ATU548 – Holiday Show 2021 Part 1

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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.

Special Guests:

Nikol Prieto  – Community Outreach Coordinator – INDATA Project at Easterseals Crossroads

Brian Norton – Director of Assistive Technology – Easterseals Crossroads

 

Items discussed on the show today:

Airpods Pro: https://apple.co/3DCGPUK

Apple Airtags: https://apple.co/3DBH0zk

Toothbrush Pillow: https://bit.ly/30DZfG2

Plant3r Tool: https://bit.ly/3nv6FV0

Reminder Rosie 2: https://bit.ly/3ctLg8b

Zeba Shoes: https://bit.ly/3nw5nsD

—– Transcript Starts Here —–

Nikol Prieto and Brian Norton:
Happy holidays from the Assistive Technology Center at Easterseals Crossroads. This is your technology update.

Josh Anderson:
Hello listeners. Welcome to our 2021 holiday gift giving guide. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. So sit on down, warm up some leftovers and listen as we all talk about some of our favorite holiday traditions, as well as some of the cool stuff that’s out there to give as gifts this year.

Josh Anderson:
Listeners, welcome back to our 2021 Assistive Technology Update holiday gift show. And with me as always our Brian Norton and Nikol Prieto. Now we always have Brian on just because he’s the amazing host of our Assistive Technology Frequently Asked Questions and the director here. But we also have Nikol on just because it gets her out of the house around Halloween and makes her actually try to get in the Christmas spirit a little bit. So Brian, Nikol, welcome to the show.

Brian Norton:
Hey there.

Nikol Prieto:
Thanks for having us.

Josh Anderson:
Well gey, before we get into everything, could you guys introduce yourselves and just tell us a little bit about yourselves?

Brian Norton:
Yeah. So I am five nine. You mean maybe a little bit more about my work.

Josh Anderson:
Oh no. That’s fine. That’s fine. Brian enjoys long walks on the beach.

Brian Norton:
I’m married. I got a wife and two daughters. I’m the director of Assistive Technology over here at Easterseals Crossroads. It’s amazing to be a part of such an amazing team that we have. I’ve been here for 25 years. This February will be my 25th anniversary here at Easterseals Crossroads, 23 of which have been with our Assistive Technology program. I’ve kind of done every role possible here in our program from a trainer to evaluator, to manager, to director, and I just love it. This is an amazing team and amazing place.

Josh Anderson:
Nikol, what about you?

Nikol Prieto:
I agree with all he said about the amazing place. My name’s Nikol Prieto, I’m the community I outreach coordinator for the In Data Project, which is a grant funded project that is through the Easterseals Crossroads. And our goal of that program is to educate people about assistive technology and to help people get their hands on assistive technology. And I just coordinate a lot of those services. And I’m thrill be here. I’ve been with the assistive technology department since 2010. And then I worked in employment services years ago, I think between ’98 and 2003. So it’s obviously such a great place to work that I came back. I’m a boomeranger, as we call it.

Josh Anderson:
And it’s all fun because all of us started in employment and all of us are in assistive technology, which is also the reason that we’re not allowed on the fourth floor because they’re afraid we’ll steal their employees.

Brian Norton:
Right.

Josh Anderson:
So guys, let’s start off with just a little bit of a holiday question. So what are your holiday traditions and has this last year and a half changed anything for you and had you adjust those traditions? Brian, let’s start with you.

Brian Norton:
Yeah. Our big holiday tradition, it starts at Thanksgiving. Well actually, I can even go before that. So Nikol, this is going to bother you totally.

Nikol Prieto:
Don’t tell me you have your tree up.

Brian Norton:
Yes, right at around Halloween, we start putting our tree up. We get everything out. My daughters are super excited to decorate the house. And so starting around Halloween, maybe even a little earlier, we’re starting to pull out the tree, we’re pulling out the wreaths, we’re getting the garland out. We’re just decorating the house up all over the place. And so it takes us usually a few days to get everything done. That’s kind of maybe our first tradition.

