She was one of five Madison County residents who received the Jefferson Award for Public Service in April. Doumitt was honored in Jackson along with Gay Gregson, Frank Walker, Larry Jones and Becky Fly.

The Jefferson Awards were created 36 years ago to honor people across the nation for their community service.

The entire experience was inspirational, she said.

“There are so many good people in this world,” she said. “My heart was full after spending time with them. What a wonderful honor to be with those folks.”

Her daughter, Theresa, accompanied her to the national Jefferson Awards event in June.

“Mom asked me to go, and I was excited to go with her,” she said. “I was really grateful that I got to go.”

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“We are seeing exciting trends that open the door to increased access with greater simplicity for less cost. The emergence of open-source tools and hardware that is easy to use will enable more people with special needs to have access to technology that will improve their quality of life,” said Tracy Gray, director of the National Center for Technology Innovation, which advances learning opportunities for persons with disabilities.

New AT developments are giving disabled students anytime, anywhere access to tools that can help them learn from wherever they are, freeing them from having to sit at a particular computer workstation.

Read the rest here.

He touched a button on the machine, which is mounted to his motorized wheelchair.
“I like looking at cool people in the mall,” a computerized voice announced.

On another day, Gregory Nelson, who will be a freshman at Lakota East Freshman School, used his communication device to tell colleagues in the summer program about his vacation plans in New York.

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“This device could revolutionize the field of assistive technologies by helping individuals with severe disabilities, such as those with high-level spinal cord injuries, return to rich, active, independent and productive lives,” said Maysam Ghovanloo, an assistant professor in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

The research team is also developing software to connect the tongue-operated assistive technology with a wide variety of communication tools, such as text generators, speech synthesizers and readers.

Read the rest here.

“Most people are not even aware that some of these items exist,” said Susan Garber, the organization’s executive director, who 10 years ago founded the nonprofit purchasing cooperative that allows schools, agencies, organizations and families to buy assistive technology at a reduced price.

More than 18,000 products from more than 90 companies are discounted, Garber said.

In 2007 and 2008, the organization processed nearly $2 million worth of orders.

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Children learn naturally, by doing and by watching you and/or other children. Because you know your child so well, you might notice if he or she is growing or developing differently than a cousin, brother or sister. If you feel uneasy about certain areas of your child’s development, don’t hesitate to contact the Barren River District First Steps Point of Entry by calling 901-5749 or (800) 643-6233.

Located in Bowling Green on the second floor of the new LifeSkills’ building on Suwannee Trail, First Steps is Kentucky’s Early Intervention System designed to serve families with children from birth to age 3 who have developmental delays or particular medical conditions known to cause developmental delays.

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With the help of a computer software program, Salyer can sit in her home in Dade City and continue the class work that will allow her to become a special education teacher after working for years as an instructional assistant.

Her classmates, gathered on the other side of Pasco County in a portable classroom at Hudson High School, see and hear her on a laptop computer screen.

She sees and hears them.

Mostly, it works.

“Sometimes the subtlety of what’s going on in the room, you miss,” said Dawn Hudak-Puckhaber, a classmate who played a key role in making sure Salyer remained in class after the accident.

It also doesn’t help when the Internet connection fails. Then they go to Plan B. Salyer calls in and they put her on speaker phone, a manageable but less desirable alternative.

“I get frustrated. They get frustrated,” Salyer said. “We just laugh it off.”

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The two-day symposium, a part of the school’s annual alumni weekend, featured exhibits displaying the newest wave of assistive technology for the blind and people with low-vision.

“It’s the biggest one ever because we have more vendors, as well as participants,” said Denise Holmes, who works with the deaf and blind division at the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services. “It’s growing as a highlight of the newest technology for the blind to help them live independently.”

More than 300 people had pre-registered for the event, and Holmes said she expected between 400 and 500 people would attend before the end of the day.

“It’s probably the largest display of technology in the Southeast,” Holmes said.

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It was 1968 when Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey introduced HAL 9000 - the computer that “never made an error”. It also didn’t need a keyboard, interacting instead with humans through voice and video.

