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Category: law and policy

TechOWL and ATAP programs

Published September 3, 2025 by openassistivetech_e02gls

There are a lot of programs for improving access to assistive tech at the state level, often supported by universities and independent living centers. TechOWL at Temple University in Pennsylvania is a great example, with tons of resources and material if you want to learn about AT options. It stands for Technology for Our Whole Lives. (We love a cute acronym here at GOAT!)
Resource centers like TechOWl exist in part in the U.S. because of support from the Assistive Tech Act of 1988.

Every U.S. state and territory has a mandate, and state funding, to give people access to learning about, trying out, and obtaining assistive tech via an Assistive Technology Act Project (ATAP).

They all do four things :

  • Lending library for assistive tech
  • Used equipment program, often run by a group of contractors or vendors.
  • Presentations and trainings, workshops
  • Consults and demos for people to problem solve and explore AT

So, TechOWL is the ATAP for the state of Pennsylvania.

A few years ago, because they had a staff member with some expertise in 3D printing, they started the CreATe Together project for 3D printing assistive tech. That has grown to become a well supported program with an online catalog of standard devices you can request (if you live in Pennsylvania), and they’ll find a partner to make it for you. They also can handle some custom requests.

It is an interesting model that I’d like to see more of in California, where we have Ability Tools as the main ATAP program, with a strong focus on reuse but not a lot of “maker” activity that I’ve found.

The level of AT you can make with a 3D printer seems a bit limited. In the TechOWL catalog we see mostly small gizmos that can help a person with grip strength or dexterity problems. This makes sense on one level because for AT that has a more critical function there could be quality control safety risks that a state funded program (with an array of loosely associated fabrication shops or volunteers with home workshops) is not prepared to handle.

On the other hand I could already use a bunch of these little plastic gizmos. A thing that punches pills out of those annoying blister packs? Hell yeah!

You can see a slightly wider array of 3D printable devices on sites like Printables or Creality – or the Internet Archive’s backup of older Thingiverse models.

It would be very interesting to go through all these sites and categorize the types of assistive tech that we can find there!

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AAC projects and policy

Published August 28, 2025 by Liz Henry

If you are interested in open source software projects for assistive tech, take a look at CBoard. It is a free/open source app for AAC (Assisted and Augemented Communication). It’s for anyone with speech and language impairments, facilitating communication with pictures and text-to-speech. You can use it to quickly construct useful communication boards, and it’s beautifully customizable. Currently, it supports 46 languages. There is a paid/subscription level to this app which makes it even more useful (and which supports the ongoing maintenance and development of the project).

a hand holding a phone or small tablet with nine colorful symbols and words used for communication

If you want to learn more about the current, complicated political, technical, and social landscape of AAC, here is a list of useful updates from Bob Williams, of the organization CommunicationFIRST:

Best Practices for Online Meetings with AAC Users

Technology for Equitable Communication: AAC Users Weigh In

New Film, 13 AAC Users: Priorities for Future Research

The FCC Needs to Address Digital Discrimination Against People Who Need AAC | CommunicationFIRST

CommunicationFIRST Petitions FCC to Add Text and Video Options for Suicide Lifeline | CommunicationFIRST

The FCC Needs to Address Digital Discrimination Against People Who Need AAC | CommunicationFIRST

2023-10-03 C1st Comments to DOJ on Title II Web Access Proposed Rule

Unjustly isolated, silenced, and deprived of literacy and freedom of expression … | CommunicationFIRST

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Free Webinar: Power wheelchairs and Right-to-Repair law in California

Published December 5, 2024 by Liz Henry

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
December 12
2:00-3:00 PM, Pacific Time

The CIL’s partners at the DONetwork are proud to put on this educational webinar explaining the ins and outs of the new Power Wheelchair Right to Repair law in California.

Please register here: https://tinyurl.com/DOnetworkSB1384

The DOnetwork will be producing a public education webinar for SB 1384, the “powered wheelchair right to repair” bill, sponsored by Sen. Dodd. This legislation becomes law on January 1, and it has impacts that will increase the ability for independent repair shops and individuals to access parts and equipment to make repairs on powered wheelchairs.

