ROUGH EDITED COPY
IL-NET National Training and Technical Assistance Center
Technology Options During the COVID‑19 Pandemic: A Q&A Session for CILs and SILCs
April 23, 2020
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   >> TIM FUCHS: Kimberly, I just saw your note. Sorry about that. 
   >> KIMBERLY TISSOT: That's all right. I should have put them in my calendar. 
   >> TIM FUCHS: Oh great.
   >> TIM FUCHS: Okay. I got the 
	   >> TIM FUCHS: All right. Good afternoon! Hey, everyone. I'm with the national council on independent living. I want to welcome you to our latest ILNET technology webinar. Technology options during the 2020 pandemic.
I'm really thrilled to be back again as part of this series that we have been doing on COVID19 and maintaining operations. And before we get into the content today, I wanted to mention a few housekeeping and accessibility things.
First of all, we have both captioning and ASL interpreting available today. So the captions are available in Zoom. And if you don't see them, you can go to your Zoom menu bar and select "show subtitles," and one of the changes that Zoom has made recently is you can now manipulate the font size of captions within Zoom.
This is really nice, because previously they were kind of small. So you can now do that. However, for those of you that join our calls regularly know, we also offer our captions as a full‑screen of captions at streamtext.net. And that way you can really make the font large. Of course it will take you away from the webinar screen, but you can adjust the font size, the contract, the color. Whatever works best for you. There's also a chat feature there.
So if any of you are using the full‑screen CART captioning and want to ask a question, I'm logged in there. And you can ask your question. The URL for that is a little too long to read out. But it was sent in the same confirmation e‑mail, and I trust that you have it. We will post it in the Zoom chat in a second, just as soon as I'm done with the intro.
Also, if you're using ASL, you will see David, our interpreter, in your options you want to switch to speaker view and focus on David's video.
If you click the dots kind of like an ellipses, you can pin his video. Again, that might affect your visuals on the PowerPoint and other speakers, but at least you will be able to make David's video larger.
And on your screen, you should be able to adjust the PowerPoint size and David's video size so you can find a happy medium that works for you. If you have any questions about that, you are welcome to hit us up in the chat, and we will respond.
So we are recording today's call so we can archive it. We are in presentation mode now. But of course we have plenty of time for you all to ask questions, and we encourage you all to do so. There's a few ways that you can do that.
I would like that if you are able to, you use the Q&A tab in Zoom. If you're on the webinar, it's a nice way for us to capture all of the questions in one place. And we can go through them in the order they come in, especially with such a large audience. We've already got 200 people and will probably be closer to 300 by the time we get to our first Q&A break. However, I know that for some of you, you maybe are on the phone instead of Zoom.
Some of the Zoom features may not be accessible or ideal for you, so I wanted to offer alternatives. First, I mentioned the CART chat at stream text. If you're watching the captions there, you can type your question in the chat box, and I will be happy to voice it for you on a Q&A break.
You can e‑mail me at Tim@NCIL.org. I have got my e‑mail open, and I will be happy to voice your questions. The final one, I really want to save as an accommodation for folks that don't have other options.  If you're only on the phone today and cannot access Zoom, you can press star nine to raise your hand.  I will have to go through the participant list and manually find your phone number and unmute you.
Again, with a large audience, you know, that can be a lot. So again, if we can save that for our colleagues that need that as an accommodation, I'd really appreciate it.
The last thing I wanted to mention today was just the evaluation form. So, when we do finish the presentation today, you'll see an evaluation form come up on your screen. And if you're only on the phone or if you've got to get to another meeting that evaluation link is also included in the confirmation e‑mail that had the connection instructions.
So you can fill it out there. But please do take a minute to let us know what you think on the evaluation. We'd really appreciate that. We really do take your feedback seriously. If there's something we could be doing better and you don't tell us, then we won't know. So please do take a minute to do that.
I'm also moving the slides. You should be seeing my slides today. I'm going to go to slide four. So Richard petty and I will be co‑moderating the session today. Richard, of course, is co‑director of ILRU and director of the IL‑NET training and technical assistance center for centers and SILCS. With us we have dawn Bentley and Kimberly Tissot. I know you all are so busy.
I really appreciate your willingness to share your expertise with us. Dawn is the director of youth and transition sources at the ability center in Toledo, Ohio. And Kimberly is executive director of ABLE South Carolina in the Columbia and Greenville areas of the state. Thank you for being with us.
I wanted to go ahead to slide six here. And just share this chart.
And remember that that confirmation e‑mail that you received also included the materials in a couple of formats. So like especially if you're using a screen reader or you're not watching the slides in Zoom today, don't forget that you've got these materials and you've got them in accessible formats.
So this chart is really cool. Our captioning provider actually helped us with this. Because we were familiar with the accessibility of some of these platforms, but we asked them if they had opinions on which platforms were the best for plugging in captions. And for accessibility.
And they have this whole matrix ready to go that they used. And so, I wanted to just mention quickly here that as you consider what platforms work best for your center. And we're also finding as we go through this, right, it's not one size fits all. That you may use different technology and platforms for different consumers or different needs.
