UpDate - Vol. 11, No. 9, Page 1
October 31, 1991
U.D. receives $1.5 million grant to help disabled Delawareans

     The University of Delaware has received a three-year, $1.5
million federal grant to create a new statewide program that will
provide technology-related assistance to Delawareans with
disabilities, President David P. Roselle announced today.
     Under the grant from the National Institute on Disability and
Rehabilitation Research of the U.S. Department of Education, the
University will establish a technology center in each of the
state's three counties to demonstrate and to loan rehabilitative
equipment while implementing a major awareness and training
program, Roselle said.
     "The University's coordination of all public and private
agencies in the state that assist individuals with disabilities is
an excellent example of the valuable role the University plays in
both educating and assisting the citizens of Delaware," Roselle
said.
     Known as the Delaware Assistive Technology Initiative, or
DATI, the new program will be administered by the University's
Center for Applied Science and Engineering in Rehabilitation. DATI
will serve individuals of all ages with debilitating conditions,
including mental and physical disabilities, chronic health
problems, learning disabilities and impairment of hearing, vision
and speech.
     According to Beth Mineo, director of DATI and associate
scientist in the Center for Applied Science and Engineering in
Rehabilitation, the county centers will be consumer-oriented,
training individuals, their families and professionals to use
"assistive technology," offering short-term loans of equipment and
providing information through books, journals, software, videos and
computer links to existing resources throughout the nation.
     Assistive technology is a broad term that includes devices
that help persons with disabilities in their daily lives, ranging
from such familiar items as wheel chairs and talking books to
electronic voices and specialized computers that can be used
without touching the keyboard. Also included are such services as
arranging for testing, financial aid to pay for or repair devices
and help in locating services.
     The project began last month with the opening of an
administrative site at Wilmington. Within the first year,
technology centers will be established in New Castle, Kent and
Sussex counties. Each of these centers will employ at least two
full-time staff members and will house an array of assistive
technologies and related materials.
     The grant also provides for a statewide training program,
which will consist of workshops, lectures and conferences around
the state for both consumers and service providers. Information on
assistive technology will be circulated through agency newsletters;
a network for exchange or sale of used equipment will be
established; and state directories to resources, services and
financial aid will be compiled. Another DATI goal is to educate
funding agencies about assistive technology.
     The DATI project, which seeks to coordinate all the existing
services offered throughout the state, was generated after more
than 50 meetings with public and private agencies and interested
individuals. "The development of this proposal was not a 'top-down'
effort," Mineo said. "Rather, the proposal represents the evolution
of a set of concepts that was shaped by the input of individuals
speaking for themselves, for consumer groups, for service providers
and for governmental agencies."
     "We are genuinely excited that our center and the University
can play such an important role in improving the technology-related
services to citizens with disabilities in Delaware," Richard
Foulds, center director, said. "The DATI presents all of us in this
state with the opportunity to provide essential tools that will
allow individuals with disabilities to succeed in education,
employment and life in general."
     Separate surveys of consumers and service providers were
conducted by the University to determine the needs of Delawareans
with disabilities.
     According to Delaware Department of Public Health estimates,
the percentage of the state's population with disabilities is
expected to increase 31 percent from 1985 to the year 2000.
     This is more than twice the expected growth of the general
population, and the increase is thought to come from several
factors, including a growing elderly population, a larger number of
children living in poverty, medical advances that can now save
extremely low birth-weight children, a dramatic increase in
substance-abuse or "crack" babies and better procedures to identify
those with disabilities.
     The DATI administrative center will be located at the A.I. du
Pont Institute in Wilmington, which houses the University's Center
for Applied Science and Engineering in Rehabilitation. A branch of
the Applied Science and Engineering Laboratories, the center is a
joint program of the institute and the University. Research there
focuses on methods of enhancing the communication and manipulation
skills of people with severe disabilities. Projects include the use
of synthetic speech and graphics as alternatives to natural speech,
the processing of natural speech to reduce the effects of speech
impairment, the development of a sign language telephone and the
use of small robots to assist in manipulation.
                                        - Cornelia Weil