MOUNT VERNON – Local residents who have developmental disabilities can use assistive technologies to help them live on their own through the Knox County Board of Developmental Disabilities.
The board provides remote support with teams that work through iPads or similar setups a few hours each evening, Brittany Coon, the board’s public outreach coordinator, told the Mount Vernon News.
“The person can push a button on the side of the box anytime they need staff to come onto the screen and have a conversation with them,” she said.
A Ring doorbell can enable a support person to know who is coming and going from the home.
“We have lots of people receiving medication administration supports through various mini machines,” she said.
Portable smart pillboxes sound an alarm when it’s time for a prescribed set of medication.
A few years ago, the board held a home health fair in which many assistive technologies were demonstrated, Board Superintendent Steve Oster said.
“Any time there's a family in need or thinking about those services, we coordinate to bring them in and we kind of give them a run-through of it depending on what the need is,” Coon said.
They may get the chance to take it home for a short time to try it out before they buy it, she said.
The PALS program at the Public Library of Mount Vernon and Knox County offers a play and learn library of sensory items. If an item is not available, the library can order it so families can try it out.
The Ohio Tech Ambassador Network began in 2020 and is funded through 2023, George Meyers, grant director, told the Mount Vernon News.
“The whole purpose of the grant is to raise awareness of the part that technology can play in the lives of people with developmental disabilities, in terms of helping those folks to be able to live lives that are more independent, to depend less on staff, people in their homes,” he said.
The program recruits tech ambassadors who are adult individuals living with developmental disabilities, he said.
The pandemic kept them from attending peer mentoring events, shifting them to virtual presentations.
The program has eight ambassadors now, including Jen Schlegel, who grew up in Coschocton and now calls Columbus home, Meyers said. She graduated from Ohio State University with an engineering degree. She had to create her own assistive tech to get her degree as her developmental disability made taking notes difficult.
