Journalist – Historian – Speaker
I wrote about John Scalzi’s assisted tech series, Lock In and Head On. It’s an interesting series from a disability culture series in many ways, but especially because there’s so little sci-fi really focused on assistive tech as a major plot issue. There’s lots of assistive tech around sci-fi, but not as a central point. …
Gizmodo reporter Jennings Brown wrote a great article, “The last of the iron lungs” last week. It’s very well done, with good interviews, a sense of the history of polio, and this: Understandably, Lillard lives in a constant state of anxiety over the functionality of her iron lung. But she said the company responsible for servicing …
Tonight my family goes to Hamilton in Chicago. Hamilton is super important to my son, as I wrote for the Washington Post. We’ve been moved up to seats with easy access to exits. It’s apparently very loud. Also it’s late. We’re nervous, but ready to walk out and go home at any point if needed and count …
I’ve written about Sara Hendren and her mantra – “All Technology is Assistive Technology” before – both in my review of John Scalzi’s recent book (which is basically about assistive tech) and on the blog. Hendren has a new piece over on Medium’s Backchannel exploring her mantra with 6 rules on design and assistive tech. Please …
There’s a handwriting system that my son’s teachers use called “Handwriting without Tears.” They have an app (that I don’t really like) and all kinds of classroom curricula (which teachers seem to like). I always laugh a little at the name, because for me, handwriting caused tears. As an adult, I’ve come to terms with …
Not Nico’s Actual Bus “It’s so sad when people have special needs.” A caring, sweet, 4th-grader said this to me at the bus stop a few minutes ago. My son and I crossed the street, running and laughing, happy. Then he asked me to go see a dog that was being walked across the grass, …