Information from the INDATA Project is now available via podcast! Every Friday, the INDATA Project will release two podcasts featuring new assistive technology projects. The podcasts are available for viewing on the INDATA Project website and on iTunes. The “Assistive Technology Update” is a fast-paced weekly update for AT professionals and enthusiasts. The “Accessibility Minute” is designed for all listeners to provide assistive technology tips and tricks.
Jan 272012
We’ve all had that day, you know the one; it’s raining, it’s cold, you’re running late, you have 10 minutes to make it to the store before it closes and there is only one parking spot open, the spot reserved for the handicapped. Thinking it’ll just be this one time, promising yourself you will never to do it again, you park the car and make a mad dash inside.
Think again. States and counties across the country are cracking down on handicapped fraud. Due to an increase in the use of phony placards (tags that hang from the rearview mirror) and fake license plates, fines for illegally using and abusing handicapped spots are increasing and license suspension is not out of the question.
Ohio resident and founder of HandicappedFraud.org Maureen Birdsall, told USA Today that she had lost the only available handicapped parking spot to a woman in a red corvette. She was taking her 92-year- old grandfather to the hospital and could not find a spot near enough to the door.
“I sat there dumbfounded,” she said.
After starting the website, Birdsall realized she was not alone in her frustration in seemingly healthy people parking in handicapped spaces. Quickly, the site received postings from people in 26 states with similar complaints.
How the site works is simple and provides step by step actions to take when you notice a seemingly able bodied person parking in a handicapped spot: Don’t confront the person (they may actually have a disability), record their license plate and placard number and leave a post-it note on their car that says they have been reported at HandicappedFraud.org. Birdsall hopes to have hundreds or even thousands of uploads of these fraudulent placards on the site at the end of every month in order to create a report to be given to that state’s DMV. The DMV will then have the opportunity to recognize trends and track the placard number to the doctor and patient. If abuse is detected, further action can happen. Both actions will bring awareness and change to a problem that only shows signs of increasing.
The site is part of a crackdown in which the impact can be felt nationwide. In Illinois for example, an advisory committee on traffic safety, headed by Secretary of State Jesse White
Courtesy of Google Images
One town in Massachusetts dedicates police details to do nothing but enforce handicapped-parking laws. The city has spent about $6,000 in grant money for overtime but received about $32,000 back in fines.
Phillip Shaw, 62, of Xenia, Ohio, has difficulty walking long distances after he broke his back in 1980. He uses a sticker that allows him to park in a handicapped spot, but he said that there aren’t many in the city and he sometimes finds them occupied by people who don’t appear to be disabled.
Shaw said, “For someone who just uses them for convenience, I think they ought to be fined.”
Next time you think about taking the handicapped spot simply for ease, it may be worth your while, and your wallet, to think twice and move on.
Information from the INDATA Project is now available via podcast! Every Friday, the INDATA Project will release two podcasts featuring new assistive technology projects. The podcasts are available for viewing on the INDATA Project website and on iTunes. The “Assistive Technology Update” is a fast-paced weekly update for AT professionals and enthusiasts. The “Accessibility Minute” is designed for all listeners to provide assistive technology tips and tricks.
Jan 122012
Photo courtesy of Sprint
Recently, Sprint announced its release of a new effort to make the Android more user friendly for those who are blind, visually impaired or have difficulty reading and understanding the content on their smartphone. Developed by Code Factory, Mobile Accessibility is a suite of accessible applications that have been specifically designed for people who are blind or visually impaired. The suite of applications also benefits those who have learning, physical, perceptual, developmental or cognitive disabilities. The newly created package of smartphone applications features a simplified user interface and a sort of voice over feature to aid in the navigation of the device.
The app is free for Sprint customers who have existing postpaid plans with data packages, making it cost effective with the convenience of having the useful apps at your fingertips without having to lug around an excessive amount of assistive technology.
