Caesar Rodney Institute, 420 Corporate Blvd, Newark, DE 19702, US

The mission of Pennsylvania Assistive Technology Foundation ( PATF ) is to provide financing opportunities for older Pennsylvanians and people with disabilities, helping them to acquire assistive technology devices and services that improve the quality of their lives. PATF was established as a non-profit organization in 1998. Originally a spin-off from the Institute on Disabilities at Temple University, PATF has grown dramatically since those early days. PATF has received funding from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation ; the PA Department of Community and Economic Development ; the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency ; the U.S. Department of Education, Rehabilitation Services Administration ; numerous foundations, and from individual donations. To date, PATF has helped more than 2000 Pennsylvanians and has extended more than $21 million in loans. From the beginning, Pennsylvania Assistive Technology Foundation ( PATF ) was founded as an option for individuals who wanted to pay for the needed assistive technology devices themselves. PATF was not to be thought of as a program of last resort, meaning that all avenues of potential payers did not have to be exhausted before an applicant would be considered for a loan. Key principles are: Individuals with disabilities and/or family members make the decision to apply for a loan. It is one's choice to seek financing to purchase assistive technology and to select the assistive technology equipment and services needed. There is no requirement that a loan applicant must have been turned down by other funding resources before s/he can apply for a loan.