Temple’s Institute on Disabilities launches a new community center

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Temple University’s Institute on Disabilities’ new community center engages and teaches community members with and without disabilities about life-enhancing technology and seeks to remove the stigma of having a disability via technology.

The program, housed at the center is Tech OWL, which stands for Technology for Our Whole Lives, provides the surrounding North Philadelphia community with workshops, classes and a space for connecting.

Sally Gould-Taylor, executive director of Temple’s Institute on Disabilities, said that the institute’s primary role in the community is to offer support to people with disabilities.

“The kind of guiding principle that is behind all the work that we do is around the idea and concept that disability is a natural part of the human experience,” said Gould-Taylor.

The community center, which launched this past spring, has tools such as a technology lending library, recommendations for what technology might work best for a person’s specific needs, demonstrations and customized devices.

Alanna Raffel, assistant technology specialist at the Institute on Disabilities, said that the goal of the center is to reach people and expand Tech OWL’s programs through the ability to have hours for walk-in appointments. She said another goal is also to destigmatize the use of assistive technology in the disability space.

“We’re trying to make it cool and regular. Glasses are assistive technology; hearing aids are assistive technology. It could be anything from a high-tech power wheelchair to a pencil grip.”

Tech OWL boasts multiple technology programs to help enhance the lives of people with disabilities. One of these programs is called Connect With Tech, which provides people with disabilities — especially in rural areas — with tablets for better access to medical care and facilitate better communication with others. It also has a program called iCanConnect, which provides technology to people with severe vision and hearing loss so they can better communicate in their daily lives.

Elijah Youngs, assistive technology project coordinator at the Institute on Disabilities, helped launch Connect With Tech and works on the iCanConnect programs.

“We supply not only the assistive technology, but the training on how to use the technology, and that’s very important,” Youngs said.

Though the Tech OWL demonstrations are offered in other places across Pennsylvania by filling out an information sheet, the new community center provides a hub for people to access these technologies and classes daily.

The center is also open for collaboration with community members. In one instance, the community center asked people with expertise in fixing bikes to teach a workshop on fixing wheelchairs.

Gould-Taylor said, “We’re connecting … two communities that maybe, historically, we haven’t thought of as part of this disabled experience. We would love to continue to see the space grow those types of connections and opportunities.”

Temple Institute’s Tech OWL community center accepts ideas for classes on their website.