Keyboards, already in wide use then, have become ubiquitous in the internet age. And with Internet World Stats estimating that 1.35 billion humans are online (and about 3.3 billion have access to a mobile phone), it seems that in the digital age humans have replaced hunting and gathering with tapping and pecking.

Although there are many ways to enter data into a PC, the keyboard is still the one most widely used. But contenders such as touch, speech and handwriting recognition are closing the gap.

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Last month the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities came into force. It may not be a snappy title but it marks an important development in disabled people’s pursuit of equality. Sixty years after the original UN Declaration on Human Rights was launched, disabled people have finally gained their own charter and full recognition that they too have human rights.

Disabled people are one of the last “vulnerable” social groups to be given the protection of a specific human rights convention. While women, ethnic minorities, children and migrant workers all received one years ago, disabled people have had to wait until the 21st century for this moment.

In a way, this isn’t surprising. No international treaty has ever come about without a long and hard campaign. But in order to campaign, people need to be able to take part in demonstrations, attend meetings, sign petitions, write letters and lobby politicians. You can only do these things if you have a reasonable level of education, access to transport and the ability to make your voice heard. Sadly, the vast majority of disabled people in the world are denied such luxuries.

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Ten or 15 years ago, Joshua Aaron Krane probably would not have received this warm bar mitzvah welcome into the Jewish community.
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Josh is autistic and nonverbal, so the traditional Jewish coming-of-age ceremony for 13-year-old boys and girls - more than hour of prayer, song, and ancient ritual performed in Hebrew, requiring years of preparation and study - would have been out of the question.

The Chestnut Hill teen, one of a set of triplets, might have known the ritual only through the experiences of his brother, Daniel, and sister, Rebecca, who celebrate their own big day later this month.

But times and technology have changed.

Last week, Josh came to the Torah himself for the saying of the Sh’ma, a Hebrew declaration of faith and allegiance to God, and D’var Torah, a commentary on the Torah. It was all done with a 21st-century technological twist - a PowerPoint presentation narrated by his siblings.

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The Zac Browser greatly simplifies the experience of using a computer. It seals off most Web sites from view, to block adult-themed material. Instead it presents a hand-picked slate of choices from free, public Web sites, with an emphasis on educational games, music, videos and visually entertaining images, like a virtual aquarium.

Other programs for children already offer that “walled garden” approach to the Web. But LeSieur’s browser aims to go further: It essentially takes over the computer and reduces the controls available for children like Zackary, who finds too many choices overwhelming.

For example, the Zac Browser disables extraneous keyboard buttons like “Print Screen” and turns off the right button on the mouse. That eliminates commands most children don’t need anyway, and it reduces the chance an autistic child will lose confidence after making a counterproductive click.

Children using the Zac Browser select activities by clicking on bigger-than-normal icons, like a soccer ball for games and a stack of books for “stories.” The Zac Browser also configures the view so no advertisements or other flashing distractions appear.

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CompTIA announced this week that a $25,000 grant from the NEC Foundation of America would pay for the first phase of the program, which will provide training, mentoring, certification, and job placement assistance. It aims to create employment opportunities so students with disabilities can enter the nation’s high-tech workforce.

CompTIA hopes to offer the services to 65 high school students within a year. The program is part of Creating Futures, a CompTIA Educational Foundation initiative to provide career development opportunities for people who have been underrepresented in IT fields.

Employers help identify hiring needs so Creating Futures can tailor education and training programs to give potential hires the technical, business, and communications skills they need.

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The Brooks Free Library remains one of only two public libraries in the country offering an instructional program – but we hope to change that. Many libraries have literacy programs, and we see VITAL as falling under that umbrella. Teaching people with sight loss to use assistive technology does teach literacy – our “graduates” now have access to print again and can read and write independently.

Many librarians at the conference hadn’t previously heard of VITAL. Before and after the ceremony people interested in learning more approached us. There is a growing awareness of the need for services for people with sight loss, especially as our population ages. These librarians just didn’t know what they could do to help. We share our experiences so they won’t have to start from scratch, and offer free training to them. One librarian said, “The whole idea blew me away.” With her mother losing her sight, she was aware of the growing need for services for people with vision loss, but she had never contemplated starting an instructional program until she read about VITAL. She said she realized right away what a natural fit it is for libraries to provide this service.

