I’m taking a course on Assistive Technologies, and we have to keep blog posts throughout the semester. I chose my post this week to be more of an introduction of why I decided to take the course and why I’m really passionate and excited about it. So here it is!
“I’ve been lucky to be able-bodied in many respects and to do my day-to-day activities just like the majority of others. I took what I had for granted. That was until I started working with children with disabilities on my Friday nights in high school. The organization I worked with started a soccer league for children in grade school with physical and cognitive disabilities - the group was very diverse in age, experience, abilities, and everything - but everyone had one thing in common: their excitement to run around the fields and be treated as regular kids.
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It was a challenge to keep all 30 kids together and focused at the specific tasks at hand - but that wasn’t because of their disabilities - it was because they’re kids who want to just shoot as many goals as they can and play tag on the field and be given piggy back rides! The weekly scrimmage matches and drills exposed me to the different assistive technologies young children are using for various disabilities, and also showed me the creative way these kids used these technologies. More than that, it showed me how enthusiastic these children are to just learn - and that’s often overlooked in schools and activities that tailor more towards the other children that are more able-bodied. The happiness of just being able to run around an open field or roll around in the grass really inspired me to continue working with these kids, and to want to continue to work in community service fields.
That high school experience is what made me really passionate to work with people and figure out how to make their daily lives easier, more enjoyable, or both! I focused a lot of community service before I came to MIT, and even while here. But I somehow missed that I could be combining what I’m learning in my courses and the community service that I want to do. I can actually use the skills I’ve gained throughout my MIT experience and apply it to the aspect of life I am really passionate about.
PPAT is one of the courses that will allow me to directly follow through on that mission - and I can continue with it even when the course is over. I feel like I’ve finally found on of the courses at MIT that I’ll feel fully satisfied when coming out of it - not just for what I’ve learned, but also for the impact that I can potentially make.
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Another outlook I’m trying out - thinking about things more along the lines of people being “able-bodied” in certain respects as opposed to “disabled”. We all have certain disabilities, or hinderances that we need to overcome. And of course, all of these disabilities span a huge spectrum - and not just a two-dimensional line spectrum - these span in all directions. And with any new technology or application, it’s difficult to encompass all types of people. However, I feel it’s important to try to integrate the idea of inclusion and trying to make new technologies more towards assistive technologies - because assistive technologies do not only need to be used by people with disabilities. Ideally, we’d be able to create products that are universal for people on all corners of the spectrum.
It’s a hard and daunting task - but as the kids in my soccer league showed me, they just want to feel normal and included. They just want to be treated as any other kid would have in a soccer match - and it was an enlightening and humbling experience to be able to participate in a program that encouraged that.
And I hope to have the same experience coming out of PPAT this semester.”
