Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Your weekly dose of information that keeps you up to date on the latest developments in the field of technology designed to assist people with disabilities and special needs.
Show Notes:
Autism Glass | Jena Daniels, Clinical Study Manager, The Autism Glass Project,The Wall Lab, Stanford University | autismglass.stanford.edu
Rutgers study: Disabled are ‘neglected’ voting bloc http://buff.ly/2beAbc1
Some Thoughts About the Stigma of Using Assistive Devices http://buff.ly/2bj88pZ
Track Changes in Microsoft Word with JAWS http://buff.ly/2bBzJ9B
Blind man Uber-ing: One man’s quest to get visually impaired a tech job http://buff.ly/2aZY9dY
App CanPlan | www.BridgingApps.org
——————————
If you have an AT question, leave us a voice mail at: 317-721-7124 or email tech@eastersealscrossroads.org
Check out our web site: https://www.eastersealstech.com
Follow us on Twitter: @INDATAproject
Like us on Facebook: www.Facebook.com/INDATA
——-transcript follows ——
JENA DANIELS: Hi, this is Jena Daniels, and I’m the clinical study manager for the Autism Glass Project out of the Wall Lab at Stanford University, and this is your Assistance Technology Update.
WADE WINGLER: Hi, this is Wade Wingler with the INDATA Project at Easter Seals crossroads in Indiana with your Assistive Technology Update, a weekly dose of information that keeps you up-to-date on the latest developments in the field of technology designed to assist people with disabilities and special needs.
Welcome to episode number 273 of Assistive Technology Update. It’s scheduled to be released on August 19 of 2016.
Today I have Jena Daniels from Stanford University who’s going to talk to us about Autism Glass, an augmented reality system for folks on the autism spectrum.
We have some new information from Rutgers University about voting among people with disabilities; some thoughts about the stigma of using assistive technology devices; a way to learn how to do a better job of tracking those complicated changes in Microsoft Word if you are using a screen reader; and one man who is blind who is making better opportunities for folks who need to use Uber to get to job interviews.
We have an app segment from our partners over at BridgingApps.org, and we hope you’ll check out our website at www.eastersealstech.com, send us a note on Twitter at INDATA Project, or call our listener line. We love to have your questions and feedback. That number is 317-721-7124.
Like this show but don’t have a full half hour every week? Check out accessibility minute. Accessibility minute.com.
***
And now we come to the program where we talk about Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. No, no we are not going to do that; however, there is a related story that came out from Rutgers recently. Apparently there is new research being done by Rutgers University that reports that there are more than 35 million voters with disabilities, and that group is larger than African-American or Hispanic voters. However, according to Professor Douglas Kruse from Rutgers, but only 46 percent of eligible disabled voters are projected to actually cast a vote this year. The gist of the article talks about polling place accessibility and professor Lisa Schur from Rutgers says, “By not having accessible polling places, that send a message to people with disabilities that they are not welcome or expected to vote.” Professor Schur also suggests that one of the easier ways to make voting accessibility work out is to take advantage of voting by mail in the state where that’s available.
So I bring this up today because we’ve got several weeks before the presidential election here in the US, and I would encourage everybody who’s eligible to vote, especially those with disabilities, to vote. Maybe you need to be thinking about your game plan now so when it comes time to cast your ballot, you can make it happen. I’m going to pop a link in the show notes over to the story at workers which further links to all the resources about voting accessibility and some ideas about how you might be thinking now about your voting come November.
***
Brittany Clouse is a lifestyle blocker with Cerebral Palsy News Today, one of related articles is entitled, “Some thoughts about the stigma of using assistive technology devices.” Brittany talks about the fact that sometimes when you use assistive technology devices, there might be stigma or public perception that you might have to deal with. Specifically here she’s talking about wheelchairs, canes, crutches, walkers, and those kinds of things. She recalls that when she was a kid, she worried a lot more about that than she does today. She also has some suggestions here that if you’re a child with a walker or wheelchair, you might even think about putting stickers or color tape or stuffed animals or necklaces or decorative kinds of things on your walker to draw attention to it in a positive way that makes people think more about independence and fun rather than dependency or struggle. In the close of her article, I like the fact that she says, “Maybe the most important piece of advice I can give you is to be kind to yourself. It is always worth using something you know will help you if you think you need it. It’s like bring a jacket just in case. You can put it on or take it off as needed, but you can’t do either if you didn’t bring a jacket.” Then she goes on to say, “Self-care perhaps is the most important type of care and people will respect you for knowing how to put yourself first and knowing your needs.” So it’s a nice article. A lot of nice articles on this website, in fact, talking about living life with cerebral palsy. I’m going to pop a link in the show notes over to bring his article and you can check it out for yourself.