Here’s an overview of what will be covered:

  • What SB 1384 means for the community, and how it will be implemented in California?
  • How is right to repair working in other states?
  • What are the next steps for pushing this issue in California?

    • Invited panelists include State Senator Bill Dodd, Capitol Staff Ana Vazquez, a representative from NCART – the association for providers of power chairs and complex rehab technology, and a consumer.

    a whill model ci powerchair up on a jack with the front wheel removed

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    Right to repair review

    Published September 30, 2024 by openassistivetech_e02gls

    Right to repair laws are a disability justice issue for those of us who need technological devices for our basic ability to function in the world. All of these things integrate with our bodies and lives in a deeply intimate level.

    We may need to fix our wheelchairs, scooters, or powerchairs, things that give us mobility. We may need to understand our hearing aid, cochlear implant, screen reader, brailler, augmentive / assistive communication devices. Or we might need to maintain, troubleshoot, and repair prosthetic devices – a limb, a motorized brace, an exoskeleton, even an eye. They are our essential companions, part of our cyborg selves. Assistive tech shouldn’t be treated as a sort of rental or subscription, a cash cow service needed by the desperate to be exploited, or a throwaway victim of planned obsolescence.

    Because of that tension, disabled people are often at the forefront of right to repair advocacy.

    This helpful page from repair.org outlines the current legal landscape, state by state, for those of us who are fighting to fix our assistive tech: What are my repair rights?

    Currently, there are state right to repair laws in California, Minnesota, Colorado, and New York; another bill is up for review in 2025 in Oregon and in many other states!

    While this issue hits especially hard for disabled people, it’s just good common sense in many ways for anyone who buys or uses electronic devices.

    It also makes sense for protecting the environment from piles of useless trash that pollutes the land around it with materials extracted from the earth at a great human and ecological price. The less we waste, the better – for everyone.

    a wooden sign painted with the word REPAIR in an old fashioned font, on a workbench
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    California Right to Repair – SB 1384 Power wheelchairs – repair

    Published September 30, 2024 by Liz Henry

    California SB 1384 passed and was just signed into law by the governor. This right to repair legislation is about powered wheelchairs in particular. In short:

    – The criteria have been broadened, or relaxed, for who qualifies as an independent repair shop for power wheelchairs;
    – “documentation, parts, embedded software, firmware, and tools used to inspect, diagnose, maintain, and repair the wheelchair” must be provided to “an owner or an independent repair provider for the purposes of providing service on the equipment”

    This is great news. It should be helpful for us (the disabled powerchair owners) to fix, or get our chairs, fixed as quickly as possible! Thanks to all the advocates out there who worked so hard to get this made into law.

    Honestly, it should also be great news for the wheelchair manufacturers. They now have extra incentives to plan and design for maintainability of their equipment. I hope they have been following along with the legislation and are prepared to do that. The result will be that their customers will be a lot happier!

    And I am loving the details in this bill about firmware and diagnostic tools – two things that I’d like to have for my own chair that have previously been refused to me by the manufacturer. It may be a battle over what they will hold back as a trade secret, but at least we have a starting point for that battle.

    It also includes:
    (1)Batteries.
    (2)Battery chargers.
    (3)Nonprogrammable joysticks.
    (4)Joystick housings or brackets.
    (5)Wheel assembly.
    (6)Nonpositioning accessories.
    (7)Antitip devices.
    (8)Armrests, excluding positioning components designed for adjustment by a therapist or assistive technology professional.
    (9)Caster spheres.
    (10)Cosmetic shrouding.
    (11)Floor mats.
    (12)Floor plates.
    (13)Nonpowered leg lowerers.

    Here’s the text of the bill: https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240sb1384

    And here is a PDF with some extra analysis from earlier this year: https://apcp.assembly.ca.gov/system/files/2024-06/sb-1384-dodd-apcp-analysis.pdf

    motor controller diagram for action arrow wheelchair
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