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Your weekly dose of information that keeps you up to date on the latest developments in the field of technology designed to assist people with disabilities and special needs.
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Belva Smith:
Hello. I’m Belva Smith.
Craig Burns:
Hi, I’m Craig Burns.
Anna Leung:
Hi, I am Anna Leung.
Belva Smith:
And this is your Assistive Technology Update.
Craig Burns:
And this is your Assistive Technology Update.
Anna Leung:
And this is your Assistive Technology Update.
Josh Anderson:
Hello, and welcome to your Assistive Technology Update, a weekly dose of information that keeps you up to date on the latest developments in the field of technology designed to assist individuals with disabilities and special needs. I’m your host, Josh Anderson with the INDATA project at Easterseals Crossroads in beautiful Indianapolis, Indiana. Welcome to episode 460 of Assistive Technology Update. It’s scheduled to be released on March 20th, 2020.
Josh Anderson:
On today’s show, we’re very excited to have Craig Burns, Belva Smith, and Anna Leung, all from our clinical team on to talk about their experiences at ATIA this year. Please don’t forget. You can always reach us by email at tech at eastersealscrossroads.org. You can call our listener line at (317) 721-7124 or drop us a line on Twitter @INDATAProject.
Josh Anderson:
So, it’s been a little over a month since members of the clinical team, and I were able to go down to ATIA in Orlando, but I wanted to get everyone together in the studio and talk about their experience and really just talk about the conference. It’s also a chance for me to get to see their smiling faces, which is a nice bonus. So, Anna, Belva, Craig, welcome to the show.
Belva Smith:
Thanks, Josh. It’s always a pleasure to be here with you.
Craig Burns:
Good morning.
Anna Leung:
Thank you. I’m here.
Josh Anderson:
It’s nice to see you guys, even Anna hiding over in the corner there. So, before we get started, could you guys just tell our listeners a little bit about yourselves? Belva, can you go first?
Belva Smith:
Well, I’m five one. Oh, no. That’s not what you want to know, right? No. I’m Belva Smith. I’m the vision team lead here at Easterseals Crossroads. Been here for a long time and enjoy my job.
Craig Burns:
I’m Craig Burns and I’m the mobility cognitive team lead here at Easterseals Crossroads.
Anna Leung:
I’m Anna Leung. I’m at the bottom, an assistive technology specialist in division sensory teams. Have been here for a little bit more than seven years.
Josh Anderson:
Wow. So, that’s a lot of time in AT sitting across the table from me, which is pretty cool. Anna, we’re going to just start off with you, because this was your first ATIA. What did you think
Anna Leung:
First, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to attend my first ATIA conference. Comparing with the RESNA conference I attended in 2014, I think that it was a very inviting and inclusive conference that gathered the nerds, the curious, the opportunists, the explorers, the solution bloggers, the attention seekers, and the vacationers. So, I thought that every attendee was bound to take something valuable home. And I really liked the fact that it’s not just for the teachers or whoever are seeking for CEU’s. It’s also for people who truly need the assistive technology to try the assistive technology right there and ask the questions that are critical to their needs.
Josh Anderson:
That was the best answer I think I’ve ever had on this show.
Craig Burns:
I think it was paid for by ATIA.
Belva Smith:
I was like, I know. Right?
Josh Anderson:
Did you read that off the website? Well, good. Good. I’m glad that you got something from it and enjoyed it. Now, Belva and Craig, you’ve both been to ATIA before. What did you think of this year’s conference?
Craig Burns:
I thought it was good. There were a lot of good conference sessions. And it was a little different than the ones. It seems like the products in the exhibit hall were more eye tracking kind of oriented. There was a lot more eye tracking devices than there were. And there were some new companies. But, other than that, it was pretty cool. I mean, there’s a lot of new stuff that you get to see and play with, new things to listen to, or watch, or listen to.
Josh Anderson:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). Belva, what about you?