***
Do you use Microsoft Word? Do you ever have to collaborate back and forth in documents in Microsoft Word? Have you clicked the button that says, “Track changes”, and then try to keep track of everybody’s changes everywhere? I’m a sighted user. I don’t rely on a screen reader, but I find that challenging and confusing sometimes. I can only imagine that if you’re using a screen reader how that might be even a little more challenging. It’s complicated stuff. However, Freedom Scientific is going to offer a free webinar in December, so there is plenty of time to register, called “Tracking changes in Microsoft Word with JAWS.” The text here says, “Have you ever attempted to collaborate with colleagues using Microsoft and track changes? Dealing with inserted and deleted text has been difficult at best in the past.” So they are going to talk about – it’s a beginner level, one hour webinar that talks about how to do with track changes if you are a JAWS user. If you’re using screen readers in complex word documents, I would encourage you to check out our show notes. There is a link right there we can rub register for this free webinar by Freedom Scientific.
***
Mike Hess is with the Blind Institute of Technology in the Denver, Colorado area, but he’s not in the news for that today. There is a headline that says, “Blind man Ubering: one man’s quest to give visually impaired a tech job.” Fascinating video, awesome article that talks about Mike, who has partnered with Uber, the ride share program, and the Denver area to help people who are blind or visually impaired get free right when they are on a job interview. Mike talks about how technology has been important to him as someone who is blind or visually impaired, and a tech professional as well, and he has leveraged his connections with Uber to see that people who are blind and going on job interviews don’t have transportation as a barrier at least in that area. The article goes on to talk about Mike’s work with the Blind Institute of Technology, his interest in assistive technology, and just more interesting things about him and his work there.
I’m going to pop a link in the show notes. I encourage you to check out the video, watch it, and it seems like Mike is trying to work with Uber to roll this program out in other areas of the United States as well. Check it out. Check our show notes, read what Mike is doing.
***
Each week, one of our partners tells us what’s happening in the ever-changing world of apps, so here’s an App Worth Mentioning.
AMY BARRY: This is Amy Barry with BridgingApps, and this is an App Worth Mentioning. Today I am sharing the app called CanPlan. CanPlan promotes independence and builds confidence by helping people with cognitive challenges complete tasks successfully. Virtually any activity can be broken into a sequence of easy-to-follow steps, illustrated by photos, and reinforced with optional text and audio. Scheduling and reminder features ensure that each task gets done on time. This app is especially beneficial to people who have difficulty performing activities that require following a sequence of steps, including those with brain injury, dementia — including Alzheimer’s disease — autism spectrum disorder, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, dyslexia, and developmental disabilities. Support workers and therapist are providing CanPlan to their clients with cognitive, memory, and of the challenges, while family and caregivers are using the tool with loved ones who desire more independence.
So for any given task, a user initially goes through the activity with the support person or family member. And then together, they can take photos of each step in the task, adding text or audio as needed. The task is then filed under a customizable set of categories which include areas such as food preparation, household chores, shopping, transportation, exercise, workplace tasks, and so on. We trialed the app with children ages 10 to 12, one diagnosed with ADHD, combined type. The children learned to sort and wash a load of clothes, and we were able to easily customize a sample task by adding a picture and a short description to each step of the task. Once the steps were set up, a to-do list was created featuring the tasks chosen. An instant visual schedule with reminder notifications is created when the tasks are added to the calendar. We cannot emphasize enough the ease of use and value of this app.
CanPlan is available for free at the iTunes Store and is compatible with iOS devices. For more information on this app and others like it, visit BridgingApps.org.
