Administration

State Assistive Technology (Star)

Statewide Outcome(s):

The Minnesota STAR (A System of Technology to Achieve Results) program supports the following statewide outcome(s).

Minnesotans have the education and skills needed to achieve their goals.

Context:

STAR strives to ensure that Minnesotans with disabilities and older adults gain access to and acquire the assistive technology they need to achieve their personal, academic, and career goals. The primary customers of STAR are Minnesotans with disabilities (all ages) and older adults with functional needs. STAR is federally-funded.

Strategies:

The strategies utilized by STAR to enable Minnesotans with disabilities to achieve their goals are:

·         Demonstration and loan services – Enable consumers to make informed decisions in purchasing devices by providing access to professional expertise and sample devices.

·         Reutilization – Provide citizens with an affordable means to obtain assistive technology by funding services to facilitate the buying, borrowing, donating, or selling of used but functional devices.

·         Education and awareness – Educate citizens about the technology and provide information and training for individuals to successfully use assistive technology to achieve their goals.

Results:

STAR’s goal is to ensure that consumers of assistive technology have the knowledge needed to decide if a device will meet their needs. Customer surveys are collected after a device demonstration or device loan to determine if the consumer received enough information and access to devices to make a decision. Customer surveys completed in connection with reutilization services identify cost-savings gained from purchasing a previously-owned rather than a new device.

Performance Measures Notes:

1.     Device demonstration or device loan should provide enough information for the consumer to decide if the device will meet the consumers’ need. Each set of measures compares data from FY 2011 and FY 2012.

2.     FY 2011 – Out of 761 loans, 624 were made resulting in 286 consumers making a decision. The remaining loans were for short-term accommodations or used as a loaner while a personal device was repaired.

3.     FY 2012 – Out of 987 loans, 722 loans were made resulting in 380 consumers making a decision. The remaining loans were for short-term accommodations or used as a loan while a personal device was in for repair.