Thursday, January 26th
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Perspectives of
Stanford Students with a Disability
Vivian T. Wong, Nicole B. Torcolini, and Aubrie Lee
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Abstract: In this panel discussion,
several Stanford students with disabilities will discuss their academic goals,
the assistive technology they use to be successful students, and the challenges
they have faced.
Vivian T. Wong's Biosketch:
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Vivian Wong is a senior at Stanford
University majoring in International Relations and French. She was born with a
congenital spinal disorder, called spondylothoracic dysplasia, which translates
to a truncated torso, forward curvature of her spine, limited neck rotation and
reduced lung capacity. From Hong Kong to the Bay Area, her condition has
puzzled many doctors and, to this day, she has yet to meet someone with the
same disability.
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Due to her limited neck rotation, she
would not be able to drive safely without the use of assistive technology. The
installation of cameras to cover blind spots and pedal extensions allows her to
drive independently.
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Since sophomore year, she’s been
committed to dispelling the stigma of the anti-normative and encouraging
students with disabilities to advocate for themselves. At Stanford, she has
created Power to ACT: Abilities Coming Together, a student group dedicated to
safe social spaces for students with invisible and visible disabilities.
Throughout college, she has become more comfortable with her disability and
welcomes you to ask her anything.
Nicole B. Torcolini's
Biosketch:
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Nicole Torcolini is a senior at Stanford
University majoring in Computer Science with a focus in Human Computer
Interaction. She lost most of her sight about four months after her fourth
birthday due to cancer in the optic chiasm, and the cancer treatment also
caused her to be slightly hard-of-hearing in both ears.
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Nicole uses several different assistive
technologies for the blind, most of which are electronic computer based, both
during her leisure time and for her school work. Nicole has worked on designing
assistive software both on her own and during internships. On her own, Nicole
designed the Nemetex Nemeth Back-Translator™, which translates visually
incomprehensible Braille math (Nemeth) that is produced on an electronic
Braille notetaker into easily-readable print. She started her own web-based
small business to make available to others. During summer internships, Nicole
designed accessible mobile applications and help build tools for checking for
accessibility - or more correctly, the lack thereof - in
software.
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Nicole has provided volunteer support in
technology/software accessibility issues to Benetech, a Silicon Valley
non-profit that uses technology innovation and business expertise to solve
unmet social needs, as well as to a NASA project to add features to the Math
Description Engine (MDE), graphing software which can convey the shape of
graphs aurally.
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Nicole has also participated in other
assistive technology projects that were not software-based, including helping
the Astronomy Department at the University of Washington develop a hands-on
astronomy curriculum for the blind.
- Contact information:
- Nicole Torcolini - elecator -at-
stanford.edu
- Lecture Material:
- Pre-lecture
slides - 765 Kb pdf file
- Nicole's
slides - 193 Kb pdf file
- Audio -
1:05:19 - 14.9 Mb mp3 file
- Links:
- Office
of Accessible Education helps students with disabilities realize their full
potential
- Nemetex Nemeth
Back-Translator™
- Math Description Engine
- Astronomy for
the Sight Impaired
- JAWS
from Freedom
Scientific
- BrailleNote
Apex from Humanware
- MathTrax
- Stanford Daily article -
Panel
reflects on life at Stanford with a Disability
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