Disability

Friendship Line is both a crisis intervention hotline and a warmline for non-emergency emotional support calls. Friendship Line’s 24-hour toll-free service is the only accredited crisis line in the country for people aged 60 years and older and adults living with disabilities. They also make on-going outreach calls to lonely older adults. ||Friendship Line reaches out to lonely, depressed, isolated, frail and/or suicidal older adults nationwide. Trained volunteers specialize in offering a caring ear and having a friendly conversation with depressed older adults..||Call (800) 971-0016 for round-the-clock crisis support services including:||Emotional support|Elder abuse reporting|Well-being checks|Grief support through assistance and reassurance|Active suicide intervention|Information and referrals for isolated older adults and adults living with disabilities|||

Lighthouse services empower individuals at all stages of vision loss to learn new ways to do everyday tasks, workplace tasks, and leisure activities important to them. ||One-on-one and group trainings usually are offered at their center, in the home or workplace, and virtually. Because of the pandemic, the center is currently closed, but staff is available to consult by phone or online. ||Tech to Connect – Lighthouse offers device loans, along with remote training and technical support, to older adults and to people of any age with vision loss or other disabilities. Services are often free of charge to individuals.||Support Groups – Lighthouse hosts monthly support groups for individuals with vision loss or blindness.||Low Vision Store – Lighthouse professionals can help select items best-suited for individual needs. Products include large-screen electronic magnifiers, talking watches, writing aids, cooking aids, home safety items, and large-print playing cards. The store is accepting phone and online orders: //lighthousefortheblind-duluth.org/lvstore/ ||Twin Ports News on the Air Radio – A daily radio service, broadcast by State Services for the Blind, reads books and newspapers over a designated radio frequency. Ask about free radios. ||

The TED Program provides adaptive devices to people who have difficulty using the phone. These devices make phone use easier for people who are deaf, deafblind, or hard of hearing, or who have speech or physical disabilities. ||A variety of equipment is available, including:||• Flashing lights or loud ringers to indicate when the phone is ringing|• Captioned phones |• Echo Dot to enable voice-command dialing|• Electronic larynx to enable speech|• Phones with tone and volume adjustments|• Buttons to slow down the speaker by 10%||Devices are loaned at no cost to those who qualify, for as long as they are needed.