Belva Smith:
ATIA was like ATIA, same place, same kind of stuff going on. However, one thing that I did notice that was new this year is they did… the way that folks who were collecting CEOs for ACVREP differently. Last year, I was required to get a signature from the presenter at the end of each session. This year, I was not required to get that signature, but I was to report everything online. So, at the end of the session, I would give the session a rating and then receive a certificate showing that I did attend. Oh, because they gave you code numbers at the beginning of the session and then at the end of the session. And you had to report both of those that way they could make sure you were there for the whole thing.
Belva Smith:
And I’m not sure that I like the new method. I’m just saying, if anybody from ATIA is out there listening to me. Some of the courses were improperly marked for what CEUs could be armed. And I still, at this point, have nothing to prove that I actually received those CEUs. So I’m a little concerned about how that works.
Belva Smith:
But as always, it’s always a pleasure to get together with folks and learn about what they’re doing, what they’ve done. Because we usually get to see some things that are not maybe yet available on the market, but hoping to be on the market sometime soon. Sometimes those flourish and sometimes they don’t, so.
Josh Anderson:
Yeah. And I’ll kind of go along the same thing. If you’re just getting regular CEUs, I thought it was even easier this year.
Belva Smith:
Oh, well good.
Craig Burns:
Yeah.
Josh Anderson:
Because it’s like a click, a drop down, you answer a few little questions, which are just basically I attended. And I think I had them a day or two later, like the certificate or whatever kind of thing. So, it was-
Belva Smith:
So, did you get a separate certificate with a total? Or how did that-
Josh Anderson:
Yeah, I think so. I don’t remember. I’m pretty sure I printed it out and put it in my little file I keep all my stuff to get my certifications.
Belva Smith:
So, at best, I’m going to have 12 certificates.
Josh Anderson:
They should put it all on one.
Belva Smith:
Oh, okay.
Craig Burns:
There should be a total.
Josh Anderson:
Because like mine were all on one. Yeah.
Belva Smith:
Okay.
Josh Anderson:
However many, I don’t remember how many it was, but they were all just lumped right onto that, that one thing.
Belva Smith:
Okay. Well again, it shouldn’t be so confusing, I feel like, so.
Josh Anderson:
Yeah. Yeah. And I also agree with Craig that I didn’t see a lot of new products in the hall. I mean, they still had the giant freedom sign or… I’m going to call them the wrong name.
Belva Smith:
Vispero.
Josh Anderson:
Thank you. Vispero, the huge Tobii Dynavox, but it seemed like some of the other little dudes were kind of just smaller companies and kind of-
Belva Smith:
A lot of new companies.
Craig Burns:
There were.
Josh Anderson:
Yeah.
Belva Smith:
Yeah.
Craig Burns:
There were.
Josh Anderson:
And I really liked that, because there were some really cool ideas. But also like I noticed, and I don’t know if you guys noticed this, the kind of talking to each other. I’d see like a vendor from this booth over talking to the people at this booth, which I think is really cool. Because some of this stuff it’s like, hey, you should work with that guy. You should work with that guy.
Craig Burns:
Well, like this year also, from the eye tracking area, EyeTech was there with their own booth. And they’ve always been a product that’s been they have channel sales to other manufacturers, other AAC device manufacturers. But this year they had their own booth there and their own new tablet device to show, so.
Josh Anderson:
Nice. Nice. Well, kind of talking about the trainings that everybody attended, I kind of wanted to talk about maybe if there was one that really stood out or was kind of your favorite. And you don’t have to say mine. In fact, don’t say mine, Craig. I know that you-
Craig Burns:
Well, of course, yours, Josh.
Josh Anderson:
In fact, Belva left before my presentation.
Belva Smith:
Well, you know.
Josh Anderson:
I’m just going to throw that out there, but it’s okay. But, if there was one that maybe stood out or it was just kind of your favorite, you feel like you got something from it or maybe learned something new.