***
WADE WINGLER: I’m always scanning the news headlines for technology for people with disabilities, and when I see something that has the words augmented reality and autism and Glass and those kinds of things, my interest is clearly peaked and I want to learn more. So I reached out to the folks at Stanford University and was happy that Jena Daniels, who is the clinical study manageable manager for the Autism Glass Project, which is housed in the Wall Lab at Stanford, reached back out to me and said sure, I’d be happy to tell you about our work. I’m super excited to have done online today. Jena, welcome.
JENA DANIELS: Thank you so much. I’m really excited to be here to speak to today.
WADE WINGLER: I can’t wait for the conversation. Before we do that, can you help set the contest a little bit for my audience, telling them about yourself and how you became interested in technology for people with autism?
JENA DANIELS: Sure. So I’ve been the clinical study manager for the Wall Lab and Dr. Dennis Wall for about 5 1/2 years now. I’ve always been really passionate about working with families with disabilities, as my family has several members with autism. So I’ve been brought up with recognizing the challenges that come along with that developmental delay and also the challenges that come with lack of resources. I knew from the start that I wanted to be heavily involved in making a positive impact and just giving back to the community. During my senior year at Boston University, I met up with Dr. Dennis Wall and have kind of been working with him on a variety of different projects ever since. The Autism Glass Project was brought into the Wall Lab about two and half years ago by Catalina Boss and Dr. Nick Haber. Since then, we’ve created this interdisciplinary team from the Department of Pediatrics, the Department of Computer Sciences, and the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and have been really excited with what’s come to fruition and looking forward to the study.
WADE WINGLER: It sounds exciting. I can I can hear your passion. I’m always interested when I hear that people have a personal connection to the work that they do. I think in our field that is pretty common. I’m glad to hear that. Jena, tell me about the Wall Lab. Before we get into the Autism Glass Project, there’s a lot of fascinating stuff going on there. Can you give me a quick overview?
JENA DANIELS: Sure. I don’t know how quick I can go. Basically our lab is a translational bioinformatics lab that looks at autism in a holistic standpoint. What I mean by that is that we are looking only at the genetic component but also at the behavioral phenotype component, and then also looking at the resource accessibility, the therapeutic side of things, and therapeutic intervention. Basically we are trying to combine all of these different ways to look at autism and create novel tools that will help not only with early diagnostics and figuring out early genetic markers but also target targets for therapeutic intervention.
WADE WINGLER: So there’s a whole lot going on there. It sounds like a very wide group of products going on there.
JENA DANIELS: It really is.
WADE WINGLER: As we think about Autism Glass a little bit, I think a lot in my audience might understand the terms augmented reality and virtual reality, but there might be a little muddiness there. Can you tell me us a little bit about the terms? What is augmented reality and how does it apply in the situation?
JENA DANIELS: Augmented reality is taking a live or indirect view of the real world environment that you are around and supplementing it with computer-generated sensory input. For example, it could be sound or visual cues or graphics, etc. It’s combining a real-world point of view or field-of-view and adding on some computer generated inputs.
WADE WINGLER: That differs from virtual reality in that virtual reality doesn’t overlay the real world necessarily. Is that right?
JENA DANIELS: Exactly.
WADE WINGLER: Talk to me a little bit about Autism Glass. What is it? What does it do?
JENA DANIELS: We are trying to validate Autism Glass is a home behavioral therapy tool. What it does is it uses Google Glass and an associate Android phone app where the outward facing camera on Google Glass actually records a video of the real world environment and overlays our software program on top of that video to read over 100 different fiduciary points on the face. So when someone is interacting with someone and a face comes into that field-of-view, our software turns on automatically, can recognize that space, can then read those different fiduciary points, and figure out what emotion that person is feeling, and then in real time provide that social feedback cue to the wearer. So for example, if you’re talking with someone and all of a sudden you say something that might make them really surprised, and they emote surprise, this software will be able to pick that up and provide either a visual or audio or combination of video and audio feedback via the Google Glass to the wearer. So it my stay surprised, and the color orange, and an emoticon expressing surprise would come up for the visual and audible feedback.
