In recognition of October as Disability Awareness Month, UMass Medical School and UMass Memorial Health Care are hosting several events.
Assistive Technologies Expo, Thursday, Oct. 22
All members of the UMass Medical School and UMass Memorial Health Care communities are invited to attend the annual Assistive Technology Expo on Thursday, Oct. 22. The event provides doctors, nurses, students, patients and families the opportunity to learn about technologies that help people with disabilities related to autism, stroke, aging and other conditions, whether temporary or chronic, live full lives. The Assistive Technology Expo will be held in the Medical School Lobby from noon to 2 p.m.
Exhibitors will offer demonstrations and information about devices and software for care coordination, communications impairment, sensory impairment and physical impairment. Several interdisciplinary organizations serving the disability community will also be on hand.
The expo is sponsored by the Committee on Equal Opportunity and Diversity; the CEOD Disabilities and Mature Workforce Sub-Committees; the Diversity and Inclusion Office; Work Without Limits; and the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Interest Group.
25 Years after the Americans with Disabilities Act, Oct. 29
The Diversity and Equal Opportunity Office is hosting disability experts Lisa I. Iezzoni, MD, MSc, and Cheri A. Blauwet, MD, for a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Dr. Iezzoni, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of the Mongan Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital, focuses on health care quality, delivery system and policy issues relating to persons with disabilities. Dr. Blauwet, an attending physician at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital and instructor in physical medicine and rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School, is a leader in clinical care and research related to adaptive sports medicine. She is also a paralympic athlete and two-time winner of the Boston Marathon.
The lecture will take place Thursday, Oct. 29, from noon to 1 p.m. in the Faculty Conference Room, with lunch available at 11:30 a.m. RSVPs are requested.
The lecture is sponsored by the Disabilities Sub-Committee of the Diversity and Inclusion Office’s Committee on Equal Opportunity and Diversity.
Assistive technology exhibit, Nov. 4 through Dec. 28
The exhibit “Assistive Technology: High- and Low-Tech Approaches to Accessibility" will be on display in the Lamar Soutter Library from Nov. 4 through Dec. 28. The exhibit includes educational posters about disability etiquette and workplace accessibility; a display of tools such as tactile maps and money markers for the visually impaired; and a variety of computer software products including sign language training videos and a web browser designed for children with autism.
The exhibit is organized by fourth-year MD/PhD student Miriam Madsen, MEng, whose interest in assistive technology was piqued while she was in high school when she spent several weeks using a wheelchair after breaking her foot. With a master’s degree in computer science from MIT and industry experience in the assistive technology arena, she is now pursuing an interdisciplinary PhD focused on technologies that improve quality of life and support independence for individuals with temporary as well as chronic physical and neurodevelopmental disabilities.
“I’m particularly interested in this because technological advances create great potential to improve the quality of everyday life,” Madsen said. “Future doctors and nurses can benefit from learning about specific resources that are available for their patients.”
The exhibit is sponsored by the Disabilities Sub-Committee of the Diversity and Inclusion Office’s Committee on Equal Opportunity and Diversity; the Work Without Limits initiative of Commonwealth Medicine; and the UMMS Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Interest Group.
