St Michaels Association

Disability support service in northern Tasmania, the St Michaels Association recently took possession of 12 new iPads for its day program participants, funded by the Tasmanian Community Fund (TCF).

The participants use the iPads to develop their hand eye coordination, improve their fine motor skills and help access learning applications.

The Association had older iPads that were becoming troublesome to update and had short battery life, which was becoming a frustration for both the participants and their support workers.

St Michael’s Association Executive Director of Disability Services Andy Gower said everyone was so pleased to be able to use the new iPads, with participants able to concentrate on their tasks and not get frustrated with them shutting down.

“They enjoy playing games, watching educational videos and for the non-verbal participants, they can communicate with their support workers through special apps. To be able to do it without them needing to update or having the battery go flat is great,” Andy said.

Participant Alister Todd said he enjoyed coming to the day program to learn and the iPads gave him greater access to puzzles and tutorials on YouTube.

“We had trouble with the old iPads and limited the time I could use them during the day,” Alister said.

The Association was able to get a discount on its purchase and has distributed them across its day services in Newstead, East Launceston and Devonport.

TCF Chairperson Sally Darke said that technology in the disability sector was an important way for some of participants to communicate and learn.

“There are more and more apps available designed to assist people with a disability to learn and develop new skills. These iPads give participants choice and control in their learning development,” Sally said.