From left to right: Alex Hulst of Global Tech Designs, SAIL's April Diffee and Tyler Whitney stand in SAIL's TRAID room. SAIL loans all the equipment for free to individuals.
A person with a disability who is looking for a job needs to have the adaptive technology in place and to have worked with it before the interview, or they too often do not get the job, said Tyler Whitney the executive director of Southern Adirondack Independent Living. As a nonprofit company, SAIL’s mission is to help people who live with disabilities to do so as independently as possible. Independence often requires a job and income, if the person is capable.
For that reason SAIL recently announced a new set of classes offered at their Queensbury and Wilton Mall locations aimed at individuals who need help with technology.
The help is aimed both at adapting the technology for the individual, such as offering a larger computer keyboard to one person, a stylus pen for a touch screen to someone else, and an assistive listening device to another. The courses also train people in the use of the technology such as iPhone and Android apps, basic email creation and dictation software. SAIL said that sometimes the education is just a matter of helping people know what equipment or software is available.
The free classes have started, but are not sequenced so people can attend or not as needed. The content each time will adjust to the needs of the people who attend, Whitney said. The idea behind the classes was to draw attention to the equipment and technology SAIL has for loan and to help people use it, Whitney said, adding that they are using their technology to show off their technology.
However, he said he uses the term “technology” carefully, as he sees the medical equipment that they have as “technology,” too.
With their TRAID program, or Technology Related Assistance for Individuals with Disabilities, SAIL can supply the equipment needed in the job situation, and it starts as a loan to the employee or employer who needs it.
And they have a lot of equipment. 4,000 pieces of equipment are on loan from SAIL currently. That number includes loans in job-related and personal equipment situations, said April Diffee the manager of the TRAID program.
“Anything that we have here in the building is available as a loan,” Diffee said. The standard loan is 30 to 90 days, but that can vary.
The idea is to loan long enough for the person to figure out if the equipment is the right fit for their disability in their workplace.
“It’s kind of a try-before-you-buy,” Diffee said.
The expectation is that the person or company would eventually buy the equipment themselves. Insurance often covers at least some of the price.
Whitney said SAIL is hoping to improve that connection between employees and employers.
New York State requires employers with four employees or more to attempt to make reasonable accommodations if that employee with a physical or mental disability requests them.
Whether the employer of the individual searches for the accommodation is part of the problem, Diffee said.
“We don’t get employers at all looking for accommodations, and that’s really where it should be,” Diffee said. “Instead, we’re getting the disabled individuals that are coming looking.”
“And at that point,” Whitney chimed in, “it’s too late” as the person has already been passed over for the job.
Often times the employee is too nervous to ask for the accommodation.
“I want employers to be reaching out to us to say, ‘We have a reasonable request, how can you support us? How can you guys support our new employee?’” Whitney said.
SAIL has teamed up with Global Tech Designs of Albany which is handling the computer and connectivity side of the classes.
Whitney said that the classes are free and open to anyone, not just job-seekers, and the equipment they loan can go to individuals and families.
They are looking to help people live their best, most independent lives, wherever that may be, Whitney said.