You can see here we show the platform name. In the next column, whether or not you can integrate captioning right into the screen. Whether or not you can use StreamText. And that will depend on your vendor. Our captioning vendor does use StreamText. But basically, as I was describing a few minutes ago, it's a third‑party website where you can use captions. One of the things that is nice about StreamText, 
if you have a phone call that is phone only, you can have the captioner call in and provide the captions on the web. Even as you think outside of webinar options, you can make group telephone calls accessible.
In the final column in the far right, instructions and notes are additional notes about those options.
Now there's a whole other slew of considerations, of course, regarding visual accessibility, cognitive accessibility for these platforms, and we're aware of that. We're going to talk about some of that today. You can reach out to us at the IL‑NET to get our feedback on that. But we thought this was a cool resource to have handy.
I'm going to go ahead to slide 7 and turn it over to Richard to get into our first questions for our panelists today. Richard? 
   >> RICHARD PETTY: Thank you, Tim. And Kimberly and Dawn, welcome and we are very appreciative of your participation in this webinar.
The audience will learn much from you, as will we. And our first question is, aside from telephone, what technology are you using to communicate with consumers? To continue the services and programs that your center offers? And Dawn, may I ask you first? And then Kimberly. 
   >> DAWN BENTLEY: Sure. So we have really opened up the door of opportunity to a lot of different types of technology. We're using platforms all the way from Zoom to Google Hangouts, Facebook messenger. We have actually connected consumers through Netflix parties. Crip Camp came out recently, and we were able to connect through a Netflix Party to watch it together.
 Skype and FaceTime. We have continued intakes and informational sessions that we have provided over these platforms. And also just as a way for people to connect. Because social isolation has been such a big issue and such a hot topic right now that it's something that we really want to address while people have to physically isolate from each other.
And then in addition to that, one of the things that we have been able to use so that we can still make phone calls to our consumers, but also protect staff's information is the Core Nexa app. This allows us to call consumers so that the ability center's phone number comes across on their phone so that they know who is calling them. But it also protects the staff from sharing their personal cell phone or information with the consumer.
And then they are able to call back through that app as well. So that's been a really great way for us to continue making phone calls and connecting with people. And then we actually, what we found is a lot of people just weren't as comfortable with virtual options and how to make those connections.
So one of our youth department staff actually put together a tutorial on some of the major platforms that we've posted on the web site. And we've also shared the PDF. It walks people through options and gives them step‑by‑step instructions on how to uses these platforms such as Zoom. But then our staff is available to consumers so that they can actually walk them through the different platforms, offer technical assistance.
In addition, they can actually set up, like, almost like a faux call. And that way they can do a trial run just so that that way they can acclimate them with that platform and then also assist them with familiarizing how to use it, the accessibility features. And then that way they're comfortable using it independently moving forward when they want to make connections with people on their own.
So those are some of the major ways that we have been connecting with consumers. Moving forward, we're going to offer virtual coffee breaks. I can touch on those later, as well as our Pinterest page that we have put together that has ideas for people in different age groups, so it gives them different options for recreation opportunities as well as those who need sensory integration.
It gives different ideas for sensory input that can be done using common household items. I would say those are the major platforms and ways we have been connecting most recently. 
   >> RICHARD PETTY: Thank you, Dawn. And Kimberly? 
   >> KIMBERLY TISSOT: I want to start off with what we are doing with telephones. We have opened up our services to be 24/7, which means that we have staff that are answering phones 24 hours, seven days a week. Because we have seen that after hours is where a lot of the other service providers are closed.
And they are not providing services to people during this time. We wanted to make sure that our consumers know that we are there for them during this. And so, how we have made that work is our office phones are being transferred to our informational referral specialists who are usually the front‑line staff who answer the phones and direct calls. And they are taking intakes and directing the calls to the variety of different staff members that we have. And then after hours, 
because I wanted to be careful with our staff's time, our phones are being transferred to an exempt employee, meaning that we don't have to worry about overtime. And again, we have noticed that we have a lot of calls on the weekends. We have a lot of calls on the evenings of people feeling alone, isolated, and really needing support. As far as technologies, we are meeting consumers where they are with what they have available at their homes to work with.
We are using all of the platforms, zoom, Google hangouts, texting, pretty much all of them. We have increased peer mentoring for youth and our adults. We have moved all of our pre‑employment transition services. We have over 30 programs and all of them have been made virtual at this point.  We also provide pre‑employment transition services in the schools. We have created a website for teaches that they can go to and pull accessible curriculum down from the website to send to their students.