Brian Norton:
And then really our second tradition would be we do Black Friday shopping. And so we go out every year with my side of the family. We usually spend Thanksgiving with them and we’ll go and enjoy the craziness. Now, I’ll be obviously that changed a little bit from last year because we were all a little bit weirded out about what we should do and what we could do and how places were going to be, what their limitations were or restrictions were. And so we decided to do most of that online. So I think, if I remember correctly, we just kind of sat around on laptops and did that anyways. We spent time with each other, but did it on our laptops instead.

Josh Anderson:
Nikol, what about you?

Nikol Prieto:
Well, I do not have my tree up. I sadly get my Halloween stuff… I start Halloween in September and sadly take it down to November. And then I don’t believe, in my opinion, a tree goes up until after Thanksgiving. It comes down New Year’s day. So I’m kind of a Grinch that way. And I absolutely do no shopping out, and especially on Black Friday that scares me. People look scary from the clips they find on the news. But as far as traditions, just spending a lot of time with family, we do have to do the shuffling back and forth to several families homes, but then we start to compound and we stay at my uncles for the entire weekend. He has some land. So we eat and then we walk and then we eat and then we walk and we watch sports and just enjoy the family.

Josh Anderson:
Sounds excellent. Yeah. We started, I believe last year where we get together for Thanksgiving and it’s usually just my wife, the kids, and maybe my mom and some folks. But then as soon as we’re done eating, we start putting up all the decorations, and it’s actually become really nice. My daughter’s been asking me for, 10 months now, where that darn elf is hiding. Because I would sit there and just hide it places and stuff. And it creeps out the 13 year old and it makes it fun for her. But she’s been wondering where the heck that thing goes. So it’s been pretty nice.

Josh Anderson:
And then Christmas has actually been very low key and it kind of started before even COVID, where families have other kids and stuff like that and too many places to go. So we get together when we can, but there’s no set date. It’s just kind of when we can and get to see each other and stuff. We don’t do as much with gifts, just because, as you guys kind of know, we don’t have a gigantic house. And when you have a kid and you get some gifts, unless things really get destroyed, they just pile up until you have tons of them. And when you do actually try to get rid of some of those toys, you get yelled at, because that’s guaranteed the next one they want. But it’s been nice. But I’m looking forward to actually getting to see some people this year that we didn’t get to see last year, just because of all the weirdness that was going on.

Nikol Prieto:
I realized when my children had too many toys is when I would sneak things out and they wouldn’t miss them. I was like, this is getting ridiculous. I mean large item things, a drum kit left, a train table left, and they don’t notice them. I’m like, this is too much.

Josh Anderson:
Yep. You have way too much stuff to do, when we kind do this. Yeah, Penelope, for some reason, that will be the next thing she asks for. Or she loves to look at pictures. She loves to look back through pictures and she’ll see a picture of a toy that the dog ate.

Nikol Prieto:
Yeah.

Josh Anderson:
And like, “Oh, I need that cow.” It’s like, “We haven’t had that for a year and a half.”

Nikol Prieto:
Doing a Google search with images.

Josh Anderson:
Oh for sure. And I’m like, you couldn’t talk the last time we had that thing. You couldn’t even hold your head up. How do you even remember that? But yeah, it’s always kind of funny. As we get into the different gifts and the gift giving guide, I thought we’d start with a section, just on some things that are either assistive technology or maybe just have some different kind of assistive technology uses. So Brian, let’s start with you. How about a couple things from Apple that can help folks out?

Brian Norton:
Yeah. So I’ve got two things I want to talk about today. The first is the AirPods Pro. Now they’re a little expensive, I’ll just start there. However, I think they do have some really unique advantages over other wireless headsets. So I guess maybe one of the first things to mention about them, if you haven’t seen them, I’m sure most folks have, but they are wireless headphones that can connect through Bluetooth to your device. So that could be any of your devices, whether that’s iOS, so your phone. I believe they also connect to your MacBook and those other devices as well.

Brian Norton:
But what they have is they have some really cool features. So if you connect them, especially for folks with disabilities, if you’re hard of hearing, you can use them almost as a personal listening device so that when you connect to those, you can go to the accessibility settings within your iPhone. And under accessibility, you’re going to find something called headphone accommodations. And what that does is allows you to really take either AirPods or you can also use the Beats microphones out there as well. You can turn those two particular sets of headphones into a personal listening system to you.

