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PRESS RELEASE

For immediate release
CONTACT: Amy Goldman
215-204-3862
piat@temple.edu

Statewide collaborative formed to help recruit, hire, retain, and advance employees with disabilities.

Pennsylvania, May 2008 -- The Disability Rights Network of Pennsylvania (DRN) and Pennsylvania’s Initiative on Assistive Technology (PIAT) at the Institute on Disabilities at Temple University have established the statewide Pennsylvania Assistive Technology and Employment Collaborative. One of only four funded programs nationally, the newly formed Collaborative will educate Pennsylvania employers on the benefits of and resources for workplace assistive technology. Ilene Shane, Chief Executive Officer of the Disability Rights Network of Pennsylvania, says, “We are thrilled to be working with a number of talented organizations in Pennsylvania on this very important issue.”

Assistive technology can range from simple foam holders that make a pen easier to use to sophisticated adaptations for computer access. The Pennsylvania Assistive Technology and Employment Collaborative will work to increase the likelihood that assistive technology devices and services will be identified and utilized as workplace accommodations to recruit, hire, retain, and advance employees with disabilities. Its member organizations, including the Pennsylvania Statewide Independent Living Council Employment Committee, the Pennsylvania Business Leadership Network, the Pennsylvania Client Assistance Program, AHEDD, DRN Work Incentives Planning and Assistance Program, Goodwill PASSABCO, the Pennsylvania Assistive Technology Foundation, and Pennsylvania’s Bureau of Workforce Development Partnership, will serve as resources to Pennsylvania’s businesses seeking to hire or maintain employees with disabilities.

"Assistive technology plays an important role in accommodating individuals in the workplace,” says Louis Orslene, Co-Director of the Job Accommodation Network (JAN), a national, free consulting service designed to increase the employability of people with disabilities. “This knowledge promises to provide individuals with disabilities with more opportunity and employers with a larger pool of qualified workers."

Curt Decker, Executive Director of the National Disability Rights Network says, “Pennsylvania’s project will provide new methods for outreach and training to the business and disability communities so that they understand the availability and wide ranging uses of assistive technology in employment settings.”

For more information or to arrange for a free training, please contact Amy Goldman, Associate Director of the Institute on Disabilities at Temple University – telephone: 800-204-7428 (toll-free in-state) or 215-204-3862; TTY: 866-258-0579; email: piat@temple.edu; or log on to the Institute’s website: www.disabilities.temple.edu.