
for whatever reason.
Another thing that's really cool is the lending
libraries that we have through our network. This has been
great. Many individuals have wanted to try a piece of
equipment before they buy, and so they're able to go to the
lending libraries, and a lot of the times they're able to
check it out for a week or two, depending on their needs,
to see if that piece of equipment actually works in their
home or in their office or wherever they need it to be.
I just worked with an individual not too long ago
who wanted a voice amplifier because -- another example
that so-and-so had one, and he thought it could work for
him.
And fortunately we had two different kinds that he
could try in our lending library here. And he tried them
both and decided this is not what he needed after all. So
it was good that he got to try it before he actually went
out and bought it.
Again, product demonstrations. Able to try out and
see different products. We work really closely with
vendors. And lots of times they are able to come out and
bring a piece of equipment, software, a device and actually
do a demo for the individual to see if it's going to meet
their needs.
Funding resources. Again, I'm sorry that Rhonda
Perling is not able to be on today. She is our funding and
resource specialist with Tools For Life and works really
closely with CFII, the Center For Financial Independence &
Innovation. So she has worked with many people one on one
to find funding resources.
And then also we work really closely with FODAC,
Friends of Disabled Adults and Children in the Stone
Mountain area, on DME and AT reuse.
LIZ PERSAUD: Our vendor relationships are
extremely important. You know, Martha and I have spent our
years here at Tools For Life really networking with the
vendors, working with them to get products into the lending
libraries that we can get to use so you can get them to
your customers; and also building those relationships so,
when it came time to doing something like this venture, the
AT Depot Coop, we can say, "How can you work with us to get
discounted prices so we can offer those savings to the
people that we service?"
So, again, coordinating with the Maryland AT Coop
and their participating vendors to provide the discounts is
one of the ways that we've been working with our vendors
and being able to provide those nationwide discounts to
you.
And we also list local vendors and referral
inquiries associated with their product lines. So, for
example, vision products. We have a lot of these vendors
on our AT Depot website.
MARTHA RUST: One of the things we wanted to make
sure when we started this adventure of doing AT Depot is
that we would not hurt any of our Georgia vendors because
we have many, many great Georgia vendors.
And so before we even started this, we talked to a
lot -- we talked to as many as we knew to let them know
that we're going to do this instead of -- again, the
example of our vision products, because we have so many
great vision vendors here in Georgia, that we would refer
people directly to them and not through the AT Depot.
So again, all this information is in our product
and resource guide that Liz will be going over in just a
minute.
LIZ PERSAUD: So now I'd like to give you a tour of
the AT Depot website. It's ATDepot.org.
The next couple of slides that I have are actually
just screen shots of the AT Depot website. So when you are
finished with this webinar, please feel free at any time to
just jump on the AT Depot website, get familiar with it,
know some of the things that we're offering, our vendor
list.
If you have any questions, again, you can always
get in touch with us. So I just wanted to give you all a
quick introduction.
So this slide here shows the AT Depot home page.
It has a very brief explanation of what the AT Depot is,
the relationship with the Tools For Life program, all the
contact information.
And as you can see, across the top there's
different tabs for different aspects, and we'll go into a
few of those as well too. We're always trying to be
accessible; so you can adjust your text size on this
website as well too.
This is the orders page. This is probably the most
important page for y'all to know as you're placing your
orders and as you're sharing information about AT Depot to
other folks so they can place orders as well too.
So this is the top part of the orders page.
There's links to go to the order form or to the quote
request form. And it has a description of how to do all of
that.
And if you click on one of those links that say
"How to place an order" or "How to fill your order through
the AT Depot," you click it, and you scroll down, and it
takes you to the form, either the Microsoft Word or the PDF
or the Excel or PDF versions of how to order through AT
Depot or directions for requesting a quote.
Again, if you have any questions, we always are
referring folks to our team lead on this, Rhonda Perling.
And we have her contact information up here as well, too,
and you can get that on the AT Depot website.
But it's very self-explanatory, very easy to
follow. We didn't want to make the forms complicated for
anyone. We wanted to not create barriers but just to
promote -- our promise is, again, we try to get these
amazing prices to you guys. So again, this is the orders
page of the AT Depot website.
