Tag: Independence

A new invention turns the tongue into a digital operating system, and can change the lives of millions of people with disabilities around the world.

Spinal cord injuries caused by accidents, violence and disease paralyze from the neck down more than 5,000 people every year. In the first few months after injury, some people regain some movement and sensation in their limbs. Those who do not show improvement in the first few months are unlikely to ever recover.

SHORT HILLS, N.J., Nov. 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation has partnered with Craig Hospital to introduce a new health series called Adaptive Tools for Independence.  The video series highlights functional tools and adaptive equipment that is available to assist individuals living with paralysis or limited hand functions to gain more independence in their day to day activities.  Daily tasks such as cooking, and bowel and bladder care are included in the first set of videos in the series. Other tasks like housekeeping, dressing, hair, and makeup will be available in the next installment. These videos aim to show how all these tasks can become much easier and be done with little or no assistance. Most of the tools featured in the videos are available online or can be crafted at home.

If it were possible to travel back in time, many people might choose to edit their past decisions or actions.

Austin Reynolds is often asked if he would go back three years and do things differently if he could. A serious spinal cord injury drastically changed his world, but Reynolds said it is not something he would want to change about his life because of how the experience has shaped him into a better person.

Recent surgical trials have bestowed new life on quadriplegics who can now return to activities they never thought they’d be able to do again, thanks to an innovative surgery that relocates nerves.

A dirt bike accident in 2015 left Australian Paul Robinson, now in his 30s, paralyzed from the chest down. Robinson landed on his head and broke one of the vertebrae in his neck, leaving him confined to a wheelchair and rarely able to leave his home. He was one of 16 people participating in a medical trial at Austin Health in Melbourne that used nerve transfers to re-enervate paralyzed muscles in quadriplegic patients.

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.