Gallaudet's Architecture Satisfies the Senses

I've heard it said before that our senses can actually limit us more than they help us. For example, the Who's famous rock opera, Tommy, expresses that life without sight, sound, or speech leads to enlightenment, and in one of my favorite childhood books, A Wrinkle in Time, a sightless character from another galaxy is vexed by the reliance of humans on their senses, claiming that they seem so constricting. Recently, architect David Lewis proposed that our senses have lowered our expectations for the quality of space in which we live and work.

Lewis is the lead architect at New York City-based LTL Architects and is at the front of Gallaudet University's newest residence hall. Gallaudet is home to almost 2,000 students who are deaf or hearing impaired, so it was important that the new hall follow the design principles of DeafSpace, an initiative created in 2005 by architect Hansel Bauman to develop architectural guidelines that improved interactions amongst the deaf community. DeafSpace's design elements address space and proximity, sensory reach, mobility and proximity, light and color, and acoustics, all of which can be issues for the deaf.

You wouldn't notice right off that the residence hall was designed specifically for deaf students. The first thing you might notice is how open and well-lit it is, or you might see that your skin has a healthy glow to it rather than the somewhat greenish tinge it takes on in white rooms with florescent lighting. Then you might say, “Wow” and notice that in spite of the open space, your utterance did not fly across the room in echo. Wouldn't it be nice if this were the case every time you walked in a building?

These appealing examples are the results of very intentional design choices to make Gallaudet's new dorm more accessible for its residents. Here are some of the key features of the building:

• The community room on the ground floor has sloped ceiling that aligns perfectly with the inclines ground outside, and the wall is essentially a giant window. This way, people inside and outside the building can communicate with one another via sign language.

• Similarly, the centrally located stairwell is transparent as well. Rather than a separated cement staircase (like, for example, the one in Neuberger Hall), this one is open, well-lit, and in the middle of the room, allowing for easier communication.

• The 12-foot-wide hallways are twice as wide as standard halls.

• The hall's kitchen has all appliances concentrated to an island in the middle so that students don't have to have their backs to one another.

• The interior colors (red, yellow, green, and steel blue) were chosen to enhance natural skin tones in order to make facial expressions easier to read.

• The ceiling is paneled, and an acoustic blanket sits under the concrete floor to enhance and tighten acoustics. This reduces the reverberations that can mess with hearing aids and, consequently, keeps voices from carrying across a room.

• Unfortunately there were not enough funds for a huge skylight, but hey, maybe someday!

So here's what I'm thinking: Why aren't all new buildings following the DeafSpace guidelines? I think it sounds pretty good! It seems our senses let us build these obstacles—like dark, narrow halls and stairwells—simply because we can get around them without too much struggle or complaint. But why not make our space more beautiful, intuitive, and accessible for all people? 

Finding a Better Bottom Line

At the end of last week's post, I mentioned the new plan to increase the number of people with disabilities employed by companies that do business with the federal government. While this plan has a solid philanthropic base, companies like Walgreens are hiring more people with disabilities not out of moral obligation, but because it's economically sound.

Right now, companies are typically asked to employ people with disabilities out of kindness or civic responsibility. Even the aforementioned federal plan is more focused on philanthropy than smart business planning. Governor Jack Markell of Delaware thinks this mindset will soon change, and he hopes to galvanize that change with his blueprint, “A Better Bottom Line: Employing Individuals with Disabilities”.

Governor Markell talked with CEO of Walgreens, Greg Wasson, about his high percentage of employees with disabilities. Approximately 50 percent of employees at Walgreens distribution centers in Connecticut and South Carolina have some sort of mental or physical disability, and Wasson says it's no accident. Those centers perform as well as, if not better than, any other Walgreens facility. Markell also talked to Neill Christopher, vice president of Maryland company Acadia Windows and Doors. Christopher says that although he was at first reluctant to hire his first employee with a disability for fear that window manufacturing would pose too great a danger, he is now happy to report that six out of 60 employees have disabilities, and the company is operating more safely than ever. He also points out that, along with increased safety, his new employees make the company kinder.

