Perspectives is the newsletter of the Stanford course,
Perspectives in Assistive Technology.

Problems of Adaptive Aesthetics and Design

This issue invites you to attend the next class session and encourages your participation in the course's Assistive Technology Faire.

Next class session - Tuesday, January 28th at 4:30pm

Abstract: How do we understand the relationship of disabled bodies, minds, and technologies? This talk engages questions of cyborgs, inclusive design, and disability aesthetics.

Biosketch: Accepting the outcome of a dare, Alice Sheppard resigned her tenured professorship to become a dancer. After a series of classes with AXIS Dance Company in Oakland, Alice trained privately with Kitty Lunn in New York and made her debut with Infinity Dance Theater. Alice was offered an apprenticeship to AXIS Dance Company; she became a core company member and toured nationally and taught in the company’s education and outreach programs. Since becoming an independent dance artist, Alice has danced in projects with Ballet Cymru / GDance, and Marc Brew Company in the United Kingdom. In the United States, she has worked with Marjani Forté, MBDance, Infinity Dance Theater, and Steve Paxton. As a guest artist, she has danced with AXIS Dance Company and Full Radius Dance.

A USA Artist, Creative Capital grantee and NEW INC 3rd cohort member, Alice creates movement that challenges conventional understandings of disabled and dancing bodies. Engaging with disability arts, culture and history, Alice’s commissioned choreography attends to the complex intersections of disability, gender, and race. Alice was a 2018 AXIS Dance Company Choreo-Lab Participant made possible with support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Alice is the founder and artistic lead for Kinetic Light, a project based collaborative, working at the intersections of disability, dance, design, identity, and technology to create transformative art and advance the disability arts movement. Through nuanced investment in the histories, cultures, and artistic work of disabled people and people of color, Kinetic Light promotes intersectional disability as a creative force and access as an aesthetic critical to the creative process.

You are invited to attend this and all other class sessions - Class sessions will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4:30 to 5:50pm and are open to the greater Stanford community. You need not be a Stanford student to attend, no signup is required, and there is no charge. The full schedule can be found here

Same classroom! - The course will be held in classroom 282 in the Lathrop Library located at the corner of Lasuen Mall and Serra Mall, adjacent to Memorial Auditorium and the Oval. It seats as many as 150 people in a flexible and accessible space. Here is a webpage with maps, directions, and photos.

You are invited to participate in the Assistive Technology Faire - This eighth annual course event will provide an opportunity for students and community members to get an up-close look at a variety of assistive technology devices and learn about available services. Users of assistive technology products as well as small companies and agencies serving individuals with disabilities and older adults are encouraged to bring assistive technology devices and information to display, demonstrate, and discuss. Please browse to the Call for Assistive Technology Faire Participants webpage and contact me if you would like to be a part of this event as a user or vendor of assistive technology products or services. Everyone is welcome to attend the Faire. The Faire will start at 4:30pm on Thursday, February 20th in the Lathrop Library, Classroom 282. Here is the program, slides, and Matteo's, Krystina's & my photos from last year's Faire.

Upcoming class sessions:

• Thursday, January 30th - Issues of Human Interface Design
• Tuesday, February 4th - Field Trip to the Magical Bridge Playground
• Thursday, February 6th - The Design and Control of Exoskeletons for Rehabilitation

Ongoing local event:

SOMArts proudly announces the second exhibition in the 10th Curatorial Residency season. Curated by Vanessa Chang and Lindsey D. Felt, Recoding CripTech reimagines enshrined notions of what a body can be or do through creative technologies, and how it can move, look, or communicate. Working with a broad understanding of technology, from prosthetic tools to the built environment, this multidisciplinary community art exhibition explores how disability - and artists who identify as such - can redefine design, aesthetics, and the relationship between user and interface. Exhibiting artists engage with technology in manifold ways from conception to production and beyond. As the term "crip" reclaims the word for disability culture and recognizes disability as a cultural and political identity, so too do artists hack technologies to make them more accessible and inclusive. When: Running through Tuesday, February 25th Where: SOMA Arts Cultural Center - 934 Brannan St., San Francisco Information: More information

Other

Support the course - Funding in any amount for the course and student projects is always welcomed. Monetary gifts support approved project expenses, administrative costs, honoraria for guest lecturers, and the end-of-term celebration. Refer to the Course and Project Support webpage for more information.

Email questions, comments, or suggestions - Please email me if you have general questions, comments, or suggestions regarding the course. Thank you again for your interest.

Dave