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Design, Technology , and Engineering benefitting individuals with disabilities and older adults in the local community
February 26, 2023    
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Perspectives is the newsletter of the Stanford course,
Perspectives in Assistive Technology.

Week 8 Class Sessions

This newsletter issue describes the Week 8's class sessions.

Perspectives in Assistive Technology is a Winter Quarter Stanford course - entering its seventeenth year - that explores the design, development, and use of assistive technology that benefits people with disabilities and older adults. It consists of semi-weekly in-person discussions; lectures by notable professionals, clinicians, and assistive technology users; a field trip to an accessible inclusive playground; an Assistive Technology Faire; and student project presentations and demonstrations. Course website.

Week 8

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Course News

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Guest Lecturer Schedule - For more information about each presenter and their topic, browse to the course lecture schedule webpage. Community members are welcome to attend class sessions on campus. Maps and direcrions. Stanford strongly recomends masking in classrooms. There will not be a concurrent Zoom broadcast.

Week 8 In-person Class Sessions

Tuesday, February 28th at 4:30pm PST

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Assistive Technology Faire

Confirmed 2023 Vendor Participants:

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Yahoo!
Yahoo Accessibility - Betty Troy, MS, CPACC - Accessibility Specialist
"Making our apps and websites usable and enjoyable for everyone is a high priority to us at Yahoo! We test our products with users who use assistive technologies. Some technologies used include screen readers, magnifiers, refreshable braille displays, switches, or large print keyboards. Testing with real users helps us to understand, examine, innovate, and ensure that our apps and websites are accessible and delightful to use for everyone. Visit Yahoo’s table and try reading and writing a message using a refreshable braille display, perform a search using magnification and a large print keyboard, or use switches or a screen reader to navigate our homepage page."

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911Finder Cellular Watch for People with Dementia, Alzheimer's, Autism, or who are Prone to Wander
911 Tracker - Chuck Roedel
"The 911Finder provides peace of mind for the caregiver that the wearer is safe. The wearer and caregiver can call each other with the touch of a button. The caregiver's 911Finder App receives an alert if the wearer is outside a Safe Zone, falls, or removes the Finder. If the caregiver believes the wearer is having an emergency, they can tap the App. The App commands Finder to use our patented method to make a 3-way call between the caregiver and the 911-Operator located nearest the wearer. Finder provides real-time GPS to help First Responders get to the wearer quickly."

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BeeLine Reader
BeeLine Reader, Inc - Nick Lum
"BeeLine Reader is a software tool that improves reading ability by displaying text using a color gradient that wraps from the end of one line to the beginning of the next. (Example) This gradient pulls the reader’s eyes through the text, making reading easier. This approach is especially helpful for readers with dyslexia, ADHD, and various vision impairments. Thanks to the Schwab Learning Center, BeeLine Reader’s tools are available for free to all Stanford students."

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Canine Companions
CC -
"Canine Companions is a national organization that enhances the lives of people with disabilities by providing highly trained service dogs at no charge to the recipient. Since our founding in 1975, Canine Companions has provided over 5,000 service dogs to people with disabilities. We now have six regional training centers and serve people throughout the US."

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TranscribeGlass
TinkerTech Labs - Tom Pritsky
"TranscribeGlass is an affordable, lightweight, all-day wearable augmented reality (AR) smart glass that enables heads up closed captioning for the Deaf/HOH, or 'subtitles for the real world'. At a target price of less than $100, TranscribeGlass fills the void for an affordable, comfortable, accessible, and convenient real-time heads-up captioning solution for people who rely on captions to improve their communication of what is being said, including the d/Deaf, Hard of Hearing, people with learning disorders, and older adults."

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Silicon Valley Independent Living Center
SVILC Assistive Technology Specialist - Joe Escalante
Silicon Valley Independent Living Center (SVILC) is a cross-disability, intergenerational, and multicultural disability justice organization that creates fully inclusive communities that value the dignity, equality, freedom and worth of every human being. SVILC maintains a lending library of assistive technology so consumers may borrow a device free of charge and try it before buying it, use it to compare similar devices, or to use while a personal device is being repaired.

