Year: 2016

Maine’s only pooled trust for people with disabilities

The Maine Trust for People with Disabilities (MTPD) is Maine’s only nonprofit organization that offers parents, relatives and friends a convenient and economical way to establish and fund a special needs trust account for an individual who has a disability and who qualifies for public benefits, such as MaineCare or SSI. In addition, the MTPD offers individuals with disabilities the option to establish and fund their own accounts. The MTPD is a pooled special needs trust established in compliance with federal law.

These funds can be used to pay for such things as:

• Recreation and Entertainment
• Training/Education
• A  car
• Electronic devices
• Appliances
• Medical care and goods not covered by Medicaid
• Other living expenses not covered by public benefits

The Maine Trust for People with Disabilities is sponsored by a Maine non-profit corporation The Maine Trust for People with Disabilities, Inc. The daily operations of the Trust are performed by a wide range of volunteers, including people who have disabled family members, representatives of social service agencies, and individuals from legal, business, accounting and investment management businesses. Norway Savings Bank serves as Trustee, and Old Port Pension Administrators is the recordkeeper.

For more information and to create a trust, visit the MTPD website… 

As posted in the Maine Parent Federation News…

The Maine Department of Labor’s Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (or “VR” as it‘s commonly referred to) provides services to transition-age youth with disabilities to help prepare them for employment. Every high school in Maine has an assigned VR Counselor.

With the passage of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), there’s an increased national focus on making sure that young people with disabilities and their families start career planning early. To support this, VR is partnering with schools and organizations across the state to expand opportunities for high school students to learn about the world of work through “Pre-Employment Transition Services”.

Here are some examples:

• Job Tours/Job Shadows
• Job Clubs
• Mock Interviews
• Self-Advocacy/Independent Living Skills
• Group Career Preparation Activities

Additionally, VR has a number of career assessment tools and helpful labor market information that can assist students to learn about education requirements, projected openings, and wage information for their career fields of interest.

To learn more about Pre-Employment Transition Services available in your area please contact your high school or local VR office. A complete listing of offices is available on the VR’s website.

For more information call (207) 623-6799.

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Photo credit: Image licensed by Creative Commons by Speed of Creativity.

Accessibility of websites and other digital technologies have seen increased attention this year from the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights when it comes to state departments of education and school districts.

eSchool News published a recent article about a Digital Accessibility Toolkit for state and district education leaders.  The toolkit provides an overview of digital accessibility in four areas:

• Why accessibility is important;
• Procurement of accessible technology by states and districts;
• Benefits of accessible technology; and
• The last section is a discussion of the legal requirements for digital accessibility.

Resources

• The eSchool article may be view here…
• The Accessibility Toolkit from CTD Institute may be viewed here – PDF…

And also check out the new Accessibility in Schools resource here on the Maine CITE website.

 

The Grahamtastic Foundation, is a Maine non-profit that provides free technology to seriously ill children.

In addition to providing FREE iPads, laptops and internet access, Grahamtastic has a fleet of nine robots it has been lending to schools since 2013.

According to spokesperson, Leslie Morissette, “…currently all nine of our robots are being used but … we are always accepting new applications. If the school is far from Springvale, Maine (when the foundation is located) we ship our robots to the schools.  We shipped one to Fort Kent yesterday.”

For more information

 

Grahamtastic.org
21 Bradeen Street, Suite 107
Springvale, ME 04083

Phone: 207-324-0888 ext. 209
E-mail: grahamtastic@metrocast.net

As reported in the Portland Press Herald and News Center – WCSH-6 – Portland, the Vassalboro Community School in AOS92 has recently purchased a Double Robotics telepresence device to assist on of their students with a chronic illness who is not able to attend school.

The device, called “Double” is a remote student-controlled robotic device that is able to navigate through the school and allow the student to attend classes and interact with students and teachers from home. The device was created by a company called Double Robotics a California-based technology company.  As noted in the Press Herald article:

“Double is an iPad mounted on wheels that Abby (the student) is able to remotely control over Wi-Fi. Think Skype on a Segway.

“‘It acts as your double,’ says Sara Broyles, communications manager Double Robotics Inc., the company that created the ‘telepresence’ robot that Abby uses. ‘It gives you a physical presence where you can’t be in person.'”

The use of robots as assistive technology is growing across the country. We have posted more information about this device and others here on our website. 

Funding for this particular technology was provided by the Perloff Family Fund of the Maine Community Foundation.

Another source of funding is the Grahamtastic Foundation who currently has a fleet of nine robots working to support students in Maine schools.

More information

• View the article and video on the Portland Press Herald website.
• View the video story on News Center – WCSH-6 Portland.
• More information about this device and other robots.