    Another service we are providing is we are actually assisting people with their schoolwork. A lot of people are having a hard time staying focused. So we're walking through that virtually or via the phone. Another thing that we did that was really cool and a bit scary is we hosted our statewide advocacy day event this year.
Usually it is on the steps of the state house in Columbia, South Carolina. And this year we moved it completely, 100% virtual. And we had actually over 13,000 viewers participating in this event. And the way that we did it, we actually hosted it via Zoom, where the presenters that were coming in, so different legislators and consumers were coming in and speaking. They were using the Zoom platform. And we were using a third‑party system called re‑stream.
It did a live stream through Zoom and social media and YouTube. And of course that was with CART and we had ASL interpreters as well. And it was very accessible and a positive move for our state as well.
That's about it. It is a lot easier than we thought at the very beginning of all of this when COVID19 became a concern for our organization. That was the first step that we did. We immediately started moving everything virtually, so we can continue providing services during this time.

   >> RICHARD PETTY: Next question. How are you making sure that you're meeting the technology needs for consumers? And that really means what you're doing within your center. How are you making sure that your center is ready to do the work that you need to do? 
    The next question is how are you overcoming technology barriers? Have you found creative ways to assist consumers to meet their needs? We would very much like to hear about both of those areas. And Dawn, may I ask you to go first, please? 
   >> DAWN BENTLEY: Sure. So I mentioned before, one of the ways is that we're offering the virtual tutorials. Another thing that we started that has really had quite an impact is we have been connecting wellness checks for all of our consumers. For our youth department, we have had over 400 consumers to call.
We are also working on calling adult consumers to check in on them. What we're finding is the highest area of struggle that people have is social isolation followed by access to Wi‑Fi. And then masks.
So we have actually been mailing masks out to consumers who have to use them, especially for public transportation, now that they're requiring that masks be worn. In addition to that, what we have found, we aggregated the data from our adult survey last week.
And we found that 23 out of 210 people who were about to conduct the survey, they didn't have access to a phone or a tablet or a computer. So 23 was a significantly small number, smaller than we actually anticipated. However, what we found was over 50% of the people that we surveyed did not have access to Wi‑Fi.
So we have really found that that has been probably the greatest barrier, because Wi‑Fi is pretty necessary in order to use many of these different platforms, or it becomes very expensive if we're asking people to use data on their cell phones, for example.
So one of the things that we have done is we have started to work with partner organizations. Owen's community college put out a helpful resource. In that is different ways that people can access the internet temporarily during the COVID19 pandemic.
But also, the local broadband is offering 30 minutes for free daily so they can have things like their telehealth appointments.
So that has probably been the biggest area that we are looking at overcoming. And then as far as accessing equipment. We actually, our recreation coordinator is working with Ohio. And we just wrote a grant. We would like to look at ways that we can access more equipment for people who need it temporarily. Even those 23 are just as important as the others of the 2010 who need that equipment for things like virtual doctor's appointments and social opportunity.

   >> KIMBERLY TISSOT: I will share what we are doing as well. At the beginning, it was difficult because not everyone had an iPad or a laptop. We had 54 staff members, and we ended up sending people home with desktop computers and the technology that they need. And because we are very frugal at our organization, we did also transfer our phone lines to a Google phone number.
So when someone is calling our main line, it goes into a Google phone line and gets dispersed within our INR specialists who answer the phones.
So we were able to quickly transition and made it work. As far as consumer services, again, just really meeting them with where they are. If they don't have internet, we are providing resources. There are free internet options at the moment. But we are also helping them with accessing the services that they need without that.
A great example of that is grocery shopping. A lot of the grocery stores, you can order your groceries online. So we are walking people through that process and helping them order online and getting their groceries either delivered or being able to pick them up and take them out there.
A lot of consumers, unfortunately, we have had a lot of consumers lose their job, so we are assisting people applying for unemployment. A lot of times this is over the phone where our staff is assisting them with filling out the application online while our staff is on the computer and the consumer is on the phone.
And again, meeting people with where they are, a lot of times that is telephone, still. A lot of time that's social media. We are seeing a lot of people on social media, communicating on messenger and texting. They are e‑mailing as well. So I think making sure that you have a lot of different options that you're offering within your organization to be able to communicate with consumers right now is extremely important.

   >> RICHARD PETTY: Kimberly and Dawn, thank you both. And those are great examples and great creative ideas. And Tim, I believe now we are ready for questions from our participants. 
   >> TIM FUCHS: We're right on time for our first Q&A break. Thanks. Nice job, everybody. Before I go through these questions, we've got a number that have lined up. I just want to remind you all of the Q&A options if you joined a little bit later.
If you're able to access the Q&A tab in Zoom, I would like to ask you all to use that. If you cannot, or you're only on the telephone, we have a couple of options. You can e‑mail me at Tim@NCIL.org. If you're on the full‑screen CART caption link at StreamText, I'm logged in there as Tim Fuchs. You can type your questions there and I will voice them for you.
And finally, I will ask that we only use this for folks that are on the phone or need it for an accommodation that can't access the other options. If you're on the phone, you can press star 9 to raise your hand. I'm asking that you save that for colleagues that need the accommodation.
I have to go through and actually find the raised hand next to the phone number. So it can just be a lot to manage as we keep up with the questions. If you need that, you are welcome to use it. Okay! 
    I want to start with the questions that have come in. So, first question was anonymous. It said Zoom has had security issues. How is ILRU and SILs taking a look at these? I am going to tackle that.
We're well aware of the headlines with Zoom. They have had some unfortunate press over the last couple of weeks around some of their security and privacy issues. And I'll say, from our perspective, we've continued to use zoom, although with some changes. Because we still feel that it is the most, you know, affordable and accessible video platform for our activities.
You might come to a different conclusion.
We are also happy with some of the changes that Zoom made, immediately implementing longer meeting IDs, giving some tips on their support page for privacy and access is actually quite good.
And we still have some concerns, accessibility concerns with some of the security solutions they have developed. So we have actually not implemented some of those things knowingly, because we don't want to limit accessibility for folks. You know, increase security at the expense of someone's ability to participate. That's just been our experience. I hope that's helpful.