WADE WINGLER: It does that based on the current live image in real time, so that if you’re wearing it and I make a really mean face at you, what might it say?
JENA DANIELS: It would say angry. The color red would come up with the red emoticon making that angry face that we all use in our texting.
WADE WINGLER: That’s fascinating. I’ve got a million questions. The first one I want to start with is, who is this for? We are talking about folks on the autism spectrum, but can you be a little more specifically is that all?
JENA DANIELS: Currently we are trying to validate this as a home behavioral therapy tool for kids with autism. The reason why we are targeting this population is a lot of times there are a bunch of different challenges and deficits in social interactions. With the Autism Glass and the program, we are trying to validate the devices, meaning the Google Glass and Android phone and software itself, as a home behavioral therapy tool that not only helps children be able to recognize those specific emotions and be more confident in social interactions, but also be able to think about how or why someone might be emoting the specific emotion, focusing on increasing eye contact to be able to find a face, to find what emotion it is, and then respond appropriately to the emotion. So we have created and are now trying to validate this learning tool to help kids with challenges with social interactions on a range of different components. We have programmed games within the phone app that focus on being the catalyst and initiate social overtures, or confirming the type of emotion that they are viewing is in fact the emotion that they think it is, so playing kind of a guess the emotion game where you would act at this emotion, the child gets it, and then receive positive feedback when they got correct emotion. Also a way to kind of think about, with that video recording, you can then review that video and talk about those different social interaction that you had and how someone responded and was the appropriate or was there something that might be more appropriate next time in talking about and thinking through how we can continue to make the most robust type of social interactions in a platform for kids to move forward from in terms of creating a solid foundation for understanding these emotions.
WADE WINGLER: As you’re describing this, my eyes are wide and my jaw has hit the few at a time or two. This is fascinating. I can imagine people in my audience are immediately going to say, okay, where do I buy one. I know we are not there yet. Talk to me a little bit about the research. How far along is the research? What have you done so far? What are you looking for in terms of research assistants or subjects or those kinds of things?
JENA DANIELS: Those are great questions. First and foremost, we are so incredibly excited to be in this Phase 2 clinical study at Stanford. What that means is we party previously completed a Phase 1, or rather pilot study of validating the software and the devices. So what we did is we had a clinical, very structured in-lab study where we had kids come in, where the Google Glasses, and we had 40 participants, 20 of which were controls and 20 of which were children with clinical diagnosis of autism. We had them wear the Google Glasses and turn on the software and view images and three different round. In the first round, we actually turned off the software, but the child still wore the Google Glass and went through a list of a variety of different images to then let us know, cold turkey, without the software on, what emotion they thought the image was expressing. In the second round, we turned on that social feedback cues so the audio and visual cues, and let them choose whether or not they wanted to go with what the feedback was saying or if they wanted to go with what their gut was telling them about what emotion the image was expressing. In the third round, we shut it off again. We tried to see if there was any change in ability to recognize the motion based on the feedback. We are actively analyzing that data and putting together a few different publications to push out. We also collected data on eye contact and we had some distractors, so we were trying to test to see whether or not will kids even where the Google Glasses for an extended period of time? Will they respond positively to the feedback that we are providing? Will it make a difference in their ability to recognize emotions? We are really excited to be able to be working on that.
In terms of where we are now, we’ve actually had the devices out in 22 different families’ homes. We’ve been rushing forward with sending these devices to the families’ homes and really focus on more of an exploratory component of this Phase 2, talking with the family since then you are helping us codesign this. We’re going to do a lot of iterative design changes and move forward with any type of feedback that you give to us to make sure that we can create the most accessible and robust home behavioral therapy tool to help you and be implemented in a way that works best for you and your family. So we are really excited for that.
The one caveat is that all of our participants do need to be local to Stanford, at least for right now. The reason why is we do want to stay in that exploratory codesign phase for a little bit longer to get that feedback as well as go through various outcome measures to make sure that, if there are any changes in ability to recognize emotions or eye contact, etc., we can make sure that we are keeping track of that. Right now we are looking for participants between the ages – actually any child that is over the age of four with a clinical diagnosis of autism and local to Stanford who also has a very engaged family and willing to do a little more of time intensive study with us, but with very high reward of being part of a very positive study, and being able to come into the lab and work with us directly. In the next coming months, we are actually looking to have a remote launch of the study, so we will be able to target participant outside of the Bay Area. We are actively working on creating that protocol and what that looks like. That’s the future for the study itself. We are looking to recruit up to 100 children with a clinical diagnosis of autism.