Further, Computer Aid, Inc., an IT company, recently pledged to make people with autism three percent of their consultant base, and global software company, SAP, has also recognized that because of their focus and attention to detail, people with autism often excel at software testing.

After talking with company heads and seeing firsthand the gratitude and happiness of employed members of the disabled community, Markell teamed up with Governor Dennis Daugaard of South Dakota, who happens to be a CODA (child of deaf adults), to devise a blueprint that gives governors the necessary tools to increase employment within the disabled community. Markell says the real focus of the blueprint is on the ability and not the disability. (Three cheers for that!) He foresees the Department of Labor partnering with companies who are looking for employees with certain skills, disabled or not. It's what they are able to do that matters.

The blueprint also includes plans for better preparing youths with disabilities, hopefully encouraging employment and more independence through education and access to career opportunities and exploration.

Markell says the plan is a win-win. Employers will have qualified, specialized employees, and those employees will gain a certain sense of pride and fulfillment. Additionally, Markell notes that taxpayers also win as fewer people rely on benefits and join the workforce themselves.

I think the best part about this is that it seems so direct: the plan looks straight past disability and squarely at ability. That sounds like simple logic to me.

What do you think about this blueprint? Do you think it will catch on?

Labor Day is More Than a Chance to Barbecue!

Labor Day is this Monday, which means two things: summer's end is drawing near (I, for one, am eager to get back to Portland State), and it's time to consider what Labor Day actually means, especially given all the tension regarding people finding ways to excuse themselves from the workforce. Here's to you, Labor Day!

I couldn't say how many times I've heard that hackneyed joke about having Labor Day off work and school. You know, Why is it called Labor Day if we don't have to work ha ha ha? It seems that people tend to associate Labor Day with pretty much anything but labor, and I think that in all the thoughts of a final summer vacation, shopping deals, a farewell to white (if you're into that tradition), impending fall, and back-to-school, people don't stop to think about what's behind Labor Day, what it's all about.

It is not this.

In basic terms, if you work, Labor Day is in celebration of YOU. Whoop! The holiday began in 1882, proposed by either Matthew Maguire of the Central Labor Union or Peter J. McGuire of the American Federation of Labor. Homonym names can be tricky. It became nationally recognized in 1894, six days after the end of the Pullman Strike, during which a number of workers died at the hands of the US military. It was a way for the government to not only recognize America's workforce, but also to help smooth over some of the Pullman Strike unease.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, in 1887, Oregon became the first state to make Labor Day an official holiday. Oregon appreciates your contribution to the economy.

I think it's great that we regard those people who work and keep American capitalism afloat. Without them, our economy would stagnate, and they deserve some applause and, perhaps, a nationally recognized vacation. I just wish that people would see that there is honor and respect in working to sustain themselves and their country if they are able. Many people out there would love the opportunity to work, be self-sufficient, and contribute to the economy but can't because various circumstances don't allow it. There is integrity in doing what you are able and shame in sneaking around your duties as a citizen in a capitalist country. Without workers in the workforce, things simply can't function properly. Cheers to those who keep the gears moving!

"Labor is Life"

On a related note, the Obama administration is continuing with a plan to get companies that do business with the federal government to increase the number of employees with disabilities they hire. Last Tuesday, it was ruled that people with disabilities will comprise at least seven percent of employees within each job group at most federal contractors. If successful, that's an estimated 585,000 jobs for people with disabilities within the first year.

Seven percent is a goal, not a quota, but feds hope that having something measurable as opposed to a “good faith” policy will lead to a decrease in the unemployment rate within the disabled community. Contractors who don't reach the goal will need to reevaluate their practices and provide proof of their efforts or risk losing their federal contracts.

It sounds like a step in the right direction! How do you feel about the ruling? About Labor Day and its meaning to you? Contribute to MY work and share thoughts, links, questions, whatever! :)

Also, check out some of these PDX events this weekend if you're in a celebrating mood.

Who Really Benefits from Philanthropic Parking?

