SmartHomes Take Center Stage

We've done a couple of posts this week about Imagine!'s participation in the Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities' Annual Conference.  The Coleman Conference is not actually the only conference around technology and the field of developmental disabilities that happened this week in Colorado. Actually, there were three of them, and Imagine!'s SmartHomes project played a key role in them all.

But let's let someone else do the "talking" today. Below is a post from Imagine! CEO Mark Emery's blog from last Friday where he discusses the conferences and Imagine!'s central role in them.


Next week, Colorado will be the epicenter of three great opportunities for people who serve those with one or more developmental disabilities to learn about what’s going on in our field.

On Tuesday, October 11 and Wednesday, October 12, Alliance will be hosting the Six State Summit, where leaders in the DD field from Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming will meet and discuss legislative issues and the state of their states.

On Thursday, October 12, The Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities will be hosting its annual conference.

And on Friday, October 13, ANCOR will be hosting its annual technology conference.

All three conferences will be held at the Westin Westminster Hotel, just down the road from Imagine!. And all three conferences will feature Imagine! and our use of technology prominently.

For example, I will be speaking at a roundtable discussion at the Coleman Conference on “Leading an Organization to Adapt and Use Emerging Technology,” and my esteemed colleague Greg Wellems will be speaking on “How Organizations Can Create Partnerships to Develop Innovative Tech Solutions to Improve Services.”

Even more exciting, an individual who receives services from Imagine!, Mandy K., will be participating as a self-advocate at a Wednesday Coleman pre-conference event.

Mandy lives in the Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome in Boulder, and Imagine!’s two SmartHomes are the centerpieces of our efforts to use technology to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of our services. Participants in all three conferences have scheduled tours at our SmartHomes.

We will also have an information booth on our SmartHomes at the Coleman conference. The information booth will display a PowerPoint presentation that provides a simple overview of the who, how, why and what of the SmartHomes.

I am proud of our efforts to incorporate technology into our services and Imagine!, and it pleases me to see that so many other organizations are recognizing the power and potential technology has to improve the lives of so many.