   >> KIMBERLY TISSOT: We have been able to ‑‑ there's a way that if you're the host of your ‑‑ if your organization is the host of the Zoom meeting, you can make it so that the host can be the only one that shares the screen. And so that's been one safety measure that we have been able to use. We're working with students of all ages, and that was definitely one of our concerns.
We don't want anything inappropriate popping up. So making sure, you know, only one person can share the Zoom call screen. And also having passwords is another way. 
   >> DAWN BENTLEY: And I just shared, too, that we had a webinar recently.
Ohio had major changes to boating, and it was a hot topic. We actually held a webinar about the changes so everyone now how they could access the changes on how to access their absentee ballot. Our PR manager created a link that was on our website. When someone clicked on it, they had to, through Zoom, there was a feature where they had to fill out a form first.
Once they completed the form, then it took them to the webinar. So that was another safety feature that was something where they couldn't just jump right into the Zoom platform, but they had to answer the information first, and then they were given permission to join the webinar. 
   >> TIM FUCHS: Good. Great tips. Okay. Jay is asking, where do you get the encoder for Facebook captions. Unless you all know, I'm going to have to ask our captioning provider. I'm actually not sure. That was from the matrix that we shared on the different platform s. Is StreamText available in different languages? 
    Stream text is a third‑party tool. It will stream content that somebody inputs. I do know that Zoom offers language access, like David is in the screen interpreting for us in ASL. You can also have language access. That is a newer feature that zoom offers. You can find information about that on their website.
Mary is wondering in response to COVID19, have CILs started distributing communication equipment? And how are they providing training on equipment? So you all touched on this. Does anyone want to provide more details for Mary on distributing communication and any training you all are doing? 
   >> KIMBERLY TISSOT: We are not currently distributing, but we are always offering training and helping to test it. 
   >> TIM FUCHS: Dawn, is that something you have done? Have you provided equipment to folks? 
   >> DAWN BENTLEY: We haven't, but we have a few resources of people who are loaning formerly used equipment. So we have been directing consumers to those resources right now while we work with our state to see if there are other options.
As Kimberly mentioned, we have our information and referral staff are available to really walk consumers through via telephone or just through troubleshooting how to use that equipment. And any accessibility issues that they are coming across or anything like that.

   >> TIM FUCHS: That's great. And while I've got you, someone wanted you to clarify the service that you use so when folks call into the center, it is displayed differently? 
   >> DAWN BENTLEY: It's Core NEXA. There's also Skype for business, and it does the same thing. We were using Google originally, but the issue that we ran into with Google is that it just forms like a random number, versus looking ‑‑ coming from the area code where you're calling, necessarily.
Skype for business and Core Nexa gives the option of your business phone number being what comes across the screen so that it looks like the Ability Center is calling. I don't know if that makes sense. 
   >> TIM FUCHS: Got it. Thanks. How big are your CILs? Dawn? How big is your ability center? 
   >> DAWN BENTLEY: We currently have 51 staff at the Ability Center, and we service seven counties in the greater Toledo area. 
   >> KIMBERLY TISSOT: We have 54 staff members, and we serve half of our state, so we have 23 counties, and then six counties that we serve as well ‑‑ six additional counties to that. And our budget is about $4.1 million. 
   >> TIM FUCHS: For those of you that are not that size, just remember, as you gasp, that a lot of these ideas are scalable. And of course not all of them. But a lot of the things that we're talking about are quite affordable. You know, some of the options we talked about are low‑cost or even no‑cost. That's not true across the board. Try to keep that in mind as you try to take advantage of these things. 
   >> KIMBERLY TISSOT: And we are very frugal, and we have hardly spent very much money on any of this. 
   >> TIM FUCHS: Yeah. Okay. So Margaret says I use video phone and what's app to talk to Deaf and hard of hearing consumers. A lot of them do not understand how to use the Zoom platform. Do you have recommendations on how to teach them to download Zoom and how to use it? 
    I don't want this to sound like a cop‑out, but their support pages are fantastic. I think it's zoom.us/support. They have tutorials, online trainings, resource sheets, and multiple mediums. I have found them to be quite good, and if you would like any other specific tips, Margaret, you're welcome to follow up with me, as are the rest of you.
We use Zoom with all of our webinars, and we are quite comfortable with it. 
   >> KIMBERLY TISSOT: And I think just testing it with consumers as well. Sometimes people like to practice on things, and walking them through it as they go and testing it. 
   >> TIM FUCHS: We ‑‑ NCIL is making the transition to using Zoom for our committee calls and we have been working through the exact same issues at the same time. And one of the things that we have been doing is putting together primers and scripts for folks, so they know when they join exactly what they're going to find. Right? 
    So if you dial into Zoom what are the prompts that they're going to hear? If connect to a computer, what do you need to be prepared to enter? Spelling some of that out for folks has been helpful.
And for other folks, it's not and they have continued to have access issues. I think that's important to remember is it's not going to work for everyone. We need to take people at their word for what they need and what support they need.
Here's a good one, a tough one. How do you recommend reaching out to consumers who reside in nursing homes and may not have access to any technology? I know a lot of nursing homes and other common care settings are completely locked down right now. Have you all had any success with that? 
   >> KIMBERLY TISSOT: I mean, we have used just the telephone to reach out and check on the folks who have been trying to transition out. Connecting ‑‑ again, meeting them where they are with what you can use to reach them at this moment. And sometimes that's the telephone.