As you navigate the streets of downtown Portland, do you ever take a peek inside the windshields of the cars that fill our city's scant parking spaces? I don't make a habit of it, but Joseph Rose, writer for the Oregonian, decided to look into some suspicions he had about the striking abundance of blue handicap cards hanging from the rearview mirrors of parked cars.

Here's the deal: In Portland, people with disabilities get free, full-day parking as long as they have that blue card in their window. This reflects Portland's friendly, welcoming vibe and seems like a pretty reasonable gesture at first glance. However, when one takes into consideration the apparent ease with which these cards are obtained (Rose suspects doctors want to keep their clients, and so give them what they want), problems emerge. As Rose and parking enforcer, Mary Kisel, traversed downtown Portland, Rose noticed that there were entire blocks of cars parked and displaying hanging blue cards. It's a sensitive topic to discuss, but Rose certainly isn't the only one who has some doubts about the high volume of Portlanders with disabilities. City Commissioner, Steve Novick, agrees that evidence points to people playing the system to get out of paying for parking and moving their cars every two hours:

“The idea that more than half of the people with business in the core area of downtown Portland have disabilities that preclude them from using parking meters or other forms of transportation frankly strains credulity.”

This is coming from a man who not only has an interest in the well being of his city, but is also a member of the disabled community. Novack, who was born without a left hand or fibula bones in his legs, sent a letter last week to Portland's Disabled Parking Task Force in the hopes of fixing the issue of people essentially getting doctors' notes to get out of paying for parking.

Of course, I don't mean to suggest that all people who have blue cards in their windshields are faking disability. It's a similar situation to the increasing talk about people unnecessarily filing disability claims: some people take advantage of a loosely defined system and end up hurting those who actually need the assistance. Now these acts of personal gain are hurting the city as well as its disabled community. Portland loses an estimated $2.4 million to disability parking abuse. People aren't paying the meters, and because of full-day parking privileges, car turnover decreases, and Portland loses money.

So what do we do? Do we set a single parking standard for all people? Make a specific set of guidelines for doctors to follow when determining who gets a blue parking card? Maybe put a completely different body (like the Disabled Parking Task Force) in charge of making those determinations? Or should we just leave things as they are? What is more fair for the disabled community? For the city?

I know that's a lot of questions, but I think it's a subject worth thinking about. Give me your pros and cons, and tell me where you stand on this issue.

Click here to read Joseph Rose's original article.

Run AND walk, it's...The Mindwalker!!

My very first Kiwanis blog post was about the amazing technological advances in prosthetics and how science is getting closer to making them less like assisting props and more like actual body parts that can be controlled neurologically. I find those kinds of advancements fascinating and am almost always amazed by them (like the bionic eye! How fantastic is that?). I'm a little late in finding out about today's topic, but my tardiness doesn't make it any less cool. Right?

It sounds like the title of a B-horror movie from days past, but unlike William Castle's paralysis-causing villain,“The Tingler”, a new device called the Mindwalker is using new technology to help people with paralysis get mobile.

The Mindwalker project, funded by the European Commission, is working to create the world's first mind-controlled exoskeleton. The idea is to bypass the damaged spinal cord and instead send brain signals to a robotic frame that supports a person's body weight and animates when instructed by the wearer.

It's a two-part device: the arguably more simple robot itself and the complex aspect of controlling the exoskeleton with the mind. This mind-reading technology is called Brain/Neural Computer Interface, or BNCI, and can turn EMG (electromyography) signals from the patient's shoulder or EEG (electroencephalography) signals from the brain into electronic commands. The user wears a “dry technology” EEG cap that gets rid of the need for invasive electrodes or awkward wet caps, and commands are sent from the brain to the exoskeleton attached to the user's legs.

As time has progressed, more modes of operation have been developed. For example, the best way involves wearing specialized glasses that have flashing diodes on the lenses. The diodes process light, and the EEG cap measures whether the user is concentrating more on the left side, which makes the exoskeleton walk, or the right side, which makes it stop. However, if the user is not paralyzed from the waist up, he or she can use a pressure sensor in the lower back to move the Mindwalker by leaning to one side or the other.

This is a lot of technological development, especially considering the project has only been underway for three years. The project has plans to continue for another five years. Developers are hoping to make the device less bulky, but who knows what else could happen in that time?

