Tag: Independence

Google Nest provides up to 100,000 free Google Home Minis to the Reeve Foundation to foster freedom at home across the paralysis community through the #PowerOfVoice

SHORT HILLS, N.J., July 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — In celebration of the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, the leading nonprofit dedicated to improving quality of life for people living with paralysis, announced today a partnership with Google Nest to improve independence for the greater paralysis community through Google Nest products powered by the Google Assistant.

Xfinity X1 customers with physical disabilities can now use their eyes to change the channel, set a recording or search for a show.

Comcast today launched a feature that gives people with physical disabilities like spinal cord injuries or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) the ability to navigate their television using only their eyes.

Jim Ryan was a pilot for 38 years but that all changed three years ago while on vacation in Hawaii with his wife, Isabelle.

Wheelchairs can’t yet be summoned via voice commands or connect with other wheelchairs to issues warnings about what’s ahead. Dr. Konstantinos Sirlantzis wants to change that.

Electric wheelchairs offer independence to those with mobility issues, but there are still limitations. They can’t yet be summoned via voice commands or connect with other wheelchairs to warn each other about obstacles ahead. Or can they?

Dr. Konstantinos Sirlantzis, Senior Lecturer in Intelligent Systems at the University of Kent, envisions a smart wheelchair future enabled by robotic plug-ins and add-ons.

Brazilian start-up Hoobox Robotics has collaborated with Intel to produce an adapter kit that allows almost any electric wheelchair to be controlled by the user’s facial expressions.

The Wheelie 7 kit equips a wheelchair with artificial intelligence to detect the user’s expressions and process the data in real-time to direct the movement of the chair.

Smiling, raising the eyebrows, wrinkling the nose or puckering the lips as if for a kiss are among the repertoire of 10 gestures recognised by the prototype Wheelie 7.

https://youtu.be/nGU3dAMlXCg

Learn how three people with tetraplegia (quadriplegia) have improved their hand function and increased their independence through a combination of techniques, exercises and tools.

In the United States, more than 280,000 people—including 42,000 military veterans—are affected by spinal cord injury (SCI), including limb weakness and paralysis. While rehabilitation can be helpful, the benefits are slow and inadequate to restore patients’ lost independence. A team of researchers at Cleveland Clinic is trying to speed recovery using noninvasive brain stimulation.

Ela B. Plow, PhD, PT, of Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute, recently received a four-year, $2.5 M award from the Department of Defense (DoD) to lead a brain stimulation study in patients with paralyzed upper limbs due to SCI. The award was granted under the DoD’s Spinal Cord Injury Research Program.

Instead of swiping with a finger, the technology lets users control the device with small head movements or voice commands. The technology can help people who are paralyzed or have limited mobility due to neurodegenerative diseases such as MS, ALS or spinal cord injuries.

BALTIMORE (AP) — A day after Oded Ben Dov appeared on Israeli television to promote his video game technology, which allowed players to control their games by moving their heads, a viewer called him with another suggestion for the software.

“I can’t move my arms or legs,” the viewer told him. “Can you make a smartphone that I can use?”

For quadriplegics, life can be extremely isolated. Those without the ability to control their arms, legs or head must rely entirely on a caregiver to move, or even turn around, their wheelchair.

One cause of quadriplegia is the neurodegenerative disease ALS, which afflicts an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 in the U.S., according to the CDC.

Because the disease is progressive, those afflicted can go from having completely normal motor control to being fully quadriplegic without the ability to talk, in the span of just a few years. Previously having the ability to move independently can make the loss of movement even more difficult for those with ALS.

Every morning, Brian Keefer looks up at the framed words of encouragement covering his bedroom wall, and he smiles.

“Brian, you keep smiling because that’s what makes you so special! … Keep believing that you can fly!” one says.

“You’re my hero and inspiration,” reads another.

Those notes, written by friends and family, are Keefer’s favorite part of the room “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” built for him in 2011.