We have had the pleasure of working with children with cognitive and physical disabilities (the Incredibles) for much of the past decade. In my courses, we do a ‘mash-up’ of the latest, greatest technology (like skeletal tracking, augmented reality, drones) and disabilities to come up with software tools and apps that might be of some assistance. For example, we worked with a young man with cerebral palsy who only had fine motor skills in his right two toes, but wanted to fly a drone – so a student group built him an iPad app to do just that.
Oftentimes, we work for an entire semester with one specific client with a disability, and that client become the entire focus of the course. While we focus on the unique individual, sometimes the lessons apply to a much broader scope. Some of the approaches learned while working with individual clients have become part of the mainstream iOS and Android operating systems. This presentation will focus on some of the lessons learned from very unique individuals and how these lessons apply to universally designed interaction.