Isn't this stuff awesome? What do you think about the Mindwalker? Do you think it could be available to a widespread market in the future?

Mystery Notes Point Finger at Portland's Disabled

The growing number of people claiming disability has been in the news A LOT recently, and I've really been avoiding writing about it partly because it's a touchy subject and partly because I'm a little burned out reading about it. However, I just read about this little incident in Portland, and I feel it is worth bringing up, if only for its locality and its eerie creep factor.

Here's the deal: An anonymous person who apparently goes by the name “Artemis of the wildland” is posting charged notes threatening to post the names of individuals in various Portland neighborhoods, like Laurelhurst, Irvington, and Southeast Belmont, who vote and claim disability.

Now, I get irritated every time I see people bragging on Twitter about how easy it is to get “free money” by playing the system and filing for disability, so I can understand the frustration this Artemis may be feeling about people being able “to vote themselves money”*, but isn't this mystery posting a weird invasion of privacy? I don't see why people need to know which of their neighbors are getting help from the government or what would come from knowing that information, except maybe tension or embarrassment. Further, I am led to wonder if this person believes that all people with disabilities should not be allowed to vote for fear that they would use their votes to get unwarranted government assistance. The issue of voting appears to be Artemis's biggest qualm, though it could be that that simply stands out most to my eye.

Perhaps the note poster knows something the rest of us don't, like exactly why certain individuals are making disability claims and which of those individuals are truly in need. Maybe the poster went door to door and asked people if they are on disability and if they have a legitimate reason for being so. It could be that this person is exposing frauds, and I'm completely off base for thinking this whole situation is bizarre. Either way, whose right is it to go around tacking names to doors?

There are people out there who are actually unable to work and need financial assistance; not everyone is playing the system, and it's a shame that so many people do that others may be led to discredit everyone who claims disability, even those who actually are disabled. Many people with disabilities are already regarded differently and put into an oft unpleasant spotlight. Writing their names on a paper isn't doing anyone any favors.

Is it? What do you think? Is this is strange and creepish as it seems to me? Does anybody else think that Artemis of the wildland is an unusual and somewhat silly pseudonym given the context of the situation? Do share your opinions!

*If anyone is curious, the quote cited in the original note is often attributed to Benjamin Franklin, but there is quite a bit of debate whether he actually said this or not.

Dads of Disability

Awhile back, I shared an article on Twitter from The Good Men Project, a collection of anthologies and articles that look at the role of the 21^st century man, called “Disability is About the 'Other' Until It Isn't”. I recommend giving it a look if you haven't already. But finish reading this first, because that article prompted me to write this, and I will bring it all together. :)

Dads of Disability is an awesome book project that, according to project creator, Gary Dietz, addresses the scarcity of stories by and about fathers of children with disabilities. Dietz's goal is to offer support to fathers of children with disabilities by compiling and sharing different experiences in a single book entitled Dads of Disability: Stories For, By, and About Fathers of Children That Experience Disability (and the Women Who Love Them). It says it's for dads, but Dietz makes it clear that the project is definitely not a “no girls allowed” sort of deal. It's an inclusive endeavor for men and women of all races, ages, and abilities.

With that said, here's the super cool (in my eyes) part: Dietz is asking for people to submit stories to be included in the book. The stories can be on a variety of topics, but the idea is to keep the focus on a specific temporal, physical, or emotional event in a father's life. So, it's not really a book about understanding disability specifically; it's more of a coping tool, a form of sharing and connecting to other people who may or may not be in similar situations. Poems and drawings may also be submitted, which are another awesome option for those who are so inclined. OR! If you want to donate to the project, you can check out that Kickstarter page and, depending on your donation, get some nice rewards.

Now you may go read that first article! It's written by Dietz, and it poses a very thought provoking scenario that I feel is worth probing you all to read. If his book project doesn't grab your interest yet, reading his article may do a nice job of changing that.

Are any of you interested in submitting an essay? Or maybe a poem or drawing? I think it sounds like a great opportunity to share experiences and strengthen a community.