Here is a breakdown of the main features of Mobile Accessibility:
Touch navigation: Users simply slide their fingertip around the screen and the voice synthesis will read the text located under the finger. They can swipe up/down/right/left and tap on the screen to navigate through the interface, and they can enable sound and vibration feedback.
Easy to input text: In or outside the Mobile Accessibility suite users can use the touch QWERTY keyboard or speech recognition to write text quickly and easily – making it possible to write an SMS or email using their voice only.
Voice Synthesis: Provides customers with natural sounding voice feedback.
“Having the ability to gain greater access to information on smartphones through the use of a free suite of applications is a very positive development in the blind community’s quest for more affordable choices,” said Mitch Pomerantz, president of the American Council of the Blind (ACB). “The American Council of the Blind commends Sprint for its willingness to take another positive step toward full product accessibility.”
Jan 112012
courtesy of Ekso Bionics
Through partnerships with UC Berkley, research grants from the Department of Defense and licensed technology to the Lockheed Martin Corporation, Ekso Bionics developed a variety of exoskeletons to augment human mobility. From helping soldiers to carry more weight easily, to helping the paralyzed walk (this particular model is called eLEGS appropriately) these exoskeletons are the next big thing in the world of mobility.
What is exciting news to the world of Assistive Technology and those confined to wheelchairs, is that Ekso has developed an exoskeleton walking suit that will actually help the paralyzed move. Powered by small whirring motors, the suit is no mere toy; it is a medical device, and one about to change the world, at that.
“We took the idea of the external skele¬ton, and we added nerves in the form of sensors and motors that represent your muscles and computers that represent your brain,” said CEO of Ekso Bionics, Eythor Bender.
Upon donning the suit, you have one job: balancing your upper body, you must be able to shift your weight as you plant a walking stick on the ground, let’s say to the right. At this time, the physical therapist will use a remote control signal to signal the left leg to step forward. The suit supports its own 20 kilgram weight through the legs and footrests and takes care of the calculations needed to move forward. A later model will feature walking sticks with motion sensors that communicate with the legs, giving the user complete control.
Ten rehab clinics, scattered around the United States, have already signed up for the first round of production units. The first will go to Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. Kristjan T. Ragnarsson, chairman of the department of rehabilitation medicine at Mount Sinai, said that he is hopeful for Ekso’s latest creation.
“I’m optimistic, actually, that this will work,” Ragnarsson said. “I think my patients will be able to stand up and take a few steps and face the next person directly on!”
Jan 042012
A 27-year-old Texas man with “the sexiest of palsies” is gearing up to be the next big television sensation. Chosen by Oprah in her search for the next TV star, Zach Anner has won the hearts of many across the nation and now has his own show called, “Rollin’ with Zach” in which Anner tries everything from surfing to rock climbing.
Anner has Cerebral Palsy, but that doesn’t stop him from living a life of adventure, fun and discovery. In fact, the point of his show is to inspire people “to get off the couch and go travel.” The show, which aired on December 12 on OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network, came about after Anner and many other finalists posted audition videos for Oprah and the nation to watch and give votes.
The show will run over the course of three weeks, with two half hour shows airing back to back every Monday. Shot over two months in the summer, the show follows Anner as he explores Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Portland. Each episode focused on a different city and new feats Anner discovered he could conquer.
Not only did Anner get to experience some of the many great American cities, he got to push himself to do things he never thought he would have the opportunity to do.
Anner told Disabilityscoop.com in an interview that some of things on the show he did he never even thought was in the realm of possibility.
“I’m not a mountain climber, I’m not even a stair climber. “
Not all of the challenges were physical. For instance, in New York, Anner had to perform a stand up comedy routine.
“It was terrifying,” Anner said.
The point of mixing both physical and non-physical challenges was to show that people with disabilities could do it all.
“We just wanted to present different challenges that would be difficult whether you had a disability or not,” Anner said.
Anner has high hopes for this show, even more so than just inspiring people to get out and travel.
Anner said, “The grand hope from this is that five years from now, if you see somebody on television that uses a wheelchair, it’s no big deal.”