When life gives you lemons you make webinars – right? In this case lemons are COVID-19 and like so many of you we had to regroup our current projects and resources to ensure our communities were still able to receive important information. In the past, the Living Independent from Tobacco (LIFT) and Emergency Preparedness for People with Disabilities and their Caregivers has been done in person – deliberately so. The interaction and organic discussion of participants and instructors is a valuable piece of the trainings. So in never-been-done-before fashion, because of restrictions around in-person trainings, the UCCEDD worked diligently to transform each training into virtual webinars, and people showed up! Some participants commented: “Excellent information. I appreciate all of your time and efforts. Your overview and tips will be very helpful!”, “You adapted well to the virtual training. Thanks!”, “This had a lot of amazing information and it was well done.”
We also hosted our first Transition Booster Session of 2020 in Cincinnati in May on Pre-Employment Skills and Preparation. Erin Riehle and Celia Schloemer showed great flexibility in presenting to an online audience of 41 people. One attendee said that the presentation was smooth and well-coordinated and they learned about the importance of consistency in allowing an individual with a disability the opportunity to try a task before assuming they cannot.