Belva Smith:
I feel like I get a little bit of something from every one of them that I attend, even though it may not be something that is, oh, wow. How shocked am I that I didn’t know that. But I feel like each one of them, if nothing else, I always like watching people present so that I can take away from them something that will maybe help me become or be a better presenter whenever we do or I do a presentation.
Craig Burns:
I thought there were a couple that I like. I always go because I need to cover autism tracks.
Josh Anderson:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Craig Burns:
Which there seemed to be a little bit fewer it seemed like in the schedule. But I always like to listen to [inaudible 00:08:07] because one, she goes a mile a minute. And she has like 180,000 slides and she gets through 30. But it’s always really cool information for the autism area. And then, I enjoy-
Josh Anderson:
She is a really good presenter too.
Craig Burns:
She is a great presenter.
Josh Anderson:
You’re right. Yeah. She is just fun.
Craig Burns:
Of course, she had to model for the photographer when he came in to take pictures, she had to stop and do her hair. But she was fun. Then there was one that I liked that was about a scaffolding training idea for Dragon. And I liked their basic follow format was, think it, say it, check it, fix it. And I thought that was pretty cool. Because they would do smaller segments and they would say, let’s build a sentence. I live in a house on a street. And then, the next thing you would edit would be, I live in a tan house on a noisy street. And then, they up from there, building paragraphs and then doing things on more freeform, I guess, for them. And so, it just reiterated kind of the way we train on Dragon, that’s a good step by step approach to it and not just say, okay, start reading this and do things like that. So, that was kind of neat that I took from that session.
Josh Anderson:
Nice. Anna, what about you?
Anna Leung:
For me, I liked the one that I don’t usually do in my day to day work. It’s called the augmented virtual mixed and immersive realities in special education. So, what I liked about it is I got the opportunity to throw up the 3D goggles made with cardboard. I played with a treasure hunt game by following some instructions. And I worked with two teams of special ed teachers to discover a few cool virtual reality apps. So, I thought that it was really hands on and fun.
Josh Anderson:
Well, along those same lines, what was the coolest new piece of tech that you saw in the vendor hall?
Anna Leung:
I really liked the sign glasses. I was very impressed by it. It’s kind of like the virtual reality or augmented reality of IRA, but for the people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Josh Anderson:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Anna Leung:
And what that does is it has live sign language interpreting overlaid on top of a classroom setting through a pair of smart glasses. So, students can choose to record the lectures as well with the interpreting overlaid and bookmark any portion of these lectures. I think these features are really valuable to students who are deaf or hard of hearing. And they can also request note taker logging and take notes with timestamp, which makes the notes searchable and help them retrieve note space on the timestamp.
Josh Anderson:
I thought that was really cool too, because you just don’t see as much technology, it seems like, for the deaf and hard of hearing kind of folks.
Anna Leung:
That’s right.
Josh Anderson:
And there’s not always a backup for if the interpreter… I always think of college students.
Anna Leung:
Yeah.
Josh Anderson:
The interpreter having to get there, paying travel, and everything else. Well, this, you just log in and you’re there.
Anna Leung:
Yep.
Josh Anderson:
Throw them on and then-
Anna Leung:
And I actually tried them and they were very impressive, very instant.
Josh Anderson:
Those were pretty cool. Craig, what about you?
Craig Burns:
I saw a few things I liked. What I thought was the coolest was the new TiPY keyboard or TiPY keyboard.
Josh Anderson:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Craig Burns:
That’s a one handed keyboard that looks like kind of a fan. And I played with it a little bit. Your fingertips are on the keys that you use most often for the letters. And, if you’re right handed, you just flip it to one side. And, if you’re lefthanded, then you flip it to the other side and change the little pad on it. And that looked really cool. And it was actually pretty easy to use. It’s supposed to be out in March sometime here, but available through Amazon. And it’s not that costly for things in the AT world.
