Overview
We will explore and share the personal journey of an 80-year-old man who is a polio survivor who is blind with multiple disabilities, as he has learned and relearned how to use computing technology with different combinations of assistive technology. Some of his primary goals for technology instruction include social inclusion, notetaking, and working on a project to create resources to raise awareness about the needs for older adults who have complex health issues. We will share the personal and instructional perspectives from learning screen magnification software, screen reading software, and now screen reading software with voice recognition.
Learning Objectives
- Describe at least two suites of technologies that incorporate both screen reading and voice recognition software on a Windows computer.
- Discuss at least two benefits of using a bridge technology with both screen reading and voice recognition technology.
- Discuss at least three benefits of using both screen reading and voice recognition technologies to improve the social inclusion for a participant who is blind with multiple disabilities.
Primary & Secondary Strand
Vision & Hearing Technologies
Target Audience
- Accessibility Professional
- ADA Coordinator
- Administrators
- AT Specialists
- Caregivers
- Consumers/Individuals with Disabilities
- Consultants/Trainers
- Disability Services
- Educators
- Faculty/Instructors - Higher Education
- Family Members
- Government/Non-Profit Agencies
- Instructional Technologist
- Media Specialist
- Occupational Therapists
- Rehab Therapists
- Special Education Educators
- Teachers of the Visually Impaired
- Visual Impairment Specialists
- Vocational Rehabilitation
Experience Level
Introductory; Intermediate; Advanced
Primary Life Cycle Addressed
Adult/Senior
Content Area
In-person presentation with recording
Course Schedule
This course was given at the ATIA 2023 Conference on Friday, February 3 from 9:45 AM - 10:45 AM (EST)
Continuing Education Credits
For Satisfactory Completion and Continuing Education information, please visit: ATIA Learning Center CEUs
This course is offered for the following CE Provider Credits:
ACVREP; AOTA; CRC; IACET
For: 0.10 CEU Units or 1.0 CEU Hours.
End date of current CRC CEUs offering: March 19, 2025
Please refer to the CRC Transition & Workplace Accessibility Series (2024-2025) page for further information on how to submit your CRC CEUs for this course to CRCC.
Speaker/s:
Rachael Sessler Trinkowsky, Ph.D., CRC, CATIS, CPACC
Lighthouse for the Blind of the Palm Beaches and UMass Boston, AT Program Coordinator/Manager
Biography
Rachael Sessler Trinkowsky, Ph.D., CRC, CATIS, CPACC is the Technology Training and Vocational Coordinator for the Lighthouse for the Blind of the Palm Beaches, where she oversees services for a 5-county territory. She is the Program Coordinator for the Assistive Technology for People with Visual Impairments program at the University of Massachusetts Boston and has developed programs through UMass Boston to prepare professionals for the new CATIS credential through ACVREP. Additionally, she is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) where she teaches a course in the Assistive Technology Certificate Program at UIC. Dr. Sessler Trinkowsky holds a B.A. degree in Special Education and a Masters of Health Science in Rehabilitation Counseling from the University of Florida. She has also earned an Educational Specialist and a Ph.D. from Nova Southeastern University's College of Engineering and Computing in Computing Technology in Education. Her dissertation topic focused on accessibility awareness and practices in online learning environments. Dr.. Sessler Trinkowsky has been a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC) since 1999 and she was the recipient of the Florida Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (Florida FAER) award for Outstanding Rehabilitation Professional for the Blind Award (2017). Rachael is serving as the member-at-large Rehabilitation for Florida AER from 2018 to 2019 and she is serving on the Accessibility Committee for AER. She is also a Google Chromebook Accessibility Ambassador. She was honored to be a member of the Subject Matter Expert (SME) Committee for the development of the new and much-needed specialization, called Certified Assistive Technology Instructional Specialist for People with Visual Impairments (CATIS) through the Academy for Certification of Vision Rehabilitation & Education Professionals (ACVREP).
Relevant Financial Relationship: Yes
Dr. Rachael Sessler Trinkowsky is the Strand Advisor for the Vision & Hearing Strand for ATIA 2023. For this role, the ATIA Conference registration fee has been waived for participation in ATIA. As a pre-conference speaker, the presenters earn a revenue share. All profits from the revenue share or other participation as a strand advisor for ATIA 2023 will be submitted to the Lighthouse for the Blind of the Palm Beaches. Rachael receives a full-time salary from the Lighthouse for the Blind of the Palm Beaches, and half-time salary from the University of Massachusetts Boston as AT Program Coordinator. Additionally, she receives compensation for work as an adjunct faculty member with the University of Illinois, Chicago. Rachael is also a contractor with Mississippi State University on research related to Access Technology in the Workplace.
Relevant Non-Financial Relationship: Yes
Dr. Rachael Sessler Trinkowsky is on the Subject Matter Expert (SME) Committee for the CATIS certification, and was also on the Study Guide Committee for CATIS through ACVREP. These are volunteer positions. Rachael is a board member for the Florida AER. This is a volunteer position. Rachael is a Chromebook Accessibility Ambassador with Google. This is a volunteer position. Rachael is the Accessibility Committee Chair for AER. This is a volunteer position.
Tomec Smith
Save our Seniors Foundation, Founder
Biography
When Tomec was 2 years old, his parents were told that he had polio and degenerative myopia, which would result in blindness by age 12, so they needed to teach him how to be a farmer. Instead, they sent him to the finest private schools and 3 Ivy League universities where, despite severe mental illness, he finally graduated while becoming president of his college student council, and ultimately, the university student council during the Columbia riots of 1968. Tomec entered the competitive world of consumer marketing where he had a successful career. He then started a strategic marketing research company where he designed the first complete, online market research software, and recruited clients such as AT&T, IBM, Microsoft, Motorola, and United Airlines. Before succumbing to his challenges, he served as a strategy and research consultant for IBM. Next came a 13-year medical "Odyssey" including 6 joint replacements - two knees, a hip, both shoulders and a titanium neck. During his recoveries in rehabilitation and skilled nursing facilities, he concluded that disabled seniors are not well cared for. He vowed to change that situation which has now become his mission. He founded the Save our Seniors Foundation whose purpose is to improve the care, outlook and lifespan of multi-impaired seniors while reducing their cost of care. The initial goals are to assist seniors in confronting the challenges of multi-morbidities with off-the-shelf techniques, as well as tips and tricks. The major thrust is to resolve "the suffering seniors' predicament" which is the pervasive absence of effective coordination of treatment for seniors with multiple morbidities. The exception is only those few who are fortunate to have an experienced geriatrician whose numbers are declining while multi-impaired seniors rapidly increase as do the costs of their care.
Relevant Financial Relationship: No
Relevant Non-Financial Relationship: Yes
Tomec founded the Save our Seniors Foundation whose purpose is to improve the care, outlook and lifespan of multi-impaired seniors while reducing their cost of care.