Too Disabled to Fly

A month ago a man with cerebral palsy was asked to leave an U.S. Airways flight because the staff concluded he was too disabled to fly alone. The revelation stunned him since he had flown thousands of miles alone before. According to U.S. Airways, its policy requires passengers with disabilities to fly with companions. If a passenger with a disability can take care of himself on the ground, why shouldn’t he be able to do the same off the ground also? Viewing the coverage that this story has gotten, U.S. Airways asked the booted passenger to help them change their policy.


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Will Rosa’s Law Change Attitudes?

 President Obama honored Rosa Marcellino, who inspired Rosa’s Law. The legislation will replace “mentally retardation” with “intellectual disability” in federal statues, such as health and education.

Rosa has down syndrome, but she probably has been called “retarded” or “mentally retarded” many times. Will her law prevent people from referring to her as a “retard”? The law definitely will curtail it, but it won’t stop some people from treating Rosa or any other person with an intellectual or communication disability as a vegetable or from calling her the derogatory terms.

As a supplement to Rosa’s Law, parents and schools need to teach kids to treat everyone with respect. The media also has to contribute by focusing more on bullying of students with intellectual and other disabilities. A single law can’t change attitudes just like that; it also takes each one of us to open minds and hearts.

ESP Wheelchair

Although motorized wheelchairs have been a godsend, some persons with dexterity impairments cannot navigate them.  This also goes for wheelchair users who are blind.  Thanks to The University of Technology Sydney (UTS), a solution may be soon on the horizon.  The UTS staff is developing a wheelchair that moves with brain waves alone.  Coined Aviator, the brain-operated chair runs on the user’s directional thoughts.  To read more about Aviator, read http://tinyurl.com/28rpegd,

Social Network Blackout for Autism

One of the effects of autism is the inability to communicate effectively.  To let others know what it’s like to be unable to express their thoughts and feelings, advocacy groups are promoting Social Network Blackout Day on November 1.  People are urged to avoid tweeting, using Facebook, Linkedin, and other social networks.  To find more about the Social Network Blackout, read http://tinyurl.com/24c6mah.

Translation Glove for the Deaf

While deafness does not have anything to do with intelligence, it can cause reading for persons who have been deaf all of their lives since they never heard spoken English.  To solve this problem, a glove has been invented to translate American Sign Language (ASL) into text.  To download more information about it, go to http://tinyurl.com/3yjjgrk.

Texting Has Taken A Step Further Towards The Blind

   Buttons on a mobile phone are too small for blind users to feel where they are on the device.  Yet, Dutch industrial designers have invented the wheel, so to speak, so blind users can text.  Although it doesn’t allow them to hear texts, Tactile Texting is a step in the right direction.  Read more about Tactile Texting at http://www.fastcodesign.com/1662207/an-interface-that-allows-the-blind-to-text.