And now, more shameless self-promotion:
Education Week has gathered several stories about inclusion and assistive technology, many of which were written by yours truly, and put them together in a package that you can purchase for just $4.95! For more information, follow this link.
When Amazon's Kindle 2 was released in February, the e-book reader was thinner and lighter than its predecessor--and also included a text-to-speech feature that could convert e-books into serviceable audiobooks.
That functionality attracted the attention of the Authors Guild, which has represented writers in this country since 1912. Audiobook rights are a potentially lucrative part of an author's publishing contract, and the group was concerned that the Kindle 2 offered the ability to breach an author's copyright.
In response, Amazon has offered publishers the ability to disable the text-to-speech functionality of the device for individual books. But that move has attracted the ire of disability advocacy groups, which have banded together as part of the newly-formed Reading Rights Coalition. The groups represent people who have print disabilities, such as blind people or people with dyslexia.
The coalition plans to protest Amazon's move by holding a demonstration at 2 p.m. April 7 at the guild's headquarters in New York.
In a Wall Street Journal article, a guild representative said the group believes there's a way to work out this situation so that people with disabilities can have access to books. The Reading Rights Coalition is looking for a situation that allows full access to books by people with print disabilities. It's an interesting collision of technology and ownership rights.
Here's something fun: five high school engineering teams that have invented assistive technology will compete against each other this week. The program is a part of the fourth annual National Engineering Design Challenge (NEDC) Finals Competition.
The competition, sponsored by the AbilityOne Program and the Junior Engineering Technical Society (JETS), attracts teams of students from across the country who design and build an assistive device for a person with a disability to use in his or her workplace. Last year's winning team created a device that allowed a user to change a tie trash bag with only one hand.
(This, to me, is a great example of how assistive technology can improve the lives of anyone. I'd love to be able to tie a trash bag with one hand.)
This year's invention finalists include: a device that provides stability to people with tremor to safely draw medicine out of a vial; an integrated workspace designed for an individual who uses a wheelchair and has limited range of motion; a prosthetic device that attaches to an individual’s forearm and enables a person who does not have fingers to use a keyboard; an adaptive filing system that is moveable and accessible for an individual who has limited range of motion and fine-motor control; and a device that mounts a bag or backpack safely onto the back of a wheelchair and makes it easily accessed by the wheelchair user.
Each of the finalists received a free trip to Washington to present their device in person. The best overall design will receive a prize of $3,000 for their school.