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A consortium comprising the National Rehabilitation Hospital, Enable Ireland National Assistive Technology Training Service, the NCBI, the Assistive Communications Technology Officers Network and the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association, who together represent in excess of 20,000 service users, has been awarded funding by POBAL (Enhancing Disability Services scheme for social inclusion) to establish and run the web-based library of electronic assistive technology (EAT) and to provide a forum for education, training and networking in this area.  The launch has been arranged in conjunction with the Communication Matters Roadshow who will hold a range of workshops in communication technology solutions in Croke Park on the day.

Research shows that 75% of assistive technology is abandoned due to the lack of training and the portal aims to address this issue by working with training providers, carers and users alike to, not only provide access to AT, but access to education, training and networking to maximise the benefits of AT to users.  As the website goes live - members will be able to borrow electronic aids, to allow themselves and their users assess and try out a range of assistive technology before recommending purchase.

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That was the goal of the Tucson Orthopaedic Institute and some 40 businesses and organizations that helped in the project: provide a playground that able-bodied and handicapped kids can share.

Before, 10-year-old Anthony, who has muscular dystrophy, and other handicapped kids couldn’t join their playmates on the school’s original playground, which still exists.

Now he can navigate his wheelchair onto the spongy surface and right up to the play apparatus.

While he doesn’t have the mobility to climb the new structure, Anthony can play with gadgets installed at a seated level. He also can frolic with the other kids under and around the structure.

The new equipment lets him “feel like he fits in,” said Jamie Planck.

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The new “Save as DAISY XML” add-in, designed for Microsoft Office Word 2007, Word 2003 and Word XP, will allow users to save Open XML-based text files into DAISY XML, the foundation of the globally accepted DAISY Standard for reading and publishing navigable multimedia content

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Steve Kinstler remembers ice skating at age 4 and wearing No. 16 as he played center and right wing for the St. John Vianney High School varsity hockey team. After he became paralyzed from the chest down, the result of a viral infection, he denied his athletic desire for nine years.

“I didn’t see how I could do it at the level I wanted to be at,” said Kinstler, 39. “It takes maturing and perspective to get there.”

In 2003, he made his return to the game he loved, but with some modifications.He played sled hockey, which involves a player sitting in a sled with a seat on blades. Players use two small hockey sticks equipped with picks on the end to help propel them across the ice. When a player wants to handle the puck a stick is switched upside down.

“To be able to compete again means a lot,” said Kinstler, who is currently sidelined with an injury. “It was a confidence builder - that I could get out there and do OK.”

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Jeff is not only a prolific artist working for multiple causes, he is also visually impaired, but his paintings are filled with color, shape and harmony. Sir Elton John and movie director Harold Ramis both display Jeff’s art in their homes.

Jeff, who is 14, lives with a genetic disorder called Neurofibromatosis, associated with an optic chiasm glioma. Jeff donates almost all of his income from his paintings to non-profit organizations. Jeff’s art has raised over $15,000 for a single non-profit organization. Funds generated from his current direct mail campaign to six-hundred eye professionals will go to support the Kansas State School for the Blind’s non-profit wing, the KC Blind All-Stars Foundation (KCBAS) which is uniquely focused on providing programs that lead to employment opportunities. For every person who donates $2500 to KCBAS Foundation, Jeff will personally paint a 30” x 40” acrylic canvas.

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With just $60,000 in Microsoft grants (a pittance to Mr. Softee) he is inspiring a generation of new geeks to do Socially Relevant Computing.

He’s built an Assistive Technology Laboratory, but he admits many of the best ideas come from visits to the Center for Handicapped Children’s Learning Center in nearby Williamsville.

