AOTA ( The American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.) holds an annual conference and this year it was in New Orleans Louisiana. I was honored to be able to represent the Neil Squire Society Makers Making Change program alongside the venerable Harry Lew. We were on the corner of “Maker Alley” next to Bill & Lori Binko with AT Makers where I got to see a speech generating device that Bill has been developing which makes a great point and can make a positive impact for a user.
We handed out pen ball kits and key turner kits, signed up students and professionals to review projects on Makers Making Change, and even printed a couple custom solutions requested during the conference on the 3d printer I brought with me on the road. Ultimately, it was a great experience, I believe we broke down a lot of stereotypes about the makers potential for impact in the field of assistive technology.
I was also pleased to hear about higher ed programs that were starting curriculums utilizing digital fabrication tools to create assistive technology devices. These programs will send out therapists that are better equipped to meet their client’s needs with critical thinking, an understanding of the digital design workflow, and hopefully the knowledge of external resources they can tap into for creative help when they need it.