ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md (Sept. 18, 2015) -- A little known section within the Pentagon is providing a unique service to employees with disabilities. A small group of Aberdeen Proving Ground civilian leaders had the opportunity to discover that this small portion of our nation's defense headquarters is bringing big dividends to the DoD workforce.
According to their website, CAP (Computer/Electronic Accommodations Program) is a centrally funded program that provides assistive technology (AT) and reasonable accommodations to people with disabilities and wounded service members. CAP's mission is to ensure that people with disabilities and wounded Service members have equal access to the information environment and opportunities in the DoD and throughout the Federal government.
The "TEC" in CAPTEC stands for Technology Evaluation Center that is a facility dedicated to the evaluation and demonstration of a variety of assistive technology solutions, according to their website.
David Pickett, CECOM's Disability Program Manager, arranged the CAPTEC tour in the Pentagon to inform APG leaders of how this program can assist them in providing certain employees with accommodations more effectively.
"The tour educates the workforce," Pickett said. "Many people don't tend to think about disability accommodations and this tries to get everyone to do the right thing."
Pickett noted that many supervisors are simply unaware that there is funding for accommodations through CAP so they don't need to use their operational budget to pay for the accommodation.
The guests on the CAPTEC tour were shown some of the state-of-the-art equipment and devices that help employees with disabilities work to their highest potential. CAPTEC has devices, technology and software packages that assist employees with cognitive, communication, hearing or physical disabilities.
"The CAPTEC Tour was a great experience. It was very enlightening and exciting to see the many advancements in technology that will allow our workforce to continue produce stellar work, despite any impairment that they may have and obstacles they may face," said Tiffany Grimes, a civilian human resource specialist and Wellness Program Manager at CECOM.
"The CAPTEC tour was illuminating--I had always known that they provided assistive technology equipment for those with disabilities, and that it is at no cost to agencies," said Maria Esparraguera, the deputy to the CECOM commanding general.
"They have amazing software for voice recognition, as well as portable scanning-to-read out loud equipment. There is so much equipment for dexterity issues that so many face as we age. In addition, they have quite a few devices for amplification of speech for those in large meetings and conferences. There are special pens for recording while note-taking for those with attention deficit disorder," she said.
Civilian employees representing CECOM, ATEC (Army Test and Evaluation Command) and RDECOM (Army Research, Development & Engineering Command) attended the tour.
"Everyone enjoyed the tour," said Pickett. "The information gained from CAPTEC is invaluable to leaders and will significantly enhance the effectiveness of our Program for Individuals with Disabilities. They can bring back and share this with their counterparts on how to use CAP to help their employees."
For more information on CAP visit: www.cap.mil
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