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My BusinessWeek Article

December 23, 2008 | by

I just wrote this article for Businessweek.com, For the Disabled, More Power for Play. I thought it was about time that someone wrote about assistive technology for leisure and fun, rather than just for more functional purposes like the workplace. Some readers have commented about the high price of some of these technologies. Fair point, though I’m hoping that as more people purchase them the price will drop, and that my article will bring to light the $200 billion disability market — giving companies more incentive to create and market their products for people with disabilities. keep reading »
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Disability (Finally) Parodied on SNL

December 16, 2008 | by

On Saturday night, SNL portrayed New York Gov. David Paterson in a four-minute “Weekend Update” segment as confused and disoriented — often looking in the wrong direction and mistakenly walking in front of the camera when it was not his turn to speak. The skit includes Gov. Paterson saying, “Come on, I’m a blind man who loves cocaine who was suddenly appointed governor of New York. My life is an actual plot from a Richard Pryor movie.” After watching the skit, Gov. Paterson said it went too far, saying such “third-grade humor” only adds to negative stereotypes. But I’m starting so see a trend here: Disability humor is now up for grabs along with the more traditional racial and ethnic jokes. There was the New Yorker cover depicting Barack Obama as an Islamic, and the movie Tropic Thunder that parodied actors who tried to “act” disabled or black, giving us ... keep reading »
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Fuji the Bionic Dolphin

December 14, 2008 | by

I’m going to tell you a story about the amazing ability of assistive technology to transform lives. This story is about Fuji, a 34-year old bottlenose dolphin at the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in Japan, the world’s second largest aquarium, whose name means “beautiful ocean” in okinawan dialect. Fuji has lived at Churaumi for 30 years, and she has three children who were born and raised there. One day the aquarium’s veterinarian noticed that Fuji’s tail was turning white. He discovered that Fuji had an infection and circulatory problem that was causing gangrene. The doctors were able to save Fuji’s life, but they had to remove her tail fin. This dramatically impaired Fuji’s ability to swim and be social, and also she started to gain weight. While medical science saved her, Fuji’s quality of life was greatly reduced by the loss of her tail. Looking for a solution, the aquarium’s manager ... keep reading »
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Are Disabilities Ready for Primetime?

December 11, 2008 | by

Wednesday’s New York Times Well column, written by Tara Parker-Pope, talks about celebrities and mental health. It’s a timely topic, as Ms. Pope points out. Lately, celebrities from Britney Spears to Dennis Quaid have spoken out on behalf of medical conditions in an effort to raise awareness, which in turn, also makes good tabloid copy. As many of you might have picked up on, there’s more prevalance of disabilities on primetime TV, particularly non-verbal learning disabilities. Grey’s Anatomy (perhaps in an effort to boost lagging ratings) has just introduced a surgeon, Virginia Dixon, who has Asperger’s Syndrome — a form of high-functioning autism — and a popular resident, Izzie Stevens, may have a brain tumor. Boston Legal’s Denny Crane is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. Several other primetime characters are also suspect of falling somewhere along the autism spectrum, including Dr. Temperance Brennan of Bones, two children of Vic ... keep reading »
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Shinseki Is Obama’s VA Pick

December 8, 2008 | by

President-elect Barack Obama formally announced Sunday that retired Army Gen. Eric Shinseki is his pick to be secretary of Veterans Affairs. Obama chose Shinseki, 66, over front-runner Tammy Duckworth, who many believed would be chosen as Obama’s secretary. A decorated veteran, Gen. Shinseki served two combat tours in Vietnam and lost part of his foot. Shinseki has been cited as an example by Pentagon critics who say the former Army chief’s advice was ignored in 2003, resulting in too few U.S. troops being sent to Iraq after the invasion.” The Washington Post obtained a private letter that Gen. Shinseki wrote to Donald Rumsfeld in June 2003 just before stepping down as chief of staff, in which he wrote that “Without people in the equation, readiness and transformation are little more than academic exercises.” The letter was never publicly released. On Meet the Press on Sunday, Mr. Obama said there is ... keep reading »
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‘The Black Balloon’ Opens in NYC