There his students meet vibrant, alive, but severely challenged kids who inspire them to great projects, such as:

* DISCO, which uses light, sound, and tactile stimulation to create a learning environment with positive feedback for the severely disabled.
* Firefighter Monitoring gear to keep track of a first responder’s vital signs while they are in danger.
* Remotely-controlled wheelchairs, controlled by caregivers, for people who can’t even use a joystick.
* BUTTON MAKER, a computing interface for the severely disabled aimed at enabling learning.
* VAPP, a videoconferencing system for the severely disabled aimed at distance learning.
* People Tracker, a Zigbee network which does passive monitoring of people in nursing homes to make sure they stay safe.
* Nexus, a home controller with a visual programming language to help disabled people control their environment.

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Twenty-nine students were honored in nine categories. Timmy was recognized in the Technology Division for his significant achievement through the use of computerized devices and equipment.

“Without assistive technology, it would have been difficult to see what he’s capable of,” said Candace Santose, a speech pathologist who nominated him.

Timmy, the son of Paul and Amy Clawson, uses his Dynavox communication device to talk with others. He uses a computer program that allows him to type documents himself on his laptop. He’s able to surf the Internet using a mouse mover and can read independently through a program instead of having an adult or peer holding the book and turning pages. Timmy uses a power wheelchair to navigate around school.

“As much as he is different, he’s very typical. He just needs technology,” Amy Clawson said.

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“I’m on Cloud 9,” Mrs. Littleton said. “I love my job.”

Earlier this month, the director of the assistive technology center at Signal Centers was honored with the Thomas Morales Leadership in Accessible Technology Award.

The national award from the Alliance for Technology Access — only one is presented per year — was presented to Mrs. Littleton at the organization’s 20th anniversary celebration in Los Angeles.

“It’s like a lifetime achievement award,” said Donna McConnico, executive director of Signal Centers. “It’s given to someone who’s invested their heart and soul over a number of years.”

Mrs. Littleton, approaching her 31st year with the agency, has been its only assistive technology center director since the sector was created 17 years ago.

She said in fairness the award should go to Signal Centers itself since her job wouldn’t exist without the support of Ms. McConnico, past executive director Linda McReynolds and a supportive board of directors.

“If I can dream it,” Mrs. Littleton said, “they find ways to make it happen.”

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The children in Dana Romanczyk’s classroom at the William Carter School in Boston have severe special needs. They are unable to speak and are in wheelchairs. Yet they can activate a blender in cooking class or tell a teacher they have papers to take home with the help of technology.
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At Watertown’s Hosmer School, a fifth-grade boy who has reading difficulties works with occupational therapist Beth Lloyd and can participate in his classmates’ project on explorers, thanks to a computer program that reads to him.

The schools are part of a movement in education to integrate technology into mainstream curriculum and general classrooms so students with disabilities such as mental retardation, autism, cerebral palsy, blindness, and dyslexia can join their peers.

Bringing assistive technology into the mainstream curriculum and classroom, a process known as universal design, makes education accessible for all children, allows children with special needs to feel included in a school’s social life, provides for a more equitable education, and better prepares them for life outside school, supporters say.

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LATKids has revamped its popular “Verbal Behavior Technique.” This simple image matching game has been downloaded thousands of times since its introduction in 2005. Director Bob Crisler has watched its popularity grow. “It’s a simple program, but it’s been one of our most popular downloads. People from across the country and around the world have downloaded it, and the feedback we get is very complimentary.”

As more people have used it, the requests for improvements have included making on online version, tracking students’ progress, and allowing users to upload their own images.

All of those new features have been added, and LATKids is proud to announce the release of the new version, renamed MatchUp!.

We’re also announcing the release of a new program developed in conjunction with TEAAM - Together Enhancing Autism Awareness in Mississippi - called In Other Words.

This program, designed for young people and adults with autism, teaches “idioms,” commonly known as “figures of speech.” As our partners at TEAAM explained, most people use dozens of idioms in conversations every day, and mostly without realizing it. When we say “She really hit the nail on the head,” or “He has a chip on his shoulder,” we’re using idioms.

But many people with autism don’t understand what we mean, and while they stop and try to figure it out, we keep on talking; thus the disconnect we sometimes see when talking to people autism.

In Other Words seeks to help people with autism learn and remember idioms by using illustrations and a simple multiple-choice quiz format. Currently there are almost two dozen idioms in the program, with hundreds more in the works.