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Benetech
Bookshare Reader - Charles LaPierre
"Bookshare, a Benetech Initiative, makes reading easier. People with dyslexia, blindness, cerebral palsy, and other reading barriers can customize their experience to suit their learning style and find virtually any book they need for school, work, or the joy of reading. Read what you want, where you want with Bookshare Reader, a free reading app that makes reading and learning easier. Access millions of ebooks from the Bookshare, the world's largest library of ebooks for people with reading challenges. Bookshare Web Reader is an accessible eBook reader that lets you read Bookshare books from within your Internet browser. No need to download reading tools or book files!"

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Biofeedback Upper-limb Device for Impairment
BUDI - Blynn L. Shideler III
BUDI is an instrumented bracelet incorporating sensors that captures motion and provides daily feedback to physical therapists on how individuals with cerebral palsy, including kids, are performing their therapy exercises with the goal of building strength and improving motor skills.

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Magical Kaleidoscope
Magic^3 - Aya Mouallem, Kat Medill, and Grace Shaib
The Magical Kaleidoscope was a 2022 student team project that has a variety of lenses with intentionally accessible color choices and designs inspired by nature and geometry. The lenses can be controlled via a handle that rotates to change the lens seen through the kaleidoscope and its internally reflective mirrors. The project provides a universally enjoyable experience that is particularly accessible to three groups of users: visitors on the autism spectrum, color-blind visitors, and visitors in wheelchairs.

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Dog Feeding Aid
Hungry Dawgs - Stickneys: Danny, Kiara, Stanford, and Korey
The Dog Feeding Aid was a 2022 student team project that allows Danny to independently feed his service dog by pouring food into a wide funnel at wheelchair height that slides down a tube into a bowl connected to the slide supported by a sturdy base.

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i-Limb, i-Digits, and Virtu-limb
Össur - Kristy Powell, OTR/L
i-Limb and i-Digits are myoelectric prosthetic devices to assist upper limb amputees with their Activities of Daily Living. Virtu-limbs are biofeedback devices that provide a means for myotesting and pre-prosthetic training.

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Momentum
Momentum - Megan Henry
For over 75 years our Momentum has been providing resources and services for children and adults to maximize their independence. In 1945, a small group of dedicated parents and volunteers in Los Angeles united to provide home and community-based services for their children when no services of this kind existed. Today, the organization they founded and nurtured is known as Momentum and we remain true to our mission of advancing the independence, productivity and full citizenship of children and adults with disabilities and medical conditions.

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TINA
TINA Healthcare - Ali Kight, PhD Candidate and Founder
TINA Healthcare has built the first assistive device for mensuration. Our product, TINA, the Tampon INsertion Aid, is a reusable device that clips onto off-the-shelf tampons and facilitates insertion and removal. TINA was originally designed for people with spinal cord injuries but now supports people with a broad range of mobility limitations and body types. TINA Healthcare's mission is to build a suite of products that enables and empowers every body to manage their menstrual cycles and reproductive health with ease and comfort.

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Alpapato Project
Anna Laura Parks For Everybody - Rodolfo (Rudi) Henrique Fischer
The Alpapato Project in Brazil creates, builds, and donates parks and equipment for children with and without disabilities with three main objectives: fun, socialization, and therapy. The playgrounds house several toys and play equipment that enhance play and promote interaction. Nine parks are currently in operation throughout the country with one to three additional parks planned every year.

Thursday, March 2nd at 4:30pm PST

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From Idea to Market: Eatwell, Assistive Tableware for Persons with Cognitive Impairments
Sha Yao
Sha Design

Abstract: "Inspired by my late grandmother who had Alzheimer's Disease, I created Eatwell, a tableware set to help people with cognitive impairments increase their food intake. After years of research and development, the Eatwell set won first place in the 2014 Stanford Design Challenge in a competition with 52 other teams from 15 countries and has continued to receive extremely positive feedback from caregivers from different states across the country, and even internationally. I will share my story about my efforts working on the project, the design process I used, the challenges I faced, my experience during the design competition, the latest update on my goal to bring Eatwell to market, and my future plans for the product."

Biosketch: Sha Yao describes herself as a passionate Industrial Designer who likes to challenge herself. She has a diverse background and speaks English, Mandarin Chinese, and Japanese. She created a product design studio to help startup companies develop their product ideas, and especially loves to work on projects that help people in need.

Week 9 Class Sessions

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Please contact me with your ideas, questions, comments, and project suggestions - or just to say hello. Please continue to stay safe & healthy.

Dave Jaffe - Course Instructor

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