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.

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.

Tuesday, March 7th at 4:30pm PST

Community members are invited and most welcome to attend this Zoom event.

Abstract: The director of Full Picture, Jacob Reed, and the film's subject, Santina Muha, will join a Zoom discussion and screening moderated by Jasmia Bojic, Director of Stanford Arts Camera as Witness Program.

Film Description: Actress, comedian, and activist, Santina Muha, has been a wheelchair user since she was six years old. With meetings, hangouts, and classes happening virtually due to the Coronavirus quarantine, she's experiencing something new: choosing when (or if) to disclose her disability. Shot entirely over video chat, Santina meets strangers without mentioning her wheelchair. Will this cause them to focus more on what they have in common than their differences? How will their opinions of Santina change after they learn she’s a wheelchair user? Will Santina learn anything about her own biases?

Biosketch: Jasmina Bojic has been teaching at Stanford since 1991 and has been a lecturer in the Program in International Relations since 1996. Jasmina is also the Director of Stanford's Camera As Witness Program, which she founded in 2010, and Executive Director of the United Nations Association Film Festival (UNAFF), one of the oldest international documentary film festivals in the US that she founded in 1998. In 2000, UNAFF’s mission was broadened to include the UNAFF Traveling Film Festival. She has worked as a journalist for more than thirty years, covering political and cultural events such as the Academy Awards, Cannes, Sundance, Venice, and Tribeca film festivals. She has served on juries at many international film festivals and has extensive connections with filmmakers and the film industry worldwide. She has worked as a producer/director on several documentaries and TV Programs dealing with human rights issues. In 2007, Jasmina received the “Community Treasure Award” from Stanford University President John Hennessy for her contribution in promoting dialogue and education about different cultures and issues. In 2014, the International Council for Film, Television and Audiovisual Communication of UNESCO (ICFT) presented the UNESCO Fellini Medal to Jasmina in recognition of her exceptional contribution in promoting the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights through the art of documentary film.

Biosketch: “Full Picture” was directed by Jacob Reed, an award-winning director, writer, and visual artist. He’s directed for Jimmy Kimmel Live, Funny or Die, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, BuzzFeed, and dozens of commercials. His short films have been screened at Slamdance, Raindance, Just For Laughs, The Boston Short Film Festival, Short Focus Film Festival, San Jose International Short Film Festival, and many others. He developed and produced the animation docuseries Stay Tooned for CBC and is currently in production on a docuseries about identity with an executive producer of Netflix's Chef’s Table.

Biosketch: Santina Muha is an actress, comedian, and activist, who has been in a wheelchair since she was six years old. Aside from being the subject of Full Picture, she has appeared in TV shows like One Day at a Time and Doll Face, as well as films including Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot, Greener Grass, and Wine Country. She continues to combine her comedic sense with her advocacy, having traveled with her one woman show "That Girl in the Wheelchair" and co-hosting a panel discussion on Comedy in Disability with Amy Poehler, among other endeavors.

Thursday, March 9th at 4:30pm PST

Abstract: Ralf Hotchkiss will track the design of the Whirlwind Wheelchair from its beginning thirty years ago to the present and on into the future. From the first design breakthroughs of barefoot blacksmiths to the high tech testing and manufacturing methods of today, surprise breakthroughs in basic wheelchair design have come from the backyard inventors of some forty developing countries. These inventors form the Whirlwind Network of wheelchair riders and designers. Their goal is not only to make wheelchairs available in the poorest of countries; it is to radically improve the durability and rough-ground mobility so that wheelchair riders can live and work in environments that they can only dream of visiting today. Ralf will show unfinished designs that open wide opportunities for new developments and he will make a plea for the innovative designers of Stanford to enter into one of today's most fulfilling areas of invention and international development work. Joining Ralf will be Telma Ramos, a wheelchair builder from Nicaragua, who will show simplified, more efficient fabrication of Whirlwind Wheelchair's latest designs.

Biosketch: Ralf Hotchkiss is an inventor and the lead designer of Whirlwind Wheelchair International, a non-profit company located in Berkeley. Its mission is "to make it possible for every person in the developing world who needs a wheelchair to obtain one that will lead to maximum personal independence and integration into society". At SFSU, he taught "Wheelchair Design and Construction", a course in which students built a complete wheelchair in a Third World appropriate shop. Ralf is a graduate of Oberlin College (Physics) and a 1989 MacArthur Foundation Fellow.

• Tuesday, March 14th - End-of-term Student Team Project Presentations
• Thursday, March 14th - Student Project Demonstrations, Course Evaluation, and Celebration