Finally, we are pleased to announce that all of our online programs will from now own be managed through a single user account system. Your children and students won’t need to create an account for each program, or keep up with multiple user names and passwords. Create one account, and use all of our programs. As always, your account is free, and very easy to create. Simply visit our registration page, then go to our login page to choose the program you’d like to use.

“Our motto is ‘results matter,’” says LATKids Director Bob Crisler. “LATKids’ mission has always been to make effective, real-world programs available to anyone who needs them, at no charge. We hope you enjoy these latest offerings, and that we can keep helping this great community of which we’ve been allowed to be a part.”

According to his mother, Mark Steidl, 12, is a pretty typical kid.

He loves music and being outside with friends near his Highland Park home. Mark is an honor student at his Overbrook school who taught himself to read at age 4 and has composed music.

Typical? How about extraordinary?

Mark has cerebral palsy, which robs him of the physical ability to sing or hold a musical instrument.

But it does not prevent him from being a high achiever. On Friday, Mark and his parents, Tina Calabro and David Steidl, celebrated in Boston when he received the “Yes I can!” award from the Council for Exceptional Children, an international organization, at its annual convention and expo.

A total of 29 awards in nine categories were presented to youths with disabilities who have excelled. Mark was one of two students honored in the technology category.

Read it all here.

What portion of the Web or computer applications is accessible to users with disabilities?

“Good question. Big companies work a lot to make their applications accessible, it’s the law in most countries and big companies want to comply. Smaller companies are more unlikely to do it.

For the Web, surveys done showed shockingly low numbers. But it depends a lot on what you include in your survey. If you include government sites or large companies sites you could get better numbers. If you focus on social networking sites, you will get worse results.

Developers are often not trained and do not know what to do to make their sites accessible, and individuals put anything on the Web and they might not even aware of the problem and that their pages should be checked for compliance with accessibility guidelines.

E-commerce and medical information on the Web are two typical examples of services and information that disabled users would like to access and they often feel to be kept out by these stores and sites.”

Assistive Technology is an important tool to those served at United Cerebral Palsey as it is a way for many of the participants to communicate.

Today there are many services, such as Facebook, that are available allowing someone without the ability to speak to communicate with friends and family.

The students at Moeller will be helping the participants learn how to use Facebook as well as exploring other services available to them.

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Special assignment teacher Dan Loreto, who has been working with assistive technology developing instructional practices throughout the school year, said before programs like the text-to-speech Kurzweil and the speech-to-text Dragon Naturally Speaking, students with severe special needs would have to attend a provincial school in Toronto.

“Most of our students are just not ready for it,” said Loreto, “It’s 800 kilometres away.

“So the branch decided to reach out to other boards, especially this far North so we can keep our kids here.”

“These students were typically, in years past, would have been dropping out of school at an early age. I think that they are now engaged in learning is the best part.”

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While the prospect of renovating to accommodate age-related or other disabilities may seem daunting, experts say there are ways to keep costs down, including potential federal tax deductions and assistance from nonprofit and government groups.

Public and commercial buildings nationwide have installed ramps, automatic doors and wheelchair-accessible bathrooms, thanks largely to the federal Americans With Disabilities Act. But while the law can apply to apartment buildings and condos, it doesn’t apply to private homes. Only a few communities—including Tucson, Ariz., and surrounding Pima County—have begun requiring new homes to include some key accommodations.

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The conference is intended for professionals in speech-language pathology, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and special education who work with children and adults who have moderate to severe speech impairments. It will also be useful to people who regularly talk people who use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) either on the job or in daily life, including educators, caregivers, and family members who communicate face-to-face, over the telephone, or by computer with people who are not able to speak for themselves.

The Assistive Technology Research Institute (ATRI) at Misericordia University is a nationally recognized resource that provides information and education in the use of assistive technology and universal design principles to allow people with limited function to participate in their personal lives and in their communities to the greatest extent possible.

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Four principals have overseen Memorial Academy of Learning and Technology in three years. One left, later returned, and resigned again. Test scores have sunk. Turnover plagues its governing board. And its nonprofit status—the hallmark of plans to fix the school—has not been approved by the Internal Revenue Service, a potential stumbling block as San Diego Unified eyes the school’s progress.