   >> TIM FUCHS: Yeah. 
   >> DAWN BENTLEY: I would say the same. We have really good working relationships with our local county boards. Our county board of developmental disabilities as well as our rural county boards as well. They will often times share the same consumers that we do. So they are often able to help with troubleshooting some of that.
So we have been working with multiple partners to serve one consumer, and that's been really helpful as well. Because they have a different relationship with a lot of the nursing home or direct care service staff.

   >> TIM FUCHS: Great. Great. We've only got time for one more question. There's a couple that are sort of similar. Have you all used technology to literally help consumers fill out forms together on a joint platform? Or do any IL skills training like, you know, how to order food? Or do any of those sorts of things? Any examples like that? 
   >> KIMBERLY TISSOT: Our staff has, because there's a way that you can share your screen on Zoom, and you can walk through things. We always like to do that anyways just to make sure that what we're filling out is what they're wanting as well. If they're needing assistance with filling out forms like that or if they're taking control.
So use that feature, because that's an amazing feature. And it even helps with grocery shopping and picking out things, online shopping if need be as well.

   >> TIM FUCHS: Great. 
   >> DAWN BENTLEY: I would say that's what we have been doing, too, is doing the screen share. 
   >> TIM FUCHS: Yeah, that can be really helpful. I will answer a couple questions quickly about access. Someone asked how to get to closed captions on Zoom. You do still need to hire a captioner. So find a vendor in your area. If you don't know one, you can reach out to me. These are all remote captioners, right? So you can find these services from anywhere around the country.
They don't have to be local to you. But you will need to do some things. You will have to change some of your zoom settings. It's easy, but you need to know where to look. And you need to get the captioner on the call and assign them to type the captions.
So, again, it's very, very simple, but it's not automatic.
Someone mentioned they couldn't see our interpreter. So, I wanted to just offer some tips there. In the speaker videos, one of your speakers should be David, our interpreter. And you'll want to find his video. If you don't see any videos, or if you only see me as the current speaker, try changing your speaker view. And you might just see a little box in the upper right‑hand corner of your screen.
You might see boxes or grids. Try clicking through those until you see David's video. Then you can either enlarge it or pin it to your screen so that even as others talk, you will only see his camera. I don't know if that's helpful. 
   >> RICHARD PETTY: This is Richard. Can I interject for just a moment, please? 
   >> TIM FUCHS: Please. 
   >> TJ: 
   >> RICHARD PETTY: It is possible to find auto‑captioning in some platforms such as Google. And we would urge that you be very cautious about that and make sure that the quality of the captioning lives up to the same quality as you would have where you're using a captioner.
Any of us would be in danger of offering a service, a captioning service of a lesser quality to someone which could have a negative effect on their level of access and that could be really not helpful to them and unfortunate, also, for your Center. And it could leave you, at least, open for a complaint about the quality of service that you're offering.

   >> TIM FUCHS: Yep. Important point.  You get what you pay for. So, those auto‑captions can be tempting, but great point, Richard. Thanks for highlighting that.
I want to go into slide ten here and move the conversation along. I realize there are some questions we didn't get to. And we will begin with those in our next Q&A break towards the end of the call.
So I'm going to come back to you, dawn, and ask here on slide ten, what technology are you and your staff using to communicate, share files, and keep your work moving ahead as normally as possible? With each other as opposed to, you know, consumer outreach and those programs.

   >> DAWN BENTLEY: We have been using ‑‑ Google Docs has been hugely helpful. I feel like Google is the real MVP here. Microsoft teams has been really helpful. What I like about Microsoft Teams is you're able to do video chat and also different text groups, almost like instant messenger.
So that has been nice as well when you want to have a conversation with someone and not keep bouncing back and forth via e‑mail. So you can have more live conversations that way without being on the phone or having a video chat every time you want to speak with a group.
So that's also been really a good way for us to share information, exchange ideas, talk like we would casually by the water cooler at work. So that option has been super helpful.
And then we have a common drive or shared drive that we have as a center. And we have been able to access that through a VPN as well, which has been helpful. So I would say those are probably the three biggest ways that we have been connecting with each other.