Brian Norton:
So it allows you to be able to adjust how it hears things or the audio that it’s producing and to be able to allow you to be able to hear things in and around you. You’ve got this live listen mode. It’s got inward facing microphones and outward facing microphones. So it can cut down on background noise. It does a really good job of that by the way. So if you’re in a loud environment, you can cut those things down. But I just think they’re really a nice headset. A little expensive. I want to say they’re a few hundred bucks.

Josh Anderson:
Yeah. I’ve seen them on sale. I think they they’re usually 249 or I assume it’s like 199, 179, because they have the regular AirPods and the Pro. But I think the Pros have the little bit more features-

Brian Norton:
Right, right. And I think, hopefully, I don’t know with Apple, sometimes that’s a question, will they go on sale? Maybe, hopefully during the holidays, maybe they might go on sale. I have seen them at different price points as well. But they’re really a nice microphone, especially if you’re hard of hearing, mixed with those headphone accommodations. You can do quite a bit with that and really turn things into a really nice listening environment for you if you’re hard of hearing.

Josh Anderson:
Brian, I just want to throw in one neat feature that I didn’t know, just because I use the AirPods Pro and then with iOS 15, I’ll leave them here at the office and I’ll go grab lunch or something, and I get an alert on my phone that tells me I forgot them, which when you’re buying something that expensive, my worry is I’m always going to forget them, leave them somewhere, not remember where the heck they are. But yeah, I go and get in my car and the alert pops up on my phone. And it even says the exact address of where they were last seen. So it’s very, very cool. It kind of has that find my iPhone feature built in there now.

Brian Norton:
Yeah. That’s important because they are small. They come in a little case and it is super easy to leave them places. I’ve done that before. And it’s like, man, where did I put that? And now I think as things get smaller and smaller and you just throw them different places, it’s hard to keep up with them and to remember where you had them last. The other thing I wanted to talk about today too, is the Apple AirTags. AirTags are kind of new, maybe probably about a year now they’ve been out. These aren’t new devices. But if you’re like me and are horrible at keeping track of things, my keys, my wallet, other things in my house, I would say at least once a week, I forget things.

Brian Norton:
A couple weeks ago, I made it all the way to work without my book bag, which has my computer and everything I need to do my job. And I had to turn around and go back home and go get it. And I think it’s just real easy for me to lose things. I’m sure that’s a problem for a lot of folks. Well, AirTags kind of solves that problem. It’s not a new type of technology. Basically, they’re Bluetooth devices that connect to your smartphone through an app and will allow you to essentially track your things.

Brian Norton:
So let’s say there’s two situations that often happen. So if you lose things close to you, if you’re in the house and you just can’t simply find something, your keys. You know they’re there, but you have an AirTag connected to it, you can basically ping that device or ping that AirTag, and it’ll actually start playing a tone for you. So you can just kind of follow the sound to be able to find that device.

Brian Norton:
The other situations, and I think this is where AirTags are more unique than some of the other devices that are out there. Other devices that are similar would be Tile or Bravo. There’s a couple of different Bluetooth tags like this. But AirTags are unique in the fact that if you leave things a long way away, so let’s say you went to the beach and you left your keys or your phone or your wallet there and you can’t find it, what’s unique about the AirTags is they connect to Apple’s network, right? So how many iPhones, there’s millions of iPhones, iPads, MacBooks, other types of devices out there.

Brian Norton:
And what that AirTag will do is even if you’re far away from it, it will actually send a secure Bluetooth signal to those other devices, which in turn will then send information to you so that you can then see it on a map. It’ll actually send information to those other devices. Those other devices will communicate it to the network. And then you go to look for it on find my device, which is a part of Apple, you can then see it on a map and you can go find it.

Brian Norton:
Because it’s connected to that wide network of Apple devices that are out there, there’s a better chance you’re going to be able to find it later on. And so I just think they’re really unique. They’re really small, they’re are disc size. They’re not all that expensive either. I think they start around $29 and you can get them in packages of one or a four pack. I think here at the In Data Project, we’ve gotten a four pack and we’re going to be playing with those a little bit. But super inexpensive. And if you’re like me, could be a game changer for you when you’re hunting and stressed out because you can’t find what you’re looking for.