Placing orders. We just want y'all to be extremely
specific. Our goal is to get your order to you as quickly
as possible. Be sure to be very detailed and to go back
and double-check. If you have preferences on size, on a
color. Obviously your product number is important to
include on there as well too.
So just be very sure to indicate all the specifics
on the form so we can do our best to get the equipment to
you as quickly as possible and we don't have to give you a
call back and double-check things and whatnot. We just
want to get it in your hands as fast as we can.
This is the screen shot of the training page on the
AT Depot website. There's a lovely picture there of my
friend and coworker there, Martha Rust, conducting a
training to some folks.
But this just describes some of the training that
the Tools For Life network and participating ATRCs and the
Tools For Life team that we here at the state office
provide to folks who are interested in it.
So there's a link that will take you back to the
Tools For Life website that will go to our training page.
And this just goes into some descriptive information about
the trainings again that we offer to you.
Services. Again we wanted to provide information
about the participating ATRCs within the TFL network. And
Martha just had shared some of the services that
participating ATRCs will provide to AT Depot customers.
So things like the lending library, training
demonstration, talking to folks about funding and how to
toggle resources and whatnot. So this is the page where
you get all the information. You can click on the ATRC to
find out more about assistive technology.
And the funding. This is the tab across the top
that says "Funding." Again AT Depot falls under one of the
funding services that we here at the Tools For Life state
office provide.
So this has just got some very quick links to some
of the funding resources that we have. And again, you can
always get in touch directly with Rhonda Perling, our
funding resource benefit specialist.
And this is the Dollars & Sense funding guide --
we're actually going to talk about that in just a few
seconds; the Center for Financial Independence and
Innovation; and Credit-Able link. Again, just very quick
links to get to those funding resources.
Just wanted to mention some of our other funding
initiatives that we have, funding resources that we have
for you. Again AT Depot can be used with toggling
resources for other funding aspects.
So if you're able to cover some costs with AT
Depot, and maybe you need something else, you can use
resources on Dollars & Sense or go through the Center for
Financial Independence and Innovation.
So Dollars & Sense, go to our website. Here's a
direct link: gatfl.org/ds. Also on our home page. Very
quickly, it's a database that provides organizations that
provide -- and resources that provide funding sources for
AT devices. So the guide was developed just to make the
funding process easier. We're adding new resources
frequently.
And we go in depth more than just, "Here's a name,
number of a company or agency that can help you with
funding." We have examples of letters of medical
necessity, how to talk to your doctor, acronyms, a glossary
of terms. All of that. So we really want to be holistic
in our approach with helping people to fund assistive
technology devices and services.
And this is just a screen shot of Dollars & Sense.
As you can see, it's very relaxing when you look at it
because we don't want to make the funding process very
difficult for you. It's very self-explanatory. And again,
any questions that you have, you can always visit the Tools
For Life website or contact any one of us directly.
The Center for Financial Independence and
Innovation, or as we say, CFII, is a nonprofit organization
dedicated to helping folks with disabilities and their
family members just be more financially independent.
They have four core services that they provide:
Credit-Able, the alternative financing program; Asset
Alliance of Georgia; volunteer income tax assistance; and
financial education workshops.
All of you are more than likely very familiar with
Credit-Able, the alternative financing program. It is one
of the programs that we support with the Tools For Life
program. And again, low-interest loans for assistive
technology devices.
So Rhonda Perling often works with folks to say,
"Hey, this is Credit-Able. You can contact them." The
application process is very smooth, very easy, and this is
just another way of funding assistive technology.
So we just wanted to bring some of these funding
resources to the forefront so y'all are very familiar with
it and just kind of reminded of these things that we offer.
MARTHA RUST: Cool. Do we have any questions so
far? We're going to let the mic go for just a minute and
see if you have any questions.
We've got a few slides coming up that we've got
common questions that we receive that we want to go over,
but just want to see if there's any questions right now.
All right. I don't see or hear any questions. So
we'll just go ahead and go through these next common
questions. And this might spark something, or it may
answer what you're thinking about already.
One of the common questions we get often is: Are
the prices available for online viewing?
No. They are not published at the time because of
the request of the vendors. The vendors are actually
giving us a really good deal on some of these products, and
so they don't want us to publish that at this time. So
unfortunately they're not online for right now for viewing.
