TARGET Center 20th Anniversary Celebration Opening Ceremony: Technology Showcase Highlights

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The AbleGamers Foundation is a
501 C3 non-profit that works to makes sure that people with
disabilities can play video games and as we age or
as we become disabled like I did or if we were born
with a disability, we want to do the
things that other people are doing.
You know, we've worked with developers and game
creators to make sure that color blind modes are
included, mobility, closed captioning for our deaf
gamers, even working with some developers to create
audio only games for blind people so that they can enjoy
video games.

There is a lot of research behind gaming and
anti-depressive qualities, gaming and pain management.

For people with disabilities it also allows them
to connect with people.
You know, escape some of just the challenges of
being disabled and really just have fun.

We offer a variety of speech
generating devices that are able to help anybody
with a difficult time in communicating.
So the device back here will allow someone who
can't move and only has access to their eyes, they
could set this device up and use their eyes to talk
to you about anything.
This device we've pre-programmed 15,000 pages in here.

So for example I could say, Device speaks, "Hi, how are you?"
I could say, Device speaks, "I need to fix my hair."
Device speaks, "I need my medicine."
The Talk Button, I can communicate with you, so
if I'm having a conversation with you just
like you're nodding your head, Device speaks along with her, "Yeah, Okay".
So that makes this person who is using this device a part of the
conversation as well.
It's all durable medical equipment, so
most insurances typically cover it.

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The VGO Com specializes in remote acess.

VGO is really a substitute person for people who
can't get out, let's say they can't go to school.
VGO will be in the classroom for them.
The teacher can ask VGO questions.
The person whose place VGO is taking can be 500 or
1500 miles away but with special software he's
right there.
VGOCOM.com.
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This is the Synergy SI, you can look at
the document on the table and you can change how
mobile it is.
So say you have a, say you move it too much, you have
hard time moving it, you can change how well it
moves.
It does lock and then you have your knobs here which
allow for zooming in and out,

but you can also can change
the contrast for someone who may have
better ability for reading different colors.
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Inside of here we have two keyboards
and we unlock them from each other.
In this scenario, I am deaf, like I am now and
you're a hearing person and there's no interpreter
around for us to communicate so we can use
this product.
We can type to each other in real time.
So we can look at each other and while I'm typing
you can look at me.
A lot of times you miss a lot of non-verbal
communication if you're writing on a note pad or
an instant message.
This way we can get everything.
We have our product in Federal agencies, so when
a deaf or hard of hearing person comes into an
office or at the front desk, they're able to
communicate immediately with this.
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Today we brought our ergonomic seating.

You have to be comfortable where you're sitting
because if you're comfortable, you work more
efficiently.
We have a seat pan that moves forward four inches
so that you can sit more comfortably.
If we start with a proper chair from the beginning,
then we are eliminating injuries.
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This is the Steelcase WalkStation.
It is a combination of a height adjustable work
surface that allows you to raise and lower the work
surface to heights that are more comfortable
so that you don't have to work in the same position
all the time.
Then we've added the treadmill which gives you
the ability to get mild periods of exercise
throughout the day.
Quite beneficial to the employee, not only from
their physical health but also from their mental
health, because it just gives you a chance to
break away.
No matter how ergonomically correct your
normal chair is you still have to get out of it from
time to time.
This lends itself to that.

We're the Job Accommodation
Network, our website is AskJAN.org.
We're a free technical assistance organization.
We provide information of Title One of the Americans
with Disabilities Act, as well as the Rehabilitation
Act of 1973.
And we assist individuals who contact us, whether
that's employers or individuals who are currently
working or family members, anyone that calls or contacts us
with job accommodation solutions.
If somebody is in the process of requesting an
accommodation but maybe they don't know where to
start, how to make the request, what to ask for
or if a product is out there, we can assist them
with all of those steps.
We love the Target Center!
We think it's wonderful that there's that resource
that we can we can direct USDA employees to, we'll
send them directly to the Target Center.
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