   >> TIM FUCHS: Okay. Great good.  Info. Kimberly, what technology are you all using at Able South Carolina to stay in touch with each other? 
   >> KIMBERLY TISSOT: Very similar. But I want to start off, our staff ‑‑ something we wanted to focus on is our staff's overall wellbeing. So keeping socialization up as much as possible. So we took this very seriously. Our board of directors even created principles of how decisions were going to be made during this time just so that they know they are our priority within our organization.
Because I think job security was something I think a lot of people were nervous about when this thing first started. So staff is critical to the organization. So what we do is we use Microsoft Teams as well. Great with grants management, keeping abreast of how your programs are going, how they're being implemented.
But the video chat and also the texting is amazing. I think they should definitely ‑‑ we need to put some money in their stock at the moment, too.
Zoom, e‑mail, phone, Microsoft, calendars. So people are putting down what they're doing during the day on Microsoft calendars. They are doing daily calls with supervisors. And really just to check in. The socialization, bouncing ideas off of each other is really important.
Then we also have shared drives and weekly staff meetings. So all 54 of us get on a call, what are we using for that? I think Google Hangouts on Monday afternoons. And we're doing a little bit of staff development during this time, but also checking in, how are we doing? What's working? What's not? How can we make improvements? With our shared folder, we have been building this shared folder with COVID resources from the community.
But also assistance that will help them with thriving in a telework environment as well. So doing a little bit of both, building up consumers and staff at this moment, and making sure that South Carolina has begun to open up. We are not following those orders. But making sure that when we do start transitioning back, I don't think it's going to be any time soon.
When we do start transitioning back, we are going to be supplying them with all that they need to keep themselves safe and healthy during this as well. 
   >> TIM FUCHS: Great. Thanks. I'm going to go ahead to slide 11. We have touched on this, but I wanted to drill down a little bit more. So Dawn, coming back to you, are there any specific accessibility issues where you've had problems? And/or found a breakthrough? Found a solution? Are you still working through it? How has that experience been for you all? 
   >> DAWN BENTLEY: I would say our wellness checks have really helped us drill this down. So, we look at all different types of accessibility in the wellness checks. We look at housing, if people are feeling safe in their housing. But also if they feel that their housing is accessible. We look at transportation. Especially public transportation, which a lot of our consumers rely on.
It's changing weekly on what their stipulations are. We want to make sure they're up to date and informed on that information and also that they can access what they need like the masks in order to use public transit.
We look at whether they can access food, which has been huge. But also technology. Because the whole reason we're having this discussion is because the way that people are connecting right now is via technology. What we're finding is people may have access to some of the tools, but they may not have the internet access or the Wi‑Fi availability.
So that has been a big part of the discussion. And I think Kimberly touched on this earlier. My department has been working a lot with families on whether or not they are able to access services and have service providers offered them? Their speech therapist, occupational therapist, physical therapists? Have they provided enough strategies that they can keep up with their child's needs at home? If not, how can we help them access that information as well? Or strategies? That is part of what caused us to create that Pinterest page. We wanted them to have one place where they could access ideas and strategies they could use at home that are realistic, affordable is a big piece as well.
So that's really what we have been running into. And I think I said this to you in an e‑mail. Our biggest accessibility barrier was with closed captioning.  So you really helped us out with providing that grid that you provided a couple weeks ago. That is something that has been shared in our center and we have been tapping into as well so we can be sure that we're able to reach all audiences and anyone can access any of the platforms that we're using. So I would say those are probably 
the biggest areas that we're addressing. We are learning as we go, as new things come up, we are coming together as program directors to develop a plan for how we're going to address the needs that we're seeing. And the wellness checks, I think, have been a huge help in helping us determine that.
Because it's one area where we're collecting the data we need. We're not only making sure that consumer are okay and we're connecting with them, but we are able to shift how we are providing resources and what that looks like. So it's really meeting needs on both ends. Same with our staff. Just like Kimberly touched on, 
we have been wanting to make sure that they are okay, and they are able to access what they need. Anything from technology to anything else they may be needed from the community.
Last week we did a Zoom meeting with your staff and it was awesome to see each other and connect. I would say those are probably the biggest issues that we have been seeing. And sort of themes and trends.
But as far as a breakthrough, I would say you provided it with that chart that you shared last week.

   >> TIM FUCHS: Great. How about you, Kimberly? 
   >> KIMBERLY TISSOT: I think a lot of the accessibility issues that we're seeing is really with other providers. And I know in the very beginning of this, when our state's health department started putting things on their website, we noticed it wasn't accessible. So we had to do a lot of advocacy.
And advocacy is going to be key to get through all of this. We've got to educate these other providers at the moment with how to be accessible. And that's also bringing a lot of attention to our center. And I think a lot of the state agencies are seeing our need right now. We have had department of employment work force reach out to us to help them learn how to post accessible social media postings and making their websites accessible and hosting accessible job fairs.
I think using your voice during this. And if you're seeing an access issue in the community, really get creative with solving that problem. And a lot of times that is going to take advocacy.

