Who is ASI?

Fred Thompson – U.S. Army veteran – founded Accessibility Services, Inc. in 1989. His vision to was to customize and provide the most advanced environmental control units for disabled veterans with spinal cord injuries. Thompson was disappointed to find that in general, adaptive equipment for individual with quadriplegias , communications devices for individual with quadriplegias and individual with quadriplegia assistive technologies were severely lacking.  Thus, he expanded the company’s mission and focus to include the unique and exceptional needs of the entire individual with quadriplegia community.

Veterans have and always will remain an important part of ASI.  Not only do we hire veterans, but we proudly serve veterans.  Many of Veterans Administration (VA) Spinal Cord Injury Units (SCI) are equipped with our proprietary autonoME, which combines an environmental control unit (ECU) and speech generating device (SCG) in one convenient package.  Having an ECU in hospital settings not only benefits patients, but caregivers and hospital staff as well.

We also offer individual with quadriplegia assistive technology to individuals in residential settings.  In some cases, the VA will even pay for the autonoME. We have equipped hundreds of homes of veterans with spinal cord injuries with adaptive equipment for individual with quadriplegias, including the autonoME. If you or someone you love is a veteran with s spinal cord injury, we encourage you to contact your VA representative to see what type of individual with quadriplegia assistive technology you qualify to receive through the VA.  In many cases, communication devices for individual with quadriplegias and environmental control units for disabled individuals (i.e. the autonoME) are covered.

If you are a disabled veteran with a spinal cord injury, we welcome the opportunity to help you and your family.  The Military Times has an excellent article about VA compensation for veterans with spinal cord injuries.

Our own Brice Green has been selected to present at the ATIA 2018 conference in Orlando, Florida held January 21^st – February 3^rd, 2018.  Green will be presenting a session titled, Combining Environmental Control with Speech Generation to Achieve Maximum Independence.  According to Green:

“Effectively combining environmental control with speech generation can be challenging, especially when the patient is required to use multiple devices, platforms and software. The autonoME, developed by Accessibility Services, Inc. (ASI), is unique in that it combines both an environmental control unit (ECU) and speech generating device (SGD) into one complete package. This allows once mobile and verbal individuals now faced with losing their independence the ability to control their environment and generate speech using one single interface. The autonoME’s advanced augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) offers versatility and features which can be customized to meet the specific needs of each patient.  Most importantly, it is powered by the easy to learn and user friendly Grid 3 software. The efficacy of the autonoME has been quite impressive in both residential and hospital settings.”

We are excited to have the opportunity to discuss in-depth how this technology can benefit individual with quadriplegias, and individuals with debilitating diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and progress forms of multiple sclerosis (MS). Special thank you to Smartbox who invited us to apply to speak at this conference.  Neil Hanson, Commercial Director of Smartbox, will be flying in from the UK to join us for the presentation.

If you are planning to attend ATIA 2018, please let us know.  We will be happy to schedule a personalized live demonstration of the autonoME for you!

We are excited to announce the recent promotion of Michael Lawrence to Product Representative for the northeastern United States. He joined ASI in February 2014 while still in college. He was promoted to Inventory Specialist and then to Sales Operations Coordinator before being elevated to his current position. As Sales Operations Coordinator, Lawrence focused on data collection and analysis to help determine key market areas. His new role affords him the opportunity to develop new business relationships and oversee quality assurance for current customers within the northeastern U.S.

“Michael is an example of an employee who advanced quickly within our company as a result of his hard work and dedication to the individuals we serve,” says Brice Green, Product & Sales Manager for ASI. “We are very fortunate to have an incredible team of individuals so passionate about improving the lives of individual with quadriplegias and their families.”

Lawrence graduated Magna Cum Laude from Columbia Southern University in August 2014 with a Bachelor’s degree in Organizational Leadership (concentration in Marketing and Psychology).