|
Design, Technology , and Engineering benefitting individuals
with disabilities and older adults in the local community |
February 1, 2021 |
|
|
|
|
Perspectives is the newsletter of the
Stanford course,
Perspectives in Assistive Technology.
Bionic Ears
This issue announces the next class session
and encourages
your participation in the course's Assistive Technology
Faire.
|
Perspectives in Assistive
Technology is a Winter Quarter Stanford course - entering its
fifteenth year - that explores the design, development, and use of
assistive technology that benefits people with disabilities and older adults.
It consists of semi-weekly online discussions; lectures by
notable professionals, clinicians, and assistive technology users; virtual
tours of local medical, clinical, and engineering facilities; student
project presentations and demonstrations; and a Virtual Assistive Technology
Faire. |
Course
News
Course Statistics -
Forty-three students have enrolled in the course, four students are auditing,
ten vendors plan to participate in the Virtual Assistive Technology Faire, and
twenty students have chosen to work on projects suggested by six community
members. |
Next class session -
Tuesday, February 2nd at 4:30pm PST via
Zoom
|
|
Bionic Ears:
Cochlear Implants and the Future of Assistive Technology
Lindsey Dolich Felt, PhD
Stanford University
Lecturer,
Program in Writing and Rhetoric |
Abstract: "In this talk, I will share my personal
experience as a user with cochlear implants and discuss the history and future
of this device's development. Introducing historian of science and technology
Mara Mills' term "bionic rhetoric," I will explain how the cochlear implant
negotiates two different strains of thinking in assistive technology design:
normalization and enhancement. My talk will conclude with a discussion of how
this rhetoric gets metabolized in literary and popular discourse, and how these
narratives illuminate how people with disabilities use - and even hack - their
assistive technologies."
Biosketch: Lindsey Dolich Felt is a
lecturer in the Program in Writing and Rhetoric at Stanford University. She
received her PhD in English from Stanford University in 2016 and holds a BA
from Haverford College. Before coming to Stanford, she worked as a journalist
for ESPN the Magazine and ESPN.com.
Her research interests include contemporary American
literature, media culture, science fiction, science and technology studies, and
disability studies. She is currently researching how disabled bodies crucially
shaped conceptions of electronic communication in the post-WWII era, and has
written articles on female hackers in Cyberpunk fiction, and the little-known
history of the first cybernetic limb and its influence on communication
engineering in the early Cold War era.
Her course, "Unruly Bodies: Gesturing Toward a New
Rhetoric of Body Language" explores how advances in science, technology,
medicine, and culture have transformed our understanding of disability,
normalcy, and health.
Zoom Attendance
This class session will not
be open to community attendance - This decision has been made
subsequent to the loss of vocal quality during the first class session - mostly
likely due to the large number of attendees and poor WiFi connection. For these
reasons, I must restrict Zoom attendance to enrolled students. However, I will
provide the link to this recorded video session to anyone who requests
it. |
Upcoming class sessions:
Assistive Technology Faire
You are invited to participate
in the Virtual Assistive Technology Faire - This ninth annual
course event is scheduled for Thursday, February 25th and 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 join in on this virtual event. Please browse to the
Call for Assistive Technology Faire Participants
webpage for more information and contact me to register. Each vendor will
have 5 to 10 minutes of unopposed Zoom time to display, demonstrate, and
discuss their assistive technology products or services. Everyone is welcome to
attend the Faire. Ten vendors have signed up to participate so far.
Here is the line
up and slides from last year's
Faire. |
Seeking Participants for a Study on Disability and the
Environment
"If you are a person with a mobility disability who
would be willing to talk about your experiences with environmental change, I
would like to speak with you. People with disabilities have historically been
left out of planning for environmental change and climate disaster, and your
story matters. I am especially interested in learning about how the environment
affects your life and how your identity affects your experience of the
environment. For this study, I am looking to interview people with mobility
disabilities."
"If you are interested in being involved in the study,
please contact me, Molly King. Interviews
are confidential and your participation is voluntary. Participants receive a
$15 gift card or charity donation of equal value for an hour of their
time."
"If you cannot participate but know of someone who might
be interested, I would appreciate you forwarding this message. Thank
you."
Molly M.
King, PhD
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Santa Clara
University |
Other
Email
questions, comments, or suggestions - Please
email me if you have general
questions, comments, corncerns, or suggestions regarding the course. Thank you
again for your interest.
Dave
|
To unsubscribe from this newsletter, please email
Dave. |
|