Every week, the White House acknowledges American innovators through its Champions of Change program. Since the program was launched last year, it has put the spotlight on sustainability, renewable energy, youth violence, entrepreneurism, Native Americans, and volunteering, among other issues and special interests. This week, people with disabilities got their turn, as 14people were honored for their contributions to “proving that when the playing field is level, people with disabilities can excel.”
The Talking Points Memo website likes to tout its “Breaking News and Analysis,” and its Idea Lab tech reporter, Carl Franzen, had an article about the Champions of Change list on the afternoon of the announcement. Franzen focused primarily on Dimitri Kanevsky, a scientist in IBM’s Human Ability and Accessibility Center team, whose ViaScribe technology provides real-time captioning that can also integrate element of multimedia presentations. Designed for the classroom environment, IBM’s sell-sheet (PDF) describes its application in a variety of other settings:
… [B]usiness meetings and presentations, corporate training and other employee communications, shareholder meetings, conferences and even doctor-patient appointments are all events that could reap the benefits that ViaScribe provides.
Franzen writes of Kanevsky’s childhood in Kiev, Ukraine, and how his own disabilities nearly cost him the opportunity to get an education that would hone his mathematical gifts. Fortunately, his parents recognized his intelligence and advocated for him to get the opportunity to acquire a Ph.D. It’s a story that is repeated through many of the other profiles of these Champions of Change who are working to make life matter for individuals with disabilities.
In addition to the profiles on the White House website, some of the Champions of Change also contributed blog posts relating their personal experience. Henry Wedler, who is pursuing a doctorate in organic chemistry at University of California, Davis, writes about the confidence he gained early on through various programs for people with visual impairments:
With encouragement I received from attending science camps put on by the National Federation of the Blind, I founded and instructed an annual chemistry camp for blind high school students. At Chemistry Camp, we teach blind and low-vision students that their lack of eyesight should not hold them back from pursuing their dreams. Ultimately, we aim to teach our students that blindness is a minor nuisance and not a life-long detrimental problem.
Also, check out this article on the UCDavis website, which includes a photo of “Hoby” using molecular models to get mental images of how chemicals bond. His story, and Kanevsky’s and all the other Champions of Change, serve as an inspiring reminder of what people with disabilities can do when given the opportunity, as well have access to the tools and career training to make their dreams come true.
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Image by Yahoo! Accessibility Lab, used under its Creative Commons license.