COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) – One in three individuals within the state of South Carolina resides with a incapacity. Immediately the South Carolina Assistive Expertise Program showcased expertise to assist individuals residing with disabilities. It was held on the Conference Middle on Meeting Avenue close to the Colonial Life Area.
The expo showcases the newest developments in assistive expertise and provides workshops to point out how the expertise can be utilized at dwelling and in different settings.
This expo is the most important of its form within the state of South Carolina. Organizers say the crowds proceed to develop every year. However this 12 months is additional particular because it marks the occasion’s thirtieth anniversary.
“I used to be 20 years outdated once I broke my again,” mentioned Lewis Stephens, a C4 quadriplegic.
“I dove into two toes of water and broke my again. However issues labored out. I completed at Carolina. Work with some good group of parents at Dominion,” he mentioned.
He says he’s been coming to the South Carolina Assistive Expo for 25 years now.
Stephens says, “It’s very useful for anyone with disabilities or who don’t have disabilities that they’ll see what choices are on the market for individuals with disabilities to make use of on an on a regular basis foundation.”
For Stephens, the occasion would’ve been most useful when he was first injured at a younger age.
“It’s nice for the youthful of us as a result of once I was injured 42 years in the past, there was nothing like this,” he mentioned.
Rachell Johnson says, “It sort of simply brings consciousness, but additionally, individuals stroll away with that is what I can do with this expertise, or that is who I may also help.”
Johnson is this system supervisor for the South Carolina Assistive Expertise Program. She says this expertise is used to enhance the each day residing of somebody with a incapacity.
“So it’s actually essential in our state to have consciousness of what assistive expertise is since you by no means know once you would possibly want it. All of us use it in our day-to-day lives however there are some individuals who want it to go to work to go to high school,” she says.
“A incapacity can occur at beginning and is developmental, however it additionally could be acquired and if you concentrate on individuals who have a mind harm or a struck or one thing that occurs later in life after which they purchase that incapacity that quantity will get much more astronomical,” she added.
The expo featured options for imaginative and prescient, mobility, and communication. Johnson estimated round 900 attendees this 12 months and is hoping to develop this expo into greater than only a one-day occasion.
In case you missed the expo right now, the South Carolina Assistive Expo provides coaching courses at its useful resource middle. You possibly can contact the Middle for Incapacity Sources at 803-935-7819.
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