Good news for readers who enjoyed last year’s “Expansion Pilot” articles by Easterseals affiliates from Indiana, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, southwest Texas, and Virginia/North Carolina: the project is still expanding. In 2026, BridgingApps is hosting virtual training for five more Easterseals affiliates: introducing them to our App Search Tool, sharing favorite assistive tech and tips on helping clients find the best technology.
The 2026 affiliates are:
- Easterseals Delaware & Maryland’s Eastern Shore
- Easterseals Iowa
- Easterseals Midwest (serves Missouri, Kansas, and western Illinois)
- Easterseals Rehabilitation Center (serves southwestern Indiana, southern Illinois, and western Kentucky)
- Oak Hill (serves Connecticut)
What’s New, What’s the Same
Most of last year’s Expansion affiliates already knew about our work at BridgingApps and had met some of our team before. By contrast, few 2026 participants had previously heard of us—or of the app database and all our amazing online resources.
It hasn’t taken enthusiasm long to build as their teams get to know ours. 2026 looks like another great year for BridgingApps expansion; while the participants are different, we’re operating on the same core values noted in last year’s article introducing the Expansion project:
- Every client needs, and deserves, to learn digital-literacy skills.
- The perfect tool for a client may already be in their pocket. Accessibility settings are now standard on personal devices, and it pays to learn about these settings first.
- Assistive technology is not one-size-fits-all. Every client and family has individual-specific needs—and there’s an app/apps for everyone.
- The App Search Tool is also for everyone, and its purpose is to help individuals, families, and disability professionals find the best options. Our job is to make that as easy as possible, by keeping the Tool updated and by staying open to suggestions.
- We’re here to learn, not just teach. Some of our best moments come when a participant shares a resource or idea that helped their clients—and is just what one of our clients needed.
As with last year, participating Easterseals affiliates will be sharing blog posts and app reviews about their experiences attending sessions and implementing what they’ve learned. Watch for these reports over the coming months.
This overview wouldn’t be complete without a thank-you to Comcast, which has generously supported our digital-literacy work throughout. Looking forward to many more years of partnership!