Josh Anderson:
That’s definitely great. And is it weird that it creeps me out a little bit, that it jumps on to everyone else’s device to try to help you find it? It’s cool, but it’s just that it sounds a little bit scary. Well, something a little bit less scary. Nikol, you’ve got something that can kind of help folks with translation and being able to communicate a little bit here.

Nikol Prieto:
Yeah. This is super cool. I was very interested in this. I hope to go to Japan this year and I most certainly will not be learning any Japanese. I looked at briefly and I realized it’s very tough, very tough language.

Josh Anderson:
Very American of you.

Nikol Prieto:
Yes, it is very American of me. So I am going to introduce a Poliglu translator. And I apologize if that not how you pronounce that. But it’s Poliglu. And what it is, it’s a real time, two way translation. And it will translate real time conversations in 1.5 seconds. So it’s very cool to have that in your hand, and to be able to communicate with somebody who speaks a completely different language than you do. It’s 36 languages and you purchase the translator and it’s very easy to set up. You connect to wifi or your mobile network, and then you download the app. Once you have that all set up, it’s easy, ready to go. You’ll hold the device in your hand and you’ll press the me button when you want to speak. And then once you release that, it then reads your translation and the language you’ve chosen.

Nikol Prieto:
And then when someone’s going to speak to you, you hold the microphone button. You let it go and then translate what they’ve said to you. So just with that 1.5 seconds, it wouldn’t be awkward to be standing with someone and putting this device. They’ll quickly understand what you’re doing. It has four days of battery life. It has really good sound, high sound and recording quality. And I just think that’s just super neat. It’s a lot easier than learning a brand new language. I don’t know if you could teach this old dog new tricks to learn a whole new language, before a vacation. It’s about $89.

Josh Anderson:
Oh really. And that’s not bad at all because even if you think, I’ve taken foreign language here and there, and even if I can speak some of it, the minute someone else starts speaking it, and they’re used to speaking it, not a word. I’ll catch one or two things. When are they going to say, “Where’s the library?” It’s seems to be always the thing you kind of learn.

Nikol Prieto:
Yeah, absolutely.

Josh Anderson:
So something I found is something called the Toothbrush Pillow, and this is just a little kind of device, but it’s got some pretty darn cool uses. So what it is, it’ll hold your toothbrush. So if you think of just the kind of little toothbrush stand that you have over on the side of the sink, it’ll do that. But then what it does is it allows you to lay the toothbrush down and be able to put your toothpaste in it, all one handed. So for individuals with maybe tremors, Parkinson disease, something like that who can only really use one hand and for individuals with other kind of special needs or even kids, it can really help to be able… I don’t know, and I’ve done this before, where you set the toothbrush on the side of the sink, you put the toothpaste on it, it falls right over. You get the toothpaste all over the sink, not to mention you’re brushing your teeth with what ever was on the side of the sink.

Josh Anderson:
So it could really be helpful for a lot of folks, for a lot of different things. And in reading about it, it actually qualifies for your HSA and FSA funds. So if you do have a Health Savings Account, you can actually use this because it is an eligible medical device. And it runs about 10 bucks. So it’s not very expensive. Again, it could be great if you’re trying to help teach your kids how to independently brush their teeth, or if you’re an individual who again, has any kind of tremors, any kind of shakes, or really has any kind of mobility challenges where you’re using mostly one hand, it can really help to do that as well.

Brian Norton:
That’s so cool.

Nikol Prieto:
It is.

Josh Anderson:
And then Brian, I know we’re here entering winter, but you found something that can kind of help with gardening. Can you tell us about that?

Brian Norton:
Yeah. Well, if anybody knows me, I love to garden. Not.

Josh Anderson:
He complains about his pile of mulch for a month in the spring, when it shows up.

