Wheelchair repairs and adaptive gaming: Temple is opening a new $500k space for people with disabilities

Viola and Dan Dwyer decided it was time to move on from the flip phone.

When Dan was a child, he experienced a traumatic brain injury that affected his speech and motor skills and for most of his adult life, he has used a flip phone because of its fixed, tactile buttons.

But those phones don’t offer smartphone features that would be useful to Dan, like rideshare apps.

So, Viola bought her husband his first iPhone, thinking they’d be able to figure things out together. Viola has her own disability, born with a neuromuscular condition called spinal muscular atrophy, and is a full-time wheelchair user. The Landsdale couple have their own YouTube channel that documents what it’s like to live with a disability.

The Dwyers are used to coming up with creative solutions, but the iPhone still proved to be tricky for Dan.

A friend with cerebral palsy suggested they make an appointment with TechOWL (Technology for Our Whole Lives) at Temple University to get some help. TechOWL is Pennsylvania’s designated Assistive Technology Act program, meaning it receives federal, state, and local funding to connect people with disabilities with technology that makes their lives easier. TechOWL has several other locations throughout the state.

» READ MORE: Disabled Pennsylvanians need more support

“They brought out this big box of devices and they were making things, even plugging things in and trying different switches,” Viola said about their visit to the Temple TechOWL office.

After some experimentation, the TechOWL staff, many of whom also have disabilities, built a makeshift external device for Dan. Now, with this switchboard, he can push several buttons to operate his iPhone. The staff also introduced the Dwyers to Eyegaze software, which would allow Dan to type at his desktop just with eye movements and facial gestures.

“They were really welcoming and they were willing to actually just devote time [to] go over what Dan’s needs are and what his problems were in the past with other tech,” Viola said.

“It was just so much fun.”

TechOWL was recently awarded a $500,000 grant from the Department of Education to construct a new community space in North Philly. The space, which is scheduled to open sometime this summer, will allow TechOWL to expand its services, as well as support existing ones.

“We’re really trying to build a space that’s centered in disabled experience, and that is accessible for as many different people with as many different circumstances as is possible,” said Kim Singleton, the senior director of assistive technologies at Temple’s Institute on Disabilities. She made clear that this space is not just for Temple affiliates, but for all Philadelphians.

“We want to create this kind of community sense of belonging and being together with folks.”

» READ MORE: 1 in 6 Pennsylvania voters has a disability. Why don’t candidates campaign for their support?

The space will host a variety of programs and events, all focused on assistive technology, which can include anything that enables people with disabilities to live more independently, like crutches, vibrating alarm clocks, magnifying glasses, speech-to text software, or the device the Dwyers are using for their iPhone.

One of TechOwl’s signature programs is its Wheelchair Alliance. When someone has a mechanical issue with their wheelchair and needs to send it away for repair, it can take up to several months for a vendor to do the job, leaving the person in a bind. TechOWL’s Wheelchair Alliance brings bicycle mechanics and wheelchair users together to learn about wheelchair repairs, so more local people are suited to make these fixes.

“Our vision of the work that we do is to make sure that … people with disabilities are centered within the larger community. Not making [it so] that people with disabilities have to change to be into the community,” said Sally A. Gould-Taylor, the executive director of Temple’s Institute on Disabilities.

The new community space will accommodate more of that ongoing work, but also new programs, like adaptive gaming events.

Singleton explained that many video game players with disabilities have their own setups at home, but might not be able to travel with them and play in person with others. TechOWL events will make it more possible for people to have the experience of playing together.

“We’re trying to shift the idea that, oh, poor disabled people need able-bodied people to help them out, and shift it to: we all have a place at the table,” said Singleton.

» READ MORE: Riding public transit can be a gamble for people with disabilities. This Philly-born app makes it easier.

Dwyer believes people ought to widen their definitions of what it means to have a disability, and realize that assistive technology is helpful to everyone.

“When someone just even cannot do something physically that they used to, assistive technology, that’s what it’s there for … that’s what having a disability is,” she said.

“I would encourage the people who may think, ‘Oh, I don’t think I could do this anymore,’ [to] maybe second guess that and to explore further.”