   >> TIM FUCHS: Right. That's great. You know, one of the things that occurs to me, as I'm sure you all have experienced the same is that a lot of these option s have some accessibility features, have some accessibility. They're not always ideal, either. Someone mentioned in the chat about keeping in mind that certain aspects like the chat in Microsoft Teams are not accessible to people with visual impairments, right? I know from colleagues that 
the chat within Zoom is technically accessible, but it can be a pain to use when you're on a live call. That becomes an analogy for this stuff that you have got to talk to people and figure out what works and what doesn't. Especially in group environments, because you're probably going to need to make some adjustments.
Or things like you can provide an interpreter over Zoom, or you can provide captioning over Zoom, but if it's an interactive call, and that person doesn't have a way to feedback, to comment or ask questions or talk back with you, then that's not a very good solution.
So you have to be really mindful of these sorts of things and talk to your consumers or colleagues about what else they might need to use a particular software or what might be best for them.
One thing that I have discovered just being on the call is there were a lot of people who couldn't see our interpreter. I spotlighted his video. You're probably all seeing him wondering why that's the only video you're seeing. I figure you don't need to see my talking head as long as the people who need to see David's interpreting can see it.
So things like that, trying to be reactive and trying to take feedback from folks so that everyone can access this technology.
So I want to move to our final Q&A break. Those were the last of our discussion questions. So I'm going to go ahead to slide 12, and move through these as quickly as we can. We will do our best. If we can't answer on the live call, we will follow‑up with you.
So Velma is wondering about the survey if there were consumers who did not know how to utilize technology, and were they willing to learn new technology? And I apologize. I don't recall who it was who did the survey. Was it you, Dawn? 
   >> DAWN BENTLEY: It was: So for the survey, we do it via calling them over the phone, using the Core Nexa app. There were some consumers who were unsure or weren't familiar. And that's where we walked them through the process. For the most part, we found that people are very open and willing to learn. And super appreciative.
Our intake and life skills coordinator for our youth department is very tech savvy, so she has been wonderful with being the one to troubleshoot with consumers how to use the different platforms.
One family is co‑parenting. They're divorced. She was able to help them both join an intake so all three of them could meet together. They were both unfamiliar with the process starting out, but she was able to walk them through how to use the platform, that way they were able to have a live, sort of, face‑to‑face conversation in order to complete the intake.
So we have found that most people have been really open to learning. And they're appreciative that we are able to walk them through the process of learning before they go to use it themselves independently. 
   >> TIM FUCHS: Thanks. Maria is wondering if we can create a list of all the resources we have discussed. She also asked if we could have a list of the platforms. Slide six is a decent collection of the web platforms we have discussed. That deals more with caption access, but it's still a good list of items.
Don't forget that we are recording today's call.
The other thing I wanted to mention is that both ILRU and NCIL have extensive reference lists on our website that includes some of the technology options you can consider. I would take advantage of those.  If you have specific questions, let me know.
So the context here, especially if you have not done an IL‑NET call before is all of us also do technical assistance as well. Aside from this webinar, if you have questions about technology or if you want to troubleshoot some of this stuff or ask questions, you can reach out to any of us. You can reach out to me. Tim@NCIL.org. We will get you answers on how you can implement or explore some of this stuff.
Kathy is curious if anyone has used Loom. Any experience? So Kathy, let us know if you have a follow‑up. That's not something we have used.
Dawn, do you know if Core Nexa works with IP phones? Internet‑based phone systems? 
   >> DAWN BENTLEY: Core Nexa is specifically one we have through our phone system. If you do have an IP‑based phone system, most have that option. You have Google and also Skype for business are two other options that you can use. I'm not 100% sure if both of those are internet based. I mean, I know Skype for business, I used when I worked in a rural area.
I often didn't have a cell phone that was connected to Wi‑Fi, and I was still able to access it, so that might be a good option to check out. 
   >> TIM FUCHS: Okay. Great. Laura says don't forget about snail mail and small gifts for people in long‑term care facilities. That's a good tip.
And let's see. We already worked through that. Someone asked about the Zoom security measures, which Zoom security measures have accessibility issues, because that's something I mentioned in a comment earlier? 
    This is more around cognitive access. The connection process for Zoom and the idea of a video webinar can be very overwhelming for some folks, and it's a multi‑step process that requires an understanding of technology and some particular equipment. That's most of where we had heard that.
So it was more around adding layers like even a password layer, we have gotten feedback from folks who asked us not to do that because they were already having difficulty joining Zoom.
It wasn't around visual access issue or anything like that. That's where we were coming from. That's why we decided not to implement on password security. That's a very ‑‑ it's a personal decision involving your consumers. We're doing, you know, committee member or committee meetings.
It's different for meeting one‑on‑one or one on five with consumers. So you need to understand the access issues that your consumers have when you set up meetings with them.
A couple questions about wellness checks. Scripts, what's included? I'll give you all a chance to respond. This is something that is specifically included in resource pages that I mentioned. I know a number of centers have literally shared the scripts and checklists that they're using for those calls. So check out our websites for those. And then Dawn and Kimberly, anything specific you want to add there? 
   >> DAWN BENTLEY: I believe you have access to our adult and our youth. They're basically the same. The one piece we added to the youth one is whether or not parents are struggling with behavior at home. And if they have access to resources on how to help with behavior, specifically things like social stories. And then we also asked parents about school.
You know, we have found really a broad range of answers. Some families are feeling like their schools have provided adequate. Others have felt they are left to figure it out on their own. And the others feel overwhelmed and say schools have provided too many resources.
We have really good working relationships with the schools as well, so we can kind of help mediate some of that with those families. But I believe both of our surveys might be ones that people can access through the website. I know that we have shared those out.

