Do we provide services and resources to keep.. if that's what they choose?

So it's it's just a whole.

How do you want to live your life?

But our goal is to help people live as independently as possible as long as possible.

My name's Deb Hobson.

I'm the executive director at West Central Independent Living Solutions.

Wills.

Independent living is really helping people to or empowering people to live their best life and deliver it in the least restrictive environment possible.

Wills is one of 22 state independent living centers.

You know anything from, you know, assistive devices.

We built ramps for people in wheelchairs.

It's amazing.

Even now in this, you know, 20, 24, how much is still not accessible.

But then it's also the community that's built.

And that's a key, you know, for our consumers, because like, they were kind of used to being isolated because they don't leave their homes often they have chronic conditions or they have limitations.

We have a weekly arts and crafts primarily painting and woodcarving group on Fridays.

But really we want to do more .. and we want to provide more resources and we want to partner with other other agencies, other nonprofits, you know, in our six counties that that provide those kinds of resources as well.

We we you know, if we can all kind of pull together and pool resources, that would that's what I really want.

That's really a goal.

I am Samantha Jarvis and this is Will's is assistive technology demonstration Center.

And the whole point of our area here is to show you different options.

So it's not an area to purchase items.

It's an area to come play, see and try.

What's nice about having an area like this is to try use those items before you go and spend the money and find out it doesn't actually work for you.

The laundry folding board here,.. that's a form of assistive technology, but if you are not able to fold your clothes or to do laundry, sometimes laundry is overwhelming.

And being able to have something there that can help you two fold, it makes an individual be able to do their own laundry.

Maybe for the first time, say someone has problems being able to .. Again, they don't have that dexterity or the grip to be able to hold a standard pen and option that you can do with that is shove a pen in the stress ball.

You now are able to just hold on like this and now you can independently write.

You're not having to squeeze, you're not having to put as much thought in motion into it.

You can just move your whole heat and stack.

So an example of a low key modification to a high is magnifier.

You can have a standard little handheld magnifier that can cost a couple of dollars or you can have something that's a digital magnifier that can cost upwards of hundreds of dollars.

And so, again, it's nice to come somewhere that you can try those things out before you're spending that money.

I'm Don Halls.

H l l. I'm 83 years old and couldn't hardly wait to get here.

But I really think very good about this company.

My wife introduced me to the world about eight years ago, and it was a painting class then.

And I painted two eagles.

Others age and.

And I didn't even know what a paintbrush was when I went there.

So they've done a real miracle on me.

And they furnished all the materials, and our old record was just getting there.

And, you know, they've got a car to pick up and Carter took ..

If, if you haven't got a ride.

I'm Judy Hall, and I'm a consumer with Wills.

I first heard about Wills when we were at the senior center and a lady came in and she invited Donna I to come to the painting class.

We've been coming ever since.

They've done a lot in ways to get us out and out of the home and to get together with others around our same age.

You always want to leave home in your own home.

You always want to do that.

They make it possible that you can, because if you need to get somewhere, they've come to get us.

And this past fall, then they offered a computer class in Odessa, and Samantha came by and picked us up and took us to the computer class.

And they ended up giving us paid for each of us a laptop.

Now, we wouldn't have done that.

And and Don loves that laptop because he looks up all kinds of tools for his car.

I just don't let him charge anything.

We have to teach people how to advocate for the needs that they have because that's how everything gets accomplished.

That's how change occurs and change needs to occur.

We take some of our staff to the Capitol.

We meet with legislators and advocate for programs for people with disabilities.

Tell others, you know, when you watch this and you learn a little bit about will you go to the website and you can donate there, not just helping somebody, but to empower people to help themselves.

That's the real key.