Perspectives in Assistive Technology is a Winter Quarter Stanford course - now in its twelfth year - that explores the design, development, and use of assistive technology that benefits people with disabilities and older adults. It consists of semi-weekly classroom discussions; lectures by notable professionals, clinicians, and assistive technology users; tours of local medical, clinical, and engineering facilities; student project presentations and demonstrations; an assistive technology faire; and a film screening. Organization of the coming year's course is underway, with the first class session in January.

Assistive Technology Faire

Canine Partners for Life
Abigayil Tamara & Service Dog Nathan and
Edward Crane & Service Dog Alepo
Canine Partners for Life (CPL) of Cochranville, PA trains and places service dogs with individuals with disabilities - including those who require alerts due to diabetic, cardiac, or seizure conditions - to increase their independence and quality of life. CPL is a non-profit organization, operating completely on donations, and charges recipients only a small fraction of the actual cost ($30,000) of training a dog (2 years).

BeeLine Reader
BeeLine Reader, Inc - Nick Lum
BeeLine Reader is a software tool that improves reading ability by displaying text using a color gradient that wraps from the end of one line to the beginning of the next. This gradient pulls the reader’s eyes through the text, making reading easier. This approach is especially helpful for readers with dyslexia, ADHD, and various vision impairments.

Service Dog Training
Service Dog Tutor - Jean Cary and Service Dog Flicka
Service Dog Tutor adapts clients' own dogs to do specific service tasks for their owners. Clients include older adults and children who have mobility and balance challenges as well as cognitive disabilities.

Dance4Healing Tele-exercise Live Video Platform
Dance4Healing - Amy Li
Dance4Healing is a tele-exercise live video platform leading telehealth into physical rehabilitation, bringing community support, exercise, and fun to home care. Inspired by founder Amy Li's stage IV cancer journey, our mission is to alleviate mental and physical pain and reduce medical costs. Rooted in neuroscience and published medical studies, our social platform connects dance teachers, clinicians, chronic patients, care-partners, elders, and healthy users. We use artificial intelligence and behavior design to provide and recommend personalized music, dance, buddies, and groups; use feedback from patient monitoring to record progress; and suggest follow-on therapies.

RoScooter
ROTA Mobility - Michelle Koller
ROTA Mobility creates innovative exercise mobility products which their riders “ro-to-go” for better health and well-being. The RoScooter uses a self-propelling PSM (Power Steering Module) featuring CLD (Central Lever Drive) bicycle- style steering, gearing, and braking, enabling riders to exercise by simply going places. The RoChair has the same PSM as the RoScooter, but in a lightweight chair frame, allowing those who cannot use RoScooter, the same efficient manual propulsion to very quickly and easily get around, indoors and out.

Ability Tools Device Lending Library
Silicon Valley Independent Living Center - Joe Escalante
Silicon Valley Independent Living Center (SVILC) is a cross-disability, intergenerational, and multicultural disability justice organization that creates fully inclusive communities that value the dignity, equality, freedom and worth of every human being. SVILC maintains a lending library of assistive technology so consumers may borrow a device free of charge and try it before buying it, use it to compare similar devices, or to use while a personal device is being repaired.

Eatwell Tableware Set
Sha Design - Sha Yao
Eatwell is an assistive tableware set for people with special needs. It's universal, user-centric design can benefit those with cognitive (such as Alzheimer's and other dementia conditions), motor (Parkinson's disease and various scleroses), and physical impairments.

Powered Clothing™
Seismic - Avery Herron and Paudie Walsh
Seismic strives to shape human potential through a new integration of apparel and robotics we call Powered Clothing™. Our mission is to create apparel that improves the lives of everyone – no matter their age, health, or fitness goals. Seismic’s Wearable Strength™ is changing how technology can improve life.

Luminescent Insulating Light Switch Plates
LUMINNO™ - David Shaw
GlowaSwitch™ is a patented light switch plate that utilizes a long persistence photoluminescent material to glow all night long making locating light switches in the dark safer for the elderly, children, just about everyone. Each plate is paired with a fire retardant foam gasket that insulates the switch hole from air draft to help conserve energy. The white foam backing also retro reflects light through the translucent plate to further enhance the glow effect. A convex form makes the glow visible from afar at any angle. Because the glow material charges with natural and artificial light, it uses no electricity, requires no wiring, and consumes no energy at all regardless of how many are installed. GlowaSwitch adds overnight glow safety and energy-saving insulation features to upgrade the ubiquitous light switch plate which has done nothing more than cover a hole in the wall for the past century. "GlowaSwitch is the light switch plate reinvented."

Remaining class sessions: