Fair Play, Ctd.

 Disability  No Responses »
Jan 292013
 

On the heels of last week’s directive instructing schools to include students with disabilities in athletics when possible, the Star Tribune looks at the progress Minnesota has already made in making extracurricular activities inclusive of everyone. While a gap still exists between rural and metropolitan school districts, Minnesota has a long history of maintaining adaptive sports leagues for students with disabilities. Other states may want to look to Minnesota as a model when establishing their own adaptive athletics programs.

If Wisconsin had had something comparable when I was a kid, I might not have been so contemptuous of gym class.

Losing An Ally

 Disability, Politics  No Responses »
Jan 282013
 

The news of Senator Tom Harkin’s retirement saddens me. The Iowa Democrat played an instrumental role in passing the the Americans with Disabilities Act and he has been a vocal advocate for people with disabilities during his long tenure. I can’t think of another national political figure who is so closely identified with disability rights, which makes it unlikely that someone else will fill the void Harkin leaves. And that’s unfortunate because people with disabilities still need strong, committed leadership on issues ranging from employment to health care.

Fair Play

 Disability  No Responses »
Jan 162013
 

The Times examines the growing trend of students with disabilities seeking the right to compete against able-bodied athletes in school sports. Some school districts are doing their best to accommodate these students while others have chosen a more confrontational stance. The fact that kids with disabilities are pursuing athletics is a hugely encouraging sign for an old gimp like me. It tells me that most kids with disabilities now take it for granted that they will be included in the classroom. Now, they want access to the rest of the school experience. School districts will always struggle to balance inclusion and fairness (especially as prosthetics and implants inevitably improve), but the kids who watched Oscar Pistorius compete in the London Olympics aren’t going to settle for watching from the sidelines.

Stephen Hawking, Man Of The Future

 Disability, Tech  No Responses »
Jan 092013
 

Wired is running an essay commemorating Stephen Hawking’s 71st birthday that imagines him as the center of a human-machine distributed network. The essay’s hypothesis is that how Hawking lives his life is increasingly reflective of how the rest of us live. Most of us use some kind of machinery to organize information, communicate with others, and get from Point A to Point B. Hawking simply uses atypical interfaces (a wheelchair, a talking computer, a nurse) that are foreign to most people. From the essay:

Hawking’s persona, his disability, and his embodied network thus becomes a window on our machines, the nature of work, and even our representation of scientific heroes. Popular media shows us that Hawking is a pure, isolated, once-in-a-lifetime genius; ethnographic analysis shows us that Hawking is not that different from other scientists even though he has a disability. In fact, it’s precisely because of his disability that we get to see how all scientists work … and how the entire world will work one day.

In other words, assistive technology neutralizes, to some extent, the barriers between disability and achievement.

Of course, Hawking’s fancy distributed network won’t mean jack when we finally face off in our zero-g deathmatch. I’ve got (relative) youth on my side and a killer left hook. Distribute that, Hawking.

Eyeballing It

 Disability, Tech  No Responses »
Jan 082013
 

The annual Consumer Electronics Show is once again showing off new gadgets and expensive TVs that you’ll never buy. Eyegaze technology is making another appearance at the CES and it appears to edging closer to general consumer availability. Hardware developer Tobii is in discussions with several game developers to incorporate eyegaze technology into future titles and an add-on device for computers could be available this fall. I’m going to venture a prediction that I’ll be regularly using gaze technology on my desktop or tablet within three years. At which point I’ll resign from my government post to join the League of Legends professional circuit.

Evolution By Microchip

 Disability, Tech  No Responses »
Jan 012013
 

In case you missed it, here’s the piece that ran on last Sunday’s 60 Minutes showing the thought-controlled robotic arm I mentioned last week. Watching the prosthetic in action is remarkable and perhaps offers a glimpse into a future where cybernetic augmentation is commonplace. Truly exciting stuff:

Tools Of The Revolution

 Disability, Tech  No Responses »
Dec 192012
 

Here’s word of further progress in the development of mind-controlled prosthetics: a paralyzed woman operates a robotic arm with an impressive degree of fluidity. The article also mentions a complication that hadn’t previously occurred to me. Scar tissue forms around the implanted sensors, which impedes the neural signals. It seems like a surmountable problem that should do little to derail my plans to construct a fleet of telepathically operated and well-armed giant robots. Assuming that the bank approves my loan, I should be able to close on a charming underground lair on a suitably remote volcanic island.

Tinfoil Hats And Disability: The Aftermath

 Disability, Politics  No Responses »
Dec 102012
 

Jonathan Alter is the latest pundit to pile on with criticism of the Senate Republicans who voted down the U.N. disabilities treaty:

Cruelty, fear, cowardice, xenophobia and disrespect invaded the inner sanctum of the U.S. government this week, bringing embarrassment and dishonor to what was once the greatest deliberative body in the world: the U.S. Senate.

I wonder if Republicans are beginning to have second thoughts about this vote, considering all the negative attention it has garnered in the press. Perhaps they assumed that nobody would much care about the fate of a largely symbolic international treaty concerning a marginalized group of people. But at a time when Republicans can’t stop talking about how to re-brand themselves, this vote only served to remind people of the party’s worst ideological impulses. Even after a disastrous election, conservatives are blindly following each other over the brink of political relevance with stupid votes like this.

If Republicans can’t summon the courage to vote for something as benign as this treaty, can they really be trusted to do anything on the economy or immigration reform?

Neologisms For The Deaf

 Disability, Tech  No Responses »
Dec 052012
 

The Times looks at how deaf scientists and students are using video sharing to create and standardize new signs for scientific concepts. It’s a fascinating examination of how technology can influence the development of a language. not all of the signs being circulated will be adopted, but the standardization of even a few dozen scientific terms could be of immense help to deaf people wishing to pursue scientific careers. The article also illustrates how sign language is already particularly well-suited for scientific discourse:

 “If I wanted to indicate mass, I would probably hold up a balled fist,” said Kate Lacey, an interpreter at George Washington University who often works with science students. “Then, to indicate weight, I’d drop that fist toward the floor.” The implication is that weight represents gravity’s effect on mass, which is about as clear a definition as one is likely to find.

Such elegant personifications of tricky scientific concepts leave some deaf students feeling sorry for those who rely on their ears. “One of my students was telling me recently that she can’t imagine the difficulty that hearing instructors must have in describing concepts through spoken English, because of the linearity of spoken language,” Dr. Braun said.

Tinfoil Hats And Disability Cont’d

 Disability, Politics  No Responses »
Dec 042012
 

As expected, the Senate failed to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. While some Republicans voted for ratification (we’ll miss you, Senator Lugar!), the majority of the GOP delegation decided that the treaty posed an existential threat to American sovereignty and, for reasons only the far right can grasp, homeschoolers.

It’s a sad moment for the Senate and the disability rights movement. As I wrote previously, it’s unfortunate that the deepening collective psychosis afflicting the Republican party claimed this hard-fought treaty as a victim. I remain hopeful that the next Senate will eventually vote for ratification and restore the United States’ credibility as a world leader on disability rights.

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