A majority of teachers are now pressing for San Diego Unified to tuck the school back under its wing and liquidate Memorial’s governing board. If the charter dissolves, a desirable magnet program might locate at Memorial, a factor that has fueled their fervor. A vocal group of parents backs the idea. But the choice isn’t theirs to make.

Relinquishing the charter is up to Memorial’s board, an ever-shifting group whose legitimacy has been repeatedly questioned by teachers and some parents. Three years ago, its selection was struck with controversy as an activist group took the lion’s share of seats. Fifteen members have cycled through the board in three years. The board’s size has fluctuated, dropping precipitously from its intended 11 seats to a five-person body today.

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It provided a fascinating insight into the challenges faced by developers of assistive technology (AT) in making sure that what is produced is really useful for the target audience.

It is essential to understand that there is a distinct difference between the deaf and other disability groups. The Deaf are a ‘community’ because they communicate in their own language (BSL). I have been chastised, quiet rightly, for talking about ‘disabled communities’ but deaf people undoubtedly see themselves as part of a community with clubs, societies, a language (with dialects) and a unique and vibrant culture.

The main research on signing avatars has been done by Prof. John Glauert at the University of East Anglia. This research has now been used by the BBC to produce educational materials for deaf children.

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This machine is a unique form of technology that has been available to students for more than 10 years on campus.

The program is able to scan books onto the computer, and at the same time, students can follow along the scanned material that is generated on the computer screen. A voice of your choice then is able to read the words to the user clearly and coherently. All students have to do is listen and follow along.

“Kurzweil 3000 is the most popular program used when it comes to having difficulty in reading and in writing,” said Assistive Technology Laurie Vasquez.

The easiest way to access and use the Kurzweil 3000 is by dropping in at the Assisting Tech Lab at the DSPS center.

“Students use it to assist them, for weakness in reading,” said Vasquez.

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Beginning at the start of the 2008-09 school year, qualified students will have the opportunity to use Don Johnston’s Read:OutLoud Bookshare.org Edition text reader (Windows Version) to access more than 36,000 books, magazines and newspapers in the Bookshare.org library.

The Read:OutLoud Bookshare.org Edition text reader offers embedded reading comprehension strategies and instructional supports that align with state educational standards. The text reader software includes audio feedback, electronic highlighting and note-taking features that allow students to effectively capture ideas. A Mac version will follow in 2009.

“Don Johnston and his products have a solid reputation in the special education community,” says CSUN keynote speaker Jim Fruchterman, CEO of Benetech, the Palo Alto, California-based nonprofit organization that operates Bookshare.org. “We chose Read:OutLoud because of its strong support tools for students with reading disabilities and its ability to read DAISY files that have the richness that comes from the NIMAS publisher files. Benetech and the team at Don Johnston are working closely together to create more equality for students with learning disabilities and special needs.”

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Brulotte, 12, is one of more than 40 B.C. students with disabilities who are applying for special journalist accreditations to cover the Vancouver Olympics and Paralympics for local media.

The arrangement is part of an unusual program announced Tuesday by 2010 Legacies Now, Special Education Technology (SET) and 3M, which are funding a two-year, $200,000 “Virtual Voices Village” project to teach children with disabilities how to write and post their interviews online.

The announcement coincides with a number of activities organized by the Vancouver Organizing Committee to mark the two-year countdown to the Paralympics. Today, Paralympian Todd Nicholson, a member of the gold-medal Canadian sledge hockey team, will be at Trout Lake Community Centre to show school children how disabled athletes use their sporting equipment. And in Whistler, there will be an afternoon party at the public library.

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Casio is currently utilizing FonixTalk TTS 6.0 on devices that include U.S. English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. Spring 2008 products include 16 new models for the Japan market, 2 new models for the Korean market and 2 new models for the China market. For high school students who demand the latest in useful materials for university entrance examinations, the XD-SP4800 model features the latest dictionaries and reference materials for this purpose. Casio also has electronic dictionaries with Korean and Mandarin Chinese languages available. Casio is distributing units with FonixTalk 6.0 in Japan, Korea and China. In the European market, units with DECtalk 4.6.5 are being distributed in France, Germany and Spain.

