Abled Body Where can-do is done different

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 »

What do a professional skier, a Hollywood consultant and a business blogger have in common? A disability, of course. On Tuesday I attended the Disability Innovation Forum in Washington, and met a great group of people who are leading the conversation on hiring and marketing to people with disabilities. The keynote speaker was Bonnie St. John, an African-American leg amputee who became a Paralympic medalist in downhill skiing in 1984. Using comedy and an authenic voice, Bonnie broke down the sterotypes surrounding disability and made everyone in the room feel comfortable. The forum was organized by Working Mother Media‘s Diversity Best Practices division, with the help of Jonathan Kaufman of DisabilityWorks. An education and policy extraordinaire, Jonathan told me he’s about to begin creating a ph.D program in Disability Studies at Columbia University’s medical school. He also consults with Hollywood on movies that feature disabled characters. Some lively afternoon panels ... keep reading »

Last night I watched the latest episode of ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, where Ty Pennington and his crew helped two St. Louis-area families, the Martirizes and the Maleks, who are struggling to live life with major disabilities. Emmanual and Dawn Martirez’s home was refurbished to make it accessible to their twin boys, Evan and Alec, who have rare neurological diseases that cause extreme physical and cognitive disabilities. And Egyptian-born Sam Malek, who has cerebal palsy, owns a small coffee shop that was demoed and rebuilt to make it accessible to him and his employees with disabilities. In doing so, ABC makes a strong statement for supporting small-business and equal-employment opportunities for the disabled. Since its start in 2003, Extreme Makeover has touched the lives of dozens of people with disabilities by renovating their inaccessible or otherwise unlivable homes for free. Each project, which takes seven days, results in significant ... keep reading »

Up until recently, job seekers with disabilities have had to reverse-engineer their job search. First, they sought out disability-friendly companies, such as those lauded by DiversityInc. and Careers & the Disabled magazines. Then they set about seeking open positions within those companies. Some disability-career sites are trying to make the job search easier. The newest, GettingHired.com, launched on Nov. 12. The site’s resume-builder tool is one of the smartest on the web, and the site has signed on a half-dozen corporations including CIGNA and Pep Boys. GettingHired also hosts a series of videos to prepare a job seeker for potential interviews; the videos are fully accessible and can be viewed with full voiceover and captioning. Another valuable job board for people with disabilities is Disaboom. Launched in late 2007, Disaboom’s job board has gotten more robust and claims to have more than 500,000 job listings. Job listings include those for temporary-staffing agencies, ... keep reading »

Americans with disabilities were given a voice last night with President-elect Obama’s victory speech in Chicago. “If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer…It’s the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled — Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America.” By including the disabled as a specific group, Obama has sent a message that he will put disability issues on the map. No other president of our time has done this ... keep reading »

Someday soon, older adults may not need to move into nursing homes because they’ll have a household of technological wonders to keep an eye on them when they become frail. That’s what this Dallas Morning News article says, after taking a look at what the University of Texas is doing to keep seniors more independent for longer. UT’s Human-Centered Computing Laboratory houses a make-believe one-bedroom apartment equipped with high-tech cameras, motion sensors and robots, and surrounded by computer stations. Robots scoot from room to room to wake the homeowners in the morning, remind them to eat and send for help if someone falls. Sensors embedded throughout home detect when the resident has a sleepless nights or forgets to take his medication. Web-based computer software will notify family members and caregivers. The UT lab will be “the springboard for what experts predict will be an exploding assistive technology industry within ... keep reading »