WADE WINGLER: Wow. So cool. So for folks who are in the Bay Area right now, it would be a good time to reach out. For others, they should keep an eye on your website probably to see when those remote studies might be available.
JENA DANIELS: Definitely. We’ll be posting any news and updates on our study on the website.
WADE WINGLER: I’ll ask for the website address again at the end, but what’s the address now for folks you want to jot it down?
JENA DANIELS: AutismGlass.Stanford.edu.
WADE WINGLER: I’ll put that in the show notes so that it’s easy for folks to get. As I think about the platform that you are working on, Android and Google, there’s a lot of virtual reality, augmented reality platforms out there. Google Glass is on hold. What’s the status with Google Glass and what does that mean for Autism Glass?
JENA DANIELS: One of the really amazing things about our software is that it can be easily transitioned to multiple hardware platforms. It’s not specific to Google Glass and Android phones. We’re actually working on a few in-lab projects where we are trying to build out different software components to be have the program work on a variety of virtual-reality types of devices. We are really excited to be thinking about the future and what other types of virtual-reality or augmented reality types of devices that we can then transition our software onto.
WADE WINGLER: I know that you come to this from personal experience with autism, with folks in your family with autism. Tell me a story about the impact, either now or in the future, that Autism Glass might have on the life of a person with autism.
JENA DANIELS: I think one of the most heartfelt or heartwarming things that I’ve experienced so far, being the main liaison and advocate for our study participants, really having that hands-on expense with families and talking to them several times a week about how it’s going, what we can do better, how their child is responding, and being able to figure out how unique each and every child is in using this device and how we’ve actually created something that, no matter how specific it needs to be for each child, across the board it’s really accessible for all families. I think that, without having a specific story, that knowledge of knowing how unique each and every child is and being able to create something that is acros language s the board accessible is by far the most incredible reward that I think we’ve had to date. We’ve had a lot of positive testimonials saying, my child is finally looking at me, they are starting to spontaneously interact with peers. We had a which arts teacher comment that they noticed an increase in eye contact and patience and one of our participants. It’s been so incredibly humbling working on this project. I can’t quite think of a specific story to really share just because they all have – they make me want to work harder. They make me want to stay in the office until 9 o’clock at night to get work done. I can’t express to you how much this project really does mean to me. I’m excited to see what the next steps are and continue working together with the families and study team.
WADE WINGLER: You are clearly excited and I think the impact potential is pretty dramatic. I think I’m going to have to reserve the rights to check in with you a little bit down the road and see how it’s going as well.
JENA DANIELS: I would really appreciate that. That would be fantastic.
WADE WINGLER: Jena, you listed the URL as autismGlass.Stanford.edu. Is that the best way for folks to reach out to you if they want to learn more or contact your program?
JENA DANIELS: Yes. Our email is listed on there. If people are interested in going right through to the eligibility screening questionnaire that we have, it’s pretty much the same website, just with one additional word. It’s autismGlassrecruitment.Stanford.edu. The one Jena Daniels is the clinical study manager for the Autism Glass Project in the Wall Lab at Stanford University. Jena, thank you so much for being with us today.
JENA DANIELS: Thank you.
WADE WINGLER: Do you have a question about assistive technology? Do you have a suggestion for someone we should interview on Assistive Technology Update? Call our listener line at 317-721-7124, shoot us a note on Twitter @INDATAProject, or check us out on Facebook. Looking for a transcript or show notes from today’s show? Head on over to www.EasterSealstech.com. Assistive Technology Update is a proud member of the Accessibility Channel. Find more shows like this plus much more over at AccessibilityChannel.com. That was your Assistance Technology Update. I’m Wade Wingler with the INDATA Project at Easter Seals Crossroads in Indiana.