How do we get documents related to purchasing?
Again, you can just download the forms right off
the AT Depot website. And the link is listed right there.
Again, it's www.ATDepot.org/orders. Or you can call us or
call Rhonda Perling or call us at (800) 497-8665.
How do I request a price guide, and does it come in
electronic format?
Again, requests can be made by phone or e-mail, and
we will send it to you in an electronic format for you to
print out. However, we ask that you do not do this for
distribution. You can print it out and share it on the
intranet within your own school system or office but not
for distribution. Again, this comes at a request from the
vendors.
How do I calculate shipping costs?
There is a cool little formula right in the price
guide. But when you ask for quotes, we will definitely
send that back with you. So don't feel like you have to do
all types of crazy math. We will definitely calculate
those shipping costs in for you when you ask for a quote.
LIZ PERSAUD: So that actually brings us to the end
of our webinar. And I just want to release the mic just
for a few more seconds to see if there are any questions.
We want to know, was this helpful for all of you
that are attending? Is this something that you think that
you'll be able to benefit from or share the information
with other folks that they can benefit from as well?
So we're going to release the mic just for a few
seconds.
Okay. Well, it looks like we don't have any
questions or comments right now. So we're just going to
take that as y'all are loving the AT Depot, and you
understand everything that we said, and currently you don't
have any questions. Martha and I are that good.
But again, as always, please feel free to get in
touch with us if you have any more in-depth questions.
Joy is also joining us here, is also on the
webinar.
And, Joy, I'm not sure if you have a mic or not or
if you want to add any advice or words of wisdom on AT
Depot. We appreciate you jumping on the webinar for your
support. So I can release the mic for you.
JOY KNISKERN: Thank you, Liz and Martha. Can
y'all hear me okay? I just really appreciate the
opportunity to be here and appreciate your sharing this
information.
Just wanted to comment that I followed real closely
what AT Last, the Maryland assistive technology program
project, has done for the last decade.
And I know that last year, when we were looking at
partnering with them to develop the AT Depot, that they had
stated in 2010 they had over 1.2 million in sales,
primarily to school systems because school systems were
more likely to order in bulk, and that it saved their
school systems just for that one year about $119,000.
And so we're very excited about this partnership
and hope that you will be too. We really welcome your
comments and your questions, either individually to us or
through the webinar series that we're continuing to do,
about your experiences in using the AT Depot.
And again, thank you, Liz, and thank you, Martha,
for putting this together.
LIZ PERSAUD: Thank you, Joy. We really appreciate
that.
There's a question here: How do I see which items
are available?
That is the price guide that we mentioned. So if
you send us an e-mail with your request to see the price
and resource guide, we'll be happy to send that to you.
MARTHA RUST: And you can send that to
info@ATDepot.org.
LIZ PERSAUD: And we'll type that in to you in just
a few moments.
We do have an evaluation of this webinar that we
want you to help us improve on, help us fill out. So we
put the -- we have the web link here on the slide, and
Martha also wrote that in the public-chat area.
So please click on the link. Just take a few
minutes. It wouldn't take you more than three minutes. I
timed myself one time doing it. And just let us know if
this webinar was helpful. Let us know of any other topics,
as we're creating our topic list for the rest of the year,
what you would like to hear us provide information on
assistive technology services or devices as well too.
So again, we really appreciate your feedback. And
this really helps us to offer credits for all of you out
there.
So again, we truly hope that this was helpful to
you. This is all of the contact information for AT Depot.
Again, info@ATDepot.org. ATDepot.org is the website. And
Joy typed in the e-mail address, info@ATDepot.org. Joy
also said there are over 18,000 products offered, and there
are over 18,500 products and over 90 vendors offered.
18,500 products.
So thank you again, Joy. Really appreciate you
sharing those numbers. Those are a lot of products and a
lot of vendors that are willing to work with us so we can
work with you and to really get this AT at amazing prices
in your hands.
So again, we appreciate your time. Let us know if
you have any questions. Please know that this webinar will
be archived. So if you'd like to go back and reference any
information or share with folks that couldn't join us
today, please do so.
And again, Martha and I and the Tools For Life team
are always here for you. Let us know how we can be of any
assistance.
Again, thank you for your time. Take care.
Bye-bye.