Craig Burns:
Another thing I liked was the new software from Sonocent called Glean. It seemed like a more streamlined version of what they have, the Sonocent audio note taker, but it includes everything. And it gives you a little bit more functionality in note taking, in indexing, things like that. What impressed me was I thought of it as a driving situation where you’re your head is up looking through the windshield and you can look down and see the speedometer. And then, you look down and see your steering wheel, gauge the controls, and things like that. So, it gave it a more vertical use than the horizontal use of Sonocent audio note taker. So, that’s called Glean. And it’s going to be available I think in March or April. But it’s only an online tool.
Craig Burns:
And then, the last one I saw was the Skyle because I’m looking for mobility, cognitive things. The Skyle is an iPad pro eye tracker. So, it’s built into one system, but it worked pretty good. I didn’t get a chance to play with it myself because they were always kind of crowded and somebody was being looked at or demonstrating it. But you stand back and watch and it looked pretty usable.
Belva Smith:
So, I usually go to ATIA with hopes of finding something that maybe I’ve been looking for or a specific case or situation. This year was no different. I did have something in mind and I think it was close to the last day where I was sitting in a session that I did come across the device that I thought was going to be appropriate. And, as it turned out, it was. So, I was very excited to say that I found it and it was the [inaudible 00:13:20] pro 12 or something. It’s an iPad that they have built a stand for that it is substituting as a CCTV. And there were several different reasons why it was appropriate for the situation that I was looking to find the right device for. But anyway, came back, was able to borrow it and take it with me for the evaluation, and found out well, that was it.
Belva Smith:
Something that I would have not thought of. And it’s not that it was something that was brand new, just something that I hadn’t ever really seen it before. I hadn’t seen how it worked and all the features that it had. But it turns out that it was the appropriate thing.
Belva Smith:
Another thing that I seen that I heard quite a bit about through podcasts primarily, and I had never seen one, so I was excited to actually get my hands on the BlindShell. So, the BlindShell classic, there are two versions. There’s the classic and there’s the light. One of the questions that we get quite often here is, what’s a good phone for a person who is blind or visually impaired, because a lot of people think that the smartphones may not necessarily be the best choice, primarily because of them being touch screen. Well, the BlindShell classic, it reminds me of the old Sony cell phone that I had that I had actually bought from Walmart because it has the screen, a small screen on the top, but then it has the tactile numbers for the num pad, and then the four buttons, and then what I call the cross pad.
Belva Smith:
But the tactile buttons are easy for individuals that may be visually impaired, much easier than, of course, the non tactile buttons on a touch screen. But this phone offers a lot of good features. One of the things that it has is the SOS emergency button. I really like that feature. It also has voice control. So, you don’t necessarily have to use those tactile buttons, but they are there for you, so if you want them to be. The price on it is also very affordable LS&S is one of the places that carries this phone. And it looks like it’s around $349. Now, when I say very affordable, when you compare that to some of the prices of the smartphones. And you can still do your email, and texting, and that kind of stuff. So, it still gives you some of those features of the smartphone without the confusion of the smartphone. Actually, they boast on the fact that it has like 23 different applications.
Belva Smith:
It does run off of certain service providers. So, is it GSN providers like AT&T? Their SIM card will work in there. So, if it’s a phone that you think you might be interested in, the first thing you might want to do is find out who you’re going to use for your provider and make sure that it would be appropriate. But it’s a cute little phone. And it looks like it would answer the question that we get frequently, which is, what is a good phone for someone who is older and maybe doesn’t want to have the glass screen in their pocket, but would like to have a cell phone with them wherever they go or whatever.
Josh Anderson:
Well, guys, if you could change something about the conference to make it more beneficial to you, what would that be?
Belva Smith:
Move the location, which they’re going to do, what, in 2022, was it?
Josh Anderson:
2024, I think. I don’t know.
Belva Smith:
Oh, 2024.
Josh Anderson:
Yeah. It’s a few years down the road. But I know we did get an email that it would be moved just down the street.
Belva Smith:
Well, and I want to say that it’s not, what is it? The Caribbean?
Josh Anderson:
Caribe Royale?