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Taking forward a commitment from the Children’s Plan to support parents and families with whatever information and support they need, when they need it, the Parent Know-How programme worth £44million is designed so that more parents can get access to information and help through the web, over the phone and text and instant messaging.

Hosting a day of Children Plan’s debate with parents and young people in Leeds, Birmingham, Portsmouth and London, Ed Balls also announced that separated dads are to get a new online community space to help them stay in touch with their children, including online games, picture sharing and hints on how to make the most of their relationship with their children.

The initiative comes on the back of research showing that parents prefer to receive information online, with 63% of fathers saying it was their favourite way to get help and support.

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Assistive Gaming is a website who aims to provide an answer to this question, offering ways to use assistive technology to play games on Mac computers, and make gaming more accessible to people with physical impairments. Launched this past January, the website’s publisher, David Niemeijer, says that many people think only specially adapted “accessible” games are available, which are generally targeted at younger kids, and would be of little interest to adults and teenagers. However assistive gaming means that anyone can play just about any game, including Unreal Tournament 2004, or World of Warcraft.

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The market for this device is for serious gamers so their avatar can replicate facial expressions, or if boredom sets in, the game could be made more compelling.

The thing that really excited me about this device is the price; it is being suggested that when it becomes publicly available later this year it will retail for around 300 US dollars. I assume it is this inexpensive because it is aimed at a very large potential market.

Its price and its functionality suggest to me that it could revolutionise the accessibility market. If you compare this to eye-gaze products or specialised mice or single switches the price is comparable and the functionality is significantly higher.

It is designed for the gaming market and because of its capability it will open up games and virtual worlds to many people with disabilities who cannot use the normal controls. To understand this issue see my article ‘Second Life is now too important not to be accessible’.

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Early reviews of the game’s control scheme have generated such comments as “more compelling than any control scheme we’ve seen in RTS (games), sports games, etc.... name your genre,” according to the review on GameSpy.com, and, “With the press of a button, you can order attacks, swap your vantage point, or commandeer control points...simply by talking—and it works,” a remark made by IGN.com in its Tom Clancy’s EndWar review.

“Ubisoft chose Fonix speech software for its convenient user interface, low memory and processing power requirements, and perhaps—most significantly—for its cross-platform availability. Having a cross-platform tool was very important to our development team,” commented Vincent Greco, Worldwide Technical Coordinator of Ubisoft. “Fonix VoiceIn provided us with a unique set of tools for game development across multiple platforms.”

“The results thus far have been tremendous,” continued Mr. Vincent Greco, Worldwide Technical Coordinator. “The voice command / voice recognition interface in EndWar greatly enhances user experience by allowing the user to effectively issue verbal commands across all of the game’s available platforms.”

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In its fourth year, the Tools for Life conference is providing students with disabilities a look at what they can do in the future.

Nora Jehn, Training Coordinator for the Idaho Assistive Technology Project:  “For a lot of kids and their families, it feels like high school is like dropping off the edge. They don’t know what’s out there.”

Nora Jehn:  “We pool all of those resources together to let them know what great things are out there, the kinds of support they can expect in higher education, employment.”

More than 500 students are attending the sessions and taking a look at what is available for them to do.

In January, two Shriners doctors visited the Department of Public Health and Social Services in Mangilao and diagnosed more than 500 disabled children in less than a week. Their next visit, when the Shriners Hospital will send three doctors and see even more children, is scheduled for sometime between June 20 and July 8.

In between, doctors will use a growing technology—telemedicine—to keep tabs on their young patients.

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Light is becoming a very important design element for home and office buildings. Studies show that when people live and work in a well lit environment, they are happier, healthier and more productive. Today, day lighting is an international trend. Natural light lifts spirits, makes spaces appear larger and lessens demands on electricity, an important factor in today’s energy – conscious world. Natural light also has been shown to reduce eyestrain, increase productivity and even decrease absenteeism in the workplace. People function better in light filled environments.

Lighting for all workers has long been a concern in many European countries. These ideas are making their ways westwards, reinforced by data showing that the rew