   >> TIM FUCHS: Great. 
   >> KIMBERLY TISSOT: I think with the check‑ins, making sure that they have the appropriate supplies. But I will say, if you are having a hard time contacting somebody, I would be very careful with who you call to make sure that they are okay. I know recently we went out, one of our staff members went to a consumer's home, practicing social distancing, knocked on the door, and they communicated via the window, so we know the consumer is okay.
Instead of calling adult protective services or the police, because a lot of times those situations, people end up in nursing homes, and that's what we're trying to prevent. But calling and checking on them, we have noticed, taking a list of what people are needing at this time.
A lot of our consumers don't have hand soap, so that's one of the items we're trying to find at the moment to be able to provide, is hand soap.

   >> TIM FUCHS: All right. Good. Anybody have any tips on technology to connect specifically with folks that are Deafblind? I don't have a good resource here. It's a good question.
We'll try to find some resources for you, Joe. My default is always ask, but if the trouble is connecting with folks in the first place, then ‑‑ 
   >> RICHARD PETTY: This is Richard. The StreamText that we use provides a text‑based chat as opposed to the graphically oriented chat that shows on the screen. Most of the webinars that ‑‑ most of the webinar software that is available.
But the text‑based chat can be used for braille displays and it is an effective way for people who are Deafblind.

   >> TIM FUCHS: Okay. Great A good tip. And Stephanie recommended Sprint. And I do see ‑‑ I just quickly Googled it. It does look like they have specific resources for folks that are Deafblind. Thanks, Stephanie, for the tip.
Anonymous asked what about having consumers sign intake forms. Snail mail or another low‑cost platform? Kimberly, you're nodding your head. You want to start off? 
   >> KIMBERLY TISSOT: This is something we reached out to ACL on. I can share this with you, Tim, and you can send it out. It's a form that we're using where they give verbal or written consent, and then we're going to follow‑up with them afterwards to provide that. Right now with practicing social distancing. If you mail the forms, there's not a high return rate.
So we will go back and circle around to get their signature later on. But we're just getting consent any way that we can at the moment. 
   >> DAWN BENTLEY: We're doing the same. When I was a special ed teacher, that's how we had to do it with IEPs if we had the meeting over the phone or with a parent who wasn't currently in the state. We would often say we received verbal consent over the phone. We would date and time stamp it and obtain the signature when we are able to. So we're following the exact same protocol. 
   >> TIM FUCHS: This is not a recommendation, but I have found with necessity, but a smart phone picture will give you about the quality that you would have gotten from an expensive scanner ten years ago. 
    Sandra asked where to find the wellness check questions. Those are on resource pages. NCIL and ILRU are maintaining pages of resources, and they are both linked right from our home pages. I cannot pull the link right now, but that should help. Let me know if you don't find it.
So we touched on technology. But a question is did you purchase computers for all staff? How do you log in remotely? This is a question for folks. How are you staff connecting? Did you have to purchase equipment? Or did you have the resources already? 
   >> KIMBERLY TISSOT: We did not. Not everybody had laptops. So some of the staff members had desktops. So we ended up sending home desktops as well. Some staff members took home their desks and chairs as well. We allowed them to do that. As far as connecting, everyone besides one staff member had internet at their home. But we had a Wi‑Fi card that we were able to send home with that staff member until they were able to get internet at their house. So we made it work and did not spend any money making it work during the process as well. Sent people home with what they had, and they set up their office space at home. 
   >> TIM FUCHS: That's great. I just looked at the clock and we're two minutes after. I didn't even realize. We're going to have to close. I realize we didn't get to all the questions. I will try to address them by e‑mail. We had a great turnout today. Kimberly, Dawn, Richard, thank you so much for joining us today and for helping us put this together.
It's been fantastic. Just quickly before we go, again, we provide this kind of assistance all the time, full‑time. So if you have any lingering questions or if you realized that you need support something with something, whether it's later today or in a month, please don't hesitate to reach out.
Please do fill out the evaluation form. You should see it pop up on your screen when I close the webinar. With that, we will go ahead and end today's call. Have a wonderful afternoon. Bye‑bye. 
   >> RICHARD PETTY: Thanks, everyone.