NEWS FROM PATHFINDER By Melissa Fortson Tennessee Disability Pathfinder has phone, Web, and print resources in English and Spanish to connect the Tennessee disability community with service providers. Referral services, free of cost, are provided to persons with disabilities, family members, service providers, and advocates. Pathfinder is a joint project of the Tennessee Council on Developmental Disabilities and the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development. ACCESS NASHVILLE UPDATE A project of Tennessee Disability Pathfinder that is supported by the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, Access Nashville is guided by a Board of Directors which consists of individuals from the business and disability communities. The project’s primary objective is to identify “accessibility friendly” restaurants so that all persons can make comfortable decisions about where to eat in Nashville. While restaurant surveys are based on Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements, the project does not intend to assess compliance with the accessibility requirements of the ADA; the project focuses on gathering accessibility information. Trained volunteers gather accessibility information on restaurants in the Nashville area. Survey results are reviewed by Access Nashville and given a rating of Wow Access, Good Access and Limited Access. These results are posted on the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau Web site at http://www.visitmusiccity.com/visitors/AccessibleNashville . [Editor’s Note: The Council on Developmental Disabilities supported Access Nashville with a grant to organize a Training Event which was held in October, 2006. See Breaking Ground, Number 34, February 2007, for a report on that event. An archive of Breaking Ground is available at www.breakingground.org .] HISPANIC OUTREACH PROGRAM UPDATE On April 5, 2007, Pathfinder’s Hispanic Outreach Program joined the University of Tennessee Health Science Center’s Boling Center on Developmental Disabilities to sponsor a conference on disability and Hispanic resources available in West Tennessee. The Memphis Area Disability Services and the Hispanic Community Conference provided a public forum for information sharing and networking, and addressed cultural characteristics when working with individuals from diverse backgrounds. Participants also discussed low-income health care options for persons with disabilities, and shared ideas about ways to improve services to the Spanish-speaking community. Held at the UT Health Science Center, the conference included participants from the Disability Law & Advocacy Center of Tennessee and Memphis and Shelby County Government and featured exhibits by agencies with bilingual staff. Seventy social service providers, students and community advocates attended. It was an exciting conference and Pathfinder will continue to collaborate with the Boling Center as Memphis organizes a Hispanic network of disability-related service providers. The Hispanic Outreach Program provides statewide information and assistance for children and adults with disabilities as well as community training and technical assistance. A support group for Spanish-speaking parents of children with disabilities meets monthly, and a bilingual resource database provides information about disability, mental health, and social services for the Hispanic community (www.caminoseguro.org). For more information contact Hispanic Outreach Coordinator Claudia Avila-Lopez at claudia.avila@vanderbilt.edu or 800-640-4636 (ext. 11). BRAILLE TRANSCRIPTION SERVICES A recent Breaking Ground article, Braille Transcription: Breaking the Code (Number 35), listed Tennessee individuals and organizations that provide Braille transcription. We neglected to include services provided by Nashville’s Technology Access Center (TAC) in our list. TAC is a nonprofit organization that provides assistive technology services for people with disabilities, their families, friends, and professionals in the Middle Tennessee area. TAC helps families evaluate, select, acquire, and use assistive technology. In addition to their other services, TAC also operates an Adapted Toy Program which lends adapted battery-operated toys, switches, and mounting systems; non battery-operated toys and games may also be modified to meet the needs of a specific child. For more information about the Technology Access Center, including Braille transcription and printing rates, contact TAC: Technology Access Center http://tac.ataccess.org/ techaccess@tacnashville.org Phone / TTY: 615-248-6733 Toll Free: 800-368-4651 STAY CONNECTED WITH PATHFINDER Pathfinder publishes The Pathfinder, an e-newsletter containing information about program activities and other disability-related resources in Tennessee. Past issues of the publication are archived on the Pathfinder Web site (under Pathfinder Features, click on “The Pathfinder: News from Tennessee Disability Pathfinder”). To receive future news from Tennessee Disability Pathfinder via e-mail, please contact us at tnpathfinder@vanderbilt.edu . FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Tennessee Disability Pathfinder • (615) 322-8529 (Nashville area, English & Español) • (800) 640-4636 (toll-free, English & Español) • (615) 321-8834 (fax) • TTY/TDD users: please dial 711 for free relay service • www.familypathfinder.org • tnpathfinder@vanderbilt.edu