Brian Norton:
To be honest with everybody, the two things I grow at my house is grass and hosta because you can’t kill it. And it comes back every year. And so I’m a very, very select gardener. But I did find this tool. We do a lot here in the State of Indiana with a place called AgrAbility. You’ll find AgrAbility projects across, not every state, but quite a few of them. I think there’s maybe 30 to 40 projects across the country. Anyways, here in Indiana, we work with the Indiana AgrAbility folks. And there’s this device it’s called the Plant3r tool. It’s an accessible technology for the garden. Basically, it allows you to plant or weed in your garden without actually ever touching the ground or getting your hands dirty. And so what it looks like is… I was trying to kind of figure out what does it look like? It looks like kind of a sawed off shotgun, if you will. But it’s not that size. Not that I’ve ever handled a sawed off shotgun. But it kind of does look like that, doesn’t it guys?

Nikol Prieto:
Now that I’m looking at it. It wouldn’t have been my first thought.

Josh Anderson:
It does kind of does.

Brian Norton:
It kind of does. But anyways, it’s not something like that, just so you know. But it is the perfect thing for anybody who has a mobility or range of motion difference or disability. And so basically what it does is there is a trigger. If you pull the trigger halfway, it actually has a drill on the end and will drill a hole for whatever seeds you’re wanting to plant. So again, pull that trigger halfway. It’s going to go ahead and drill the hole. And then once it’s done drilling the hole, you pull the trigger the rest of the way, and it’s going to drop the seed into that hole.

Brian Norton:
And so it makes planting really easy. You don’t have to get down on your knees. You can just stand up and walk around and plant things where you want to plant them just simply by putting this device on the ground, letting it drill the hole, dropping the seat in and going from there. And so it’s a pretty neat little device. Again, I’m going to say it’s a $100. It’s on sale currently. I think traditionally it’s $129. They do allow you to be able to put some payments in there. I think you can do four interest free installments to be able to pay you for that. But Plant3r. So Plant3r tool. If you look that up on the web, it’s about 99 bucks and it looks really, really cool. And I think it’d make a big difference for folks who enjoy gardening and may have some mobility difficulties.

Josh Anderson:
And if you go back and actually listen, we actually had those folks on the show here last month as well. So you learned a little bit more about it. So Nikol, you found some other cool devices that can help folks out. What are some of those?

Nikol Prieto:
Yeah. So one of them is the Reminder Rosie 2. And this is pretty neat. It’s a personal voice reminder assistant. So it’s really there to help people increase their independence, living at home. And an ideal thing might be to promote your parent and loved one living at home longer because you can set up reminders for them. So it’s a device that you can set up 25 personalized voice reminders. And it has just very simple commands. But it can have a reminder like, “Dad, take two white pills and one blue pill now.” So lots of different reminders for folks to keep them on track with their tasks.

Nikol Prieto:
And it also can just leave messages. You can say it’s time for bed, good night, I love you, that kind of thing. The nice thing about this device, because you can do that with a lot of tablets and iPads and things like that, there’s no wifi necessary. There’s no fees once you purchase it. It’s just no wifi, no additional fees. You can use it in any language. It’s got any language you can think of. And like I said, it’s just nice to promote independent living for seniors, to help them with reminders on tasks they need to do through the day.

Brian Norton:
DI feel like I need that device too.

Josh Anderson:
We’re getting there, Brian, we’re getting there. I’ve never used the Reminder Rosie 2, but I know the original one was great. And it’s great for folks really have all abilities. I mean I’ve had folks who are blind or low vision use it just because having those verbal reminders is really nice. And like you said, as opposed to a tablet or something, not only do you not need wifi, it’s just a lot easier.

Nikol Prieto:
Yep.

Josh Anderson:
It’s a lot more user friendly. So you don’t have that fear of, oh goodness, I have to learn all these things just to essentially have an alarm clock.

Nikol Prieto:
Agree. Absolutely. The next thing I have is Zeba shoes. These are super cool. I really thought, particularly I ended up after I looked into these little more, sending these to my grandmother who is on rebound from a hip replacement and broken arm. And these are shoes that are hands free sneakers and that’s so cool for anyone. I don’t know if anybody’s tried to struggle with a shoehorn or anything. To me, they’re nearly impossible. It’s a very frustrating test. These are literally hands free.