December 5, 2008 | by

The Black Balloon, a movie opening today in New York City and Los Angeles, is about an Australian family who has a severly autistic son, Charlie, and must find ways to cope with his emotions and antics. Calling the movie “harrowing,” New York Times movie critic Stephen Holden asks: “Would you be able to cope? … Would you find in yourself the seemingly infinite reserves of love and patience possessed by the Mollisons, the movie’s itinerant, highly stressed army family who have just moved to the suburbs of Sydney? Maybe not.” The Black Balloon stars Luke Ford as Charlie, the autistic teenager; Rhys Wakefield as his brother Tommy, and the Oscar-nominated Toni Collette as their mother. With a tag line “Normal is Relative,” The Black Balloon is a story about fitting in, discovering love and accepting your family, no matter the price. keep reading »
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Disabled Vet Duckworth May Serve U.S.

December 4, 2008 | by

Barack Obama’s election has left some important seats open in his cabinet and in the Illinois senate. His selection of Sen. Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State leaves New York Governor David Paterson, who is partially blind, to appoint Clinton’s replacement. The race for Obama’s Illinois senate seat is also heating up, with Gov. Rod Blagojevich set to name a replacement. Among the handful of candidates being considered, Tammy Duckworth is a popular pick. Ms. Duckworth, 40, served in Iraq and flew combat missions as a Black Hawk helicopter pilot. During a mission in 2004, her helicopter was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade.  Duckworth lost both of her legs — one leg below the knee (BK) and one leg above the knee (AK). After a long recovery process, she uses prosthetics, (such as the Proprio electric-powered ankle shown), that allow her to walk and continue to fly aircraft. Ms. ... keep reading »
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iPhone’s Future Could be “Touchy”

December 3, 2008 | by

As I wrote in a previous post, most multi-touch smart phones — like Apple’s iPhone — aren’t suitable for blind and visually-impaired persons. There’s good news, however, in the form of a prototype case from Portugal-based industrial designer Bruno Fosi. The Silicon Touch lays on top of the iPhone’s screen and works in tandem with an accompanying iPhone application, helping the user feel the icons and what it is they are typing. There are also many nice features like text to speech and moon type tactile feedback, which the iPhone lacked for the visually impaired until now. In my opinion, what makes Silicon Touch so promising is how Mr. Fosi has re-thought how a person physcially interacts with a smart phone: Surprise! It doesn’t have to be just a visual user interface. One comment from a Yanko Design reader: “The idea can be applied to any usage scenario requiring [or] ... keep reading »
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“Robot, Fetch My Slippers!”

December 1, 2008 | by

Engineers at Georgia Tech are developing a health care robot for home use. The robot, named El-E (pronounced “Ellie”), can help people with disabilities accomplish some simple household tasks, such as fetching a bottle of pills or a cell phone. El-E is being tested by patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, which affects motor skills. Health care robots may be commercially available in less than 10 years. The robots can also help the elderly and those with arthritis. El-E is about five feet tall and is equipped with a laser pointer interface that detects when a user illuminates a location with an off-the-shelf green laser pointer and estimates its whereabouts. The robot is trained to find objects that are on flat surfaces, such as a shelf or table. Once the object is acquired, the robot can place the object on a laser designated ... keep reading »
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Kurzweil: The “Ultimate Thinking Machine”

November 24, 2008 | by

Ray Kurzweil is a scientist and inventor of groundbreaking assistive technology, including a text-to-speech synthesizer, voice recognition software, and a print-to-speech reading machine for the blind. Dubbed by Forbes as “the ultimate thinking machine,” Kurzweil is highly regarded in disability circles as well as the broader artificial intelligence and technology sphere. He placed 14th on Silicon.com’s Agenda Setters list for 2008, mainly for his current work surrounding artificial intelligence and robotics. Cnet.com posted Silicon.com’s Q&A with Kurzweil, where he discussed his vision of the future and AI. I find Kurzweil’s research and philosophies fascinating. Not only has he improved the lives of people with disabilities with assistive tech, he has been on a mission for the last decade to make bionics and AI a cornerstone of human existence — and help us live better, smarter, longer lives. Some key points from his interview: On the law of ... keep reading »
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