HARTFORD—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) announced on Monday that LoganTech in Waterbury is this week’s “Murphy’s Monday Manufacturer.” Founded in 2008, LoganTech manufacturers assistive technology for people with disabilities, including communication devices for nonverbal persons as well as braille learning and braille label printing for blind persons. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, LoganTech felt inspired to help out the community and is working hard to get critical supplies to students with disabilities who are currently remote learning due to the pandemic. To help with this effort, the company has loaned their ProxTalker and ProxPAD communication devices for nonverbal students directly to their families while they are remote learning and have no access to their normal special education services, such as speech therapy. This has allowed students to make progress in spite of losing the second half of their school year, and in some cases their year-round extended program over the summer. Recipients of their devices include students in the Waterbury, Danbury, Hartford, New Haven public school systems. LoganTech also began making critical personal protective equipment (PPE), specifically face shields, for frontline workers in Connecticut at the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) who were working directly with developmentally disabled persons.

“Families and educators across Connecticut are grappling with the transition to distance learning due to COVID-19 and providing quality education to all students is essential, especially students with disabilities,” said Murphy. “LoganTech is personal to Glen and Kristi Dobbs. When they saw a lack of communicative equipment for their son, who has severe autism and is completely nonverbal, they stepped up to create a product of their own. Now during this pandemic, they are lending a helping hand to families in need by loaning their products to students with disabilities to help with distance learning. LoganTech is also stepping up to produce critical PPE for frontline workers. I’m incredibly grateful to the team at LoganTech for stepping up during this pandemic to help Connecticut’s students and essential workers.”

“I am proud to be a CT manufacturer and export across the globe. The products we make are life changing. Almost all of our components are sourced right here in the United States, many in Connecticut. The U.S. has spent the past 20 years exporting our skilled jobs overseas. I am proud to be a part of the ongoing manufacturing in the U.S. and I am hopeful that we can begin to grow manufacturing here in the state once again. There are still many skilled workers here and the educational infrastructure is able to support industry’s ongoing needs. We need to move on this opportunity,” said Glen Dobbs, president and CEO of LoganTech.

LoganTech is supplying PPE in partnership with its newly formed sister company, Human Solutions Tech. Human Solutions Tech is going to be making devices for disabled people with very specific needs. The company says it will be using their rapid design and manufacturing abilities alongside LoganTech. LoganTech currently employs seven people in their 6,000 square-foot facility in Waterbury.

Last month, Murphy and U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-La.) released bipartisan principles to support students with disabilities to ensure they receive full and equitable educational services throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. They included these principles in a letter to U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to ask for clear guidance to protect the needs of students with disabilities during and following nationwide school closures.

The manufacturing industry plays a crucial role throughout Connecticut communities. Senator Murphy has introduced two pieces of legislation that aim to strengthen existing standards and prioritize the purchase of American-made goods, the BuyAmerican.gov Act and the American Jobs Matter Act.

###