Belva Smith:
Yeah. And they’ve always done an outstanding job, in my opinion. There’s a lot of people at this conference and a lot of them are bringing in different abilities. We’ve got people in wheelchairs, people with canes, people with dogs. And my feeling is they do an amazing job making the place accessible and helping. Whenever an individual has a question, there’s always someone nearby that can answer that for you. The only reason I’m saying a new location is because it’s been at that same place for many, many, many years.
Josh Anderson:
As long as we’ve been going, I think.
Belva Smith:
Yeah. I’m saying probably ten plus years. So, it will be nice to get to see it in a different location.
Craig Burns:
I just have a problem with the busyness of the Orlando airport. It’s crazy.
Josh Anderson:
It really is.
Belva Smith:
If they would take it off to Hawaii or something, hey.
Craig Burns:
There you go. Or Clearwater, or Tampa, or some place where nobody flies in.
Josh Anderson:
If you’ve never flown into Orlando, when they allow folks with small children to board the plane, that’s 85% of the plane.
Belva Smith:
Yeah.
Josh Anderson:
There’s Disney and everything else.
Craig Burns:
And then, they’ve got all there stuffed things from Disney that they have to take back with them.
Belva Smith:
Yeah.
Craig Burns:
And then unload and all the groceries that they brought with them. They have to leave those in the security gate because you can’t take all that with you.
Belva Smith:
And I know if Nicole were in here, she would say that she would like to see a better food selection. She doesn’t like the selection of food there at the hotel, which, hey, it’s only three days. I can eat grass if I have to.
Josh Anderson:
And, of course, it’s conference pricing.
Belva Smith:
Right. Yeah.
Josh Anderson:
Everything is a little bit more. Anna, what about you?
Anna Leung:
Oh, well I think the coffee should be served throughout the whole day, not just like the first couple hours of the day.
Josh Anderson:
That’s been my complaint the entire time I’ve been going.
Belva Smith:
Yeah. They pull that copy away at like what, 8:30 in the morning?
Josh Anderson:
Oh, like 8:05.
Belva Smith:
Yeah.
Josh Anderson:
Like eight o’clock conferences start and they just pull that stuff away.
Belva Smith:
But I did notice this year, and if I’m not mistaken, this is the first year they did have you paid $3.50 a cup or something, but they did have the coffee machines, the self serve coffee machines so that you could get coffee throughout the day.
Josh Anderson:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Belva Smith:
And they also had water available, ice water available all day.
Anna Leung:
But that coffee machine was broken most of the time when I tried to get one.
Belva Smith:
Oh, okay. Okay.
Anna Leung:
I think I understood what you meant by that coffee machine.
Belva Smith:
Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
Craig Burns:
The only other thing, I’d like to see in their information, either online or in their little catalog of the course, the session stuff is maybe a color coding or something that identifies like the autism spectrum things, versus the AAC things, versus the work development categories of the workshop so you can be looking through that and say, oh, those are the ones I want to focus on.
Belva Smith:
See now, Craig-
Craig Burns:
Rather than trying to read that AAC-
Josh Anderson:
So, maybe you can just search for those, instead of-
Craig Burns:
Just go, I want to look for-
Josh Anderson:
[crosstalk 00:19:36] to go through.
Belva Smith:
Well, that’s-
Craig Burns:
I guess you can do a search for the AAC or a search for the ASD things.
Josh Anderson:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Belva Smith:
And mine are categorized that way. The CEUs that I have to go for are categorized that way. So, I only look at the ones that are going to give me the CEUs, which sometimes there are some that maybe wouldn’t earn me a CEU, but might be of interest. So, it’s kind of disappointing to me that I don’t get to attend some of the ones that I would like to attend. And, Josh, I would like to say too, that I feel like I would like to see more of the sessions focus on getting or keeping a job.
Josh Anderson:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Anna Leung:
I wanted to say the same thing.
Belva Smith:
Yeah. It’s a lot about how to help the students. And that’s great. That’s perfect. But, for me, to be able to see more that was employment-related would be awesome.