Nikol Prieto:
You just stand up, you slide your foot into it. And then the way it’s designed is the back bends down. And then once you slide your foot in, it pops back up. It’s just ingenious. So, so cool. So anybody who has any difficulty putting tennis shoes on this would be great. They look like tennis shoes, they’re laced. They’re completely styled. The only of that is that back bends down and then pops up for your foot for an easy slide in. They have multiple designs for both men and women and you have 30 days to return or exchange them. And it’s $140. And I did see if you’re in Vegas, I think they have a physical store. I don’t know if they have any other ones.

Brian Norton:
I think I’ve seen commercials for them and they look really cool.

Nikol Prieto:
Really cool.

Brian Norton:
Yeah. And I put my shoes on that way. I don’t ever want to bend down. I just try to slide my foot in-

Nikol Prieto:
And then you cram the back-

Brian Norton:
And the back part always crams down. Do they make them for toddlers? Trying to get on toddler shoes-

Nikol Prieto:
That’s what they need to do. I remember telling my son who was just not interested in tying his shoes. He was entirely too old not to and had the ability. But I told him they’re going to run out of Velcro shoes in your size. They don’t make them in adult sizes.

Josh Anderson:
Well they do.

Nikol Prieto:
They’re very, very adult. That’s right.

Brian Norton:
That would be an interesting to do a toddler type of shoe for like that because you’re right, parents are always trying to jam that shoe on.

Josh Anderson:
You feel like you’re hurting them. You don’t really know. I mean, even if they’re not. And plus they’re fighting you. It’s like trying to rope a steer.

Nikol Prieto:
Absolutely. I think that’s where this design came from in reading about it is they just kept watching people shove their shoes on and someone had the brilliant idea of what if the back end just dropped and let you do that. So I just think those little things are so cool when somebody comes up… That’s a great used for so many people who either don’t want to put on their shoes, can’t put on their shoes.

Brian Norton:
Or need assistance. I’m thinking about folks with disabilities. I have a nephew who has a disability and parents were still, at this age, putting shoes on and it’s a challenge.

Josh Anderson:
Just every little thing you can do independently or as you said, just a whole lot less of a challenge. Nikol, I know we’ve talked about the accessible controller for the Xbox. It came out a few years ago. But you actually found one for the Switch. Can you tell us about that?

Nikol Prieto:
I did. So the Nintendo Switch has a Flex Controller for the Nintendo Switch. It’s on the high end of things, I’m going to talk about. It’s about $250. But if you have a gamer who has difficulty using a typical controller, this is the Christmas present for you. So it was designed, they worked with gamers who had muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy and other physical challenges, and also OT therapists to develop the successful controller. You can control the Nintendo Switch with various external switches and joystick attachments. So that’s really cool. The switches and joysticks connect via the auxiliary port or a USB port. It’s sold separately. So it allows you to kind of set up an pick whatever interface works best for you. And this allows the user to customize the setup. On the website, you can find a list of products that the Flex Controller is compatible with. So it seems like an analog joystick by Techni-Tool was listed, and any assistive switches that have a 3.5 millimeter jack. So super cool way to get your gamers who have difficulty with a traditional controller, how to make that accessible.

Josh Anderson:
Nice. And I know accessibility and gaming has become a huge thing. And I know even game manufacturers are trying to make their games a little bit more accessible for folks. And that’s awesome, that there’s a another option. Because I know a few folks who have Switches and they just love it. They just absolutely love the game choices and everything else. So that’s great that it’s more accessible for more folks.

Josh Anderson:
Folks, that is all the time we have for part one of our holiday gift giving guide. Don’t forget to join us next week as Nikol Prieto, Brian Norton and myself. I’ll talk about some more great things around the holidays, as well as some great gifts that are out there for your friends, your families, and your loved ones. We thank you so much for listening. We hope that you had a wonderful time, a wonderful holiday, and we can’t wait to see back here next week.

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 In Data Project. This has been your Assistive Technology Update. I’m Josh Anderson with the In Data Project at Easterseals Crossroads in Indianapolis, Indiana. Thank you so much for listening, and we’ll see you next time.