About Disability Assistance of Central Texas, Inc. (DACT)
SPAMARAMA® benefits a local nonprofit, DACT. Funds are also raised through the $5 admission fee, a raffle, children’s area, arts & crafts vendors, and food vendors.

Mission Statement:
The agency mission is to promote and support community inclusion for people with disabilities. Services are provided to eligible adults and children with significant and multiple disabilities.

Geographic Area:
Agency services are available in Travis County and the surrounding area.

Programs

• Advocacy: Volunteers, agency staff, and individuals who have disabilities advocate for the rights of persons with disabilities. This includes the right to education, housing, property, community services, employment, social involvement, health care, assistive technology, attendant services, transportation, choice and other necessities of life.
• Austin Supported Employment and Rehabilitation Technology, (ASERT): This is a one-to-one employment program for adults with disabilities. Services include career guidance and training, individual job placement, job-site modifications, job training, assistance with Social Security issues, long-term job support, and related supports. The agency currently offers “transition” services to high school students who are graduating or close to graduation to help prepare them for the major life experience of moving from the world of school and studies to the world of work.
• Austin Collaborative Community Enterprise for Support Services (ACCESS): This program provides a wide array of support services for adults with disabilities who live in the community. This includes supported volunteering, supported living, community connections, and community activity services. Staff members train clients to use the mainline buses of Capital Metro. For youth and children with disabilities, the Liberation Station is a technology and toy-lending library. Staff also coordinate the annual Holiday Toy Project. Liberation Station also offers training on computers and software.
• Information, Referral and Follow-Along, (IRF): Information is provided and referrals are made for services appropriate to individuals who contact the agency with needs and/or questions. Follow-along services support the actual receipt of the services to which individuals are referred.
• Public Awareness and Professional Education: Presentations increase public knowledge of cerebral palsy and other life-long disabilities and agency services. An overriding goal is the prevention of cerebral palsy and other disabilities through better health management and early diagnosis. Workshops, presentations to community groups and schools, special mailings and informative literature are all part of our educational activities.

Volunteer Opportunities

• Committees: Our standing committees always need new ideas and new blood. Committees include Administration, Finance, Business Advisory, Development and Nominating.
• Special Events: We work hard and we play hard. Volunteer at SPAMARAMA® in the Spring, the Austin Fine Arts Festival Beverage Booth in the Spring, and in the Fall, CELEBRATION 2006, our annual awards and recognition affair.