Josh Anderson:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Craig Burns:
And actually more adult.
Belva Smith:
Adult, yes.
Craig Burns:
Because there are a lot of things, even the autism things were mostly about kids.
Belva Smith:
Yep.
Josh Anderson:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Craig Burns:
And I’d like to see something more in the lines of at least high school transitioning to college or transitioning to a workplace of whatever nature.
Belva Smith:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Craig Burns:
So, that you get a little bit more information on how to work with those individuals.
Josh Anderson:
Well, yeah. And I totally agree. And that’s kind of what I’ve said the whole time going down there. Because I think it’s important in special ed, I mean, even if you are a special ed teacher, it’s important to know what’s available to students once they get out of high school. Because a lot of times you have all these safety nets kind of built in, and the minute you graduated high school, it’s all gone.
Craig Burns:
Right.
Josh Anderson:
You got to go find all that on your own or try to have someone help you. And, if you don’t know what’s out there, you’re not going to be able to do anything.
Craig Burns:
Exactly.
Josh Anderson:
So, no. I think that’s a really good one. Well, Craig, you actually presented this year in the TWRK strand.
Craig Burns:
Yeah.
Josh Anderson:
Which was always good.
Belva Smith:
What? You presented on twerking?
Josh Anderson:
Well, no.
Craig Burns:
I started to play music, but then everybody goes, wait a minute. No.
Josh Anderson:
Wait a minute. Yeah. No. The strand was just titled TWRK.
Belva Smith:
Okay. Gotcha.
Josh Anderson:
It was abbreviated to TWRK.
Craig Burns:
We had fun with that.
Josh Anderson:
But what was your experience like presenting?
Craig Burns:
I thought it was fun. I’ve presented before at conferences a long time ago. So, this was kind of going back into that mold. And I thought I would be a little bit nervous, but I wasn’t. I mean, I was really relaxed. It was a good size crowd attendance in the audience. And I would absolutely do it again. I mean, if I can come up with another topic, yeah, I’d do it again. My only problem was I thought I had not enough information and I didn’t even hardly get to any of the apps I wanted to demonstrate. And so, I was like rushing through at the end. And I’m like, see if we can… and I went in a few minutes over, but that’s okay. Everybody was leaving anyway, so.
Josh Anderson:
Yeah. That’s true. Craig was the last presentation of the entire conference. So, he did kind of at that time. Belva, Anna, what about you two? After kind of being there and seeing it, are you thinking about maybe trying to send a proposal in next year?
Belva Smith:
Well, every year when I’m sitting in a particular session, I don’t know which one, I would say, shoot, I can do this. Oh, yeah. I could do this. And I leave thinking-
Josh Anderson:
That’s not how Belva says it. She says I could do this better.
Belva Smith:
Yeah. Well, so I leave thinking, I’m going to do this. I’m going to do this. It’s not the presenting, I think, that scares me. It’s the, what do you call it when you put the papers in?
Josh Anderson:
It’s the writing the proposal?
Belva Smith:
Yeah, the proposal. That’s the part that makes me nervous, I think. But of course I have the desire to do it. I feel like I do have things I could share and topics that would be of interest. But then, I don’t know, of course, because I’ve never done it. But I think I’m finally at the point where I am going to try to. I probably won’t be doing it next year.
Craig Burns:
Belva, you would be amazing. You would be good.
Josh Anderson:
Oh, yeah. You would be great. Anna, what about you?
Anna Leung:
Can I just say it’s too early to say.
Josh Anderson:
Yes. You can still cop out with that if you really want to.
Anna Leung:
Well, I’m open to that, if time allows. It really depends on all kinds of factors when we get to the point that we have to submit our presentation slides.
Josh Anderson:
Oh, yeah.
Craig Burns:
It’s about due, yeah?
Anna Leung:
And I think that’s the time crunch that I would be afraid of.
Josh Anderson:
I think so. I think it’s got to be in by like June. And usually they tell you in like September.
Craig Burns:
Yep.
Josh Anderson:
And the one thing I liked about presenting there is sometimes when you presented a conference or something, they make you turn in everything like two months before the actual presentation, this was like, what, two and a half weeks?
Belva Smith:
Oh, wow.
Craig Burns:
Yeah. I believe, before you’ve got to turn in-
Josh Anderson:
I think. Yeah. Yeah. It was just a few weeks before. So, you can tweak it almost up there to the end. And I thought that was really nice.
Belva Smith:
Wow.
Josh Anderson:
Well, guys, we’re running out of time. Do you have any final thoughts or anything else that you’d like to just say about the conference?
Belva Smith:
Well, I think I would have to agree with Anna. I’m very grateful to work for an agency that provides me the opportunity to go to ATIA. Because I do feel like it’s kind of like a personal retreat for me because I do get to take the time away from the hectic scheduling of the week and just kind of spend those three days or four days focusing on what it is I do and not thinking about what I have to get done at the end of the day, but what it is that I do, and the kinds of tools that we are afforded to use, and the people we get to meet. So, I think that’s what my biggest thing is. And I would say to anyone who is in our role, if you haven’t had the opportunity to try to go to ATIA, I would certainly put that in your bucket list of things to try to do, because it is a valuable conference.
Craig Burns:
It’s kind of neat because, even if you do things, like we do a lot of training on Dragon and we do a lot of other things that people are talking about there, and you think, well, I know that. But then, like you go there and you think, I just learned a little new twist to a way to train on Dragon, for example.
Belva Smith:
Yep.
Craig Burns:
And, for me, I’ve been in this industry overall since ’96. So, it’s kind of going back to see a lot of the people that I knew, just kind of an alumni thing. Although some of the companies are getting a lot of younger people to take over those conference tasks.
Anna Leung:
I do think that some of the workshops they put into vendor hall could be moved back to the classroom sessions because a lot of those workshops were very valuable and they really presented some very important information. For example, one of them is about the math new technology. I wish I could learn it in a more quiet environment in the classroom while there.
Belva Smith:
I think you’re talking about like the demo hall. Right?
Anna Leung:
Yeah.
Belva Smith:
Yeah.
Anna Leung:
Yeah, at the corner.
Belva Smith:
Yeah.
Anna Leung:
And then, it was so crowded and so noisy. And it was lunchtime. Everyone is like walking everywhere.
Josh Anderson:
Oh, yeah.
Craig Burns:
And those are short sessions.
Josh Anderson:
Oh, yeah.
Anna Leung:
Yeah.
Josh Anderson:
And they’re always very rushed, I mean, trying to get that stuff out there.
Craig Burns:
15 to 20 minutes. Yeah.
Anna Leung:
Yeah.
Belva Smith:
Yeah.
Anna Leung:
Yeah.
Belva Smith:
Yeah.
Josh Anderson:
No. I’ll definitely agree. Well guys, thank you all so much for taking a little bit of time out of your day and coming on the show. And hopefully, we can do this again next year when we get back from my ATIA again.
Belva Smith:
Thanks, Josh.
Anna Leung:
Thank you.
Craig Burns:
Thanks, Josh.
Josh Anderson:
Do you have a question about assistive technology? Do you have a suggestion for someone we should interview on Assistive Technology Update? If you do, call our listener line at (317) 721-7124. Shoot us a note on Twitter @INDATAProject or check us out on Facebook. Are you looking for a transcript or show notes? Head on over to our website at www.eastersealstech.com. Assistive Technology Update is a proud member of the accessibility channel. For more shows like this, plus so much more, head over to accessibilitychannel.com. The views expressed by our guests are not necessarily that of this host or the INDATA Project. This has been your Assistive Technology Update. I’m Josh Anderson with the INDATA Project at Easterseals Crossroads in Indianapolis, Indiana. Thank you so much for listening and we’ll see you next time.