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CSUN Conference To Explore How Assistive Technology Can Help Injured Vets, Aging Baby Boomers

Military personnel returning from war with missing limbs and other physical disabilities. Aging baby boomers with failing knees and other mobility problems. Helping them return to full, active lives can be a challenge.

Thousands of people from around the world—from entrepreneurs and tech industry executives to academics and persons with disabilities— are expected to gather later this month near the Los Angeles International Airport to explore new ways technology can help the disabled.  Cal State Northridge’s 24th Annual International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference—the largest of its kind in the world—is scheduled to take place March 16-21 at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott and Renaissance Montura hotels.

“Those who attend will be able to network with visionary thinkers, learn about innovative solutions and interact with technology that has the potential to change lives in a hands-on environment,” said Elyse Chaplin, director of CSUN’s Center on Disabilities, which organizes the internationally acclaimed conference every year.

Chaplin pointed out that more and more military personnel are returning from combat with injuries that require some form of assistive technology to help them return to their former lives. At the same time, aging baby boomers are turning more and more to assistive technology to help them retain the agility they had in their youth.

“The problem is getting assistive technology that can keep up with their needs,” Chaplin said. “We have two very distinct populations that in many ways have similar needs, and the technology industry has to have a way to find out what those needs are and then come up with ways to meet them.”

The conference examines all aspects of technology and disabilities, and features a faculty of internationally recognized speakers, more than 300 general session workshops and more than 140 exhibitors displaying the latest technology for persons with disabilities in exhibit halls in both hotels.

Among the myriad of topics to be explored are two that will specifically address the concerns of an aging population and those of injured military personnel returning from combat.

Author and lecturer Gail Sheehy, AARP’s Ambassador of Caregiving, will help launch the premiere of the conference’s Design, Access, Technology and Education (DATE) Symposium focusing on adaptive technology and best practices for an aging population with acquired disabilities. The symposium is scheduled to take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, March 20, at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott Hotel.

Dinah Cohen, director of the U.S. Defense Department’s Computer/Electronic Accommodations Program, will present a session on “Wounded Warriors, Assistive Technology and E-Learning.” The discussion will explore the needs of returning service personnel and how they are different from previous generations as well as how campus-based services and the Veterans Administration can best serve these young men and women. Her session is scheduled to take place at 9:20 a.m. on Wednesday, March 18, at the Marriott Hotel.

Former California Congressman Anthony Coelho, a leader in the disabilities arena and sponsor of the landmark Americans With Disabilities Act, will give the conference’s keynote address at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 17, at the Renaissance Montura Hotel.

Conference participants will have the opportunity to choose from nine full- and half-day pre-conference sessions on March 16 and 17, and for the first time there will be two pre-conference sessions on Web casting.

Pre-conference workshops and general session topics run the gamut of disability and technology issues, from workplace concerns and improving learning outcomes to promoting inclusion with technology and increasing access to the Internet and World Wide Web.

For more information about the conference or how to register to attend, visit the Center on Disabilities’ Web site at www.csunconference.org or call the center at (818) 677-2578 V/TTY.

Through a wide array or services CSUN’s Center on Disabilities assists Cal State Northridge students in realizing their academic and career goals. A team of disability and educational specialists is available to students on a year-round basis. Students also may receive training on assistive technology, access to help from peer mentors and are encouraged to participate in a wide range of cultural and social activities offered at the university. The center’s annual internationally recognized assistive technology conference provides training programs to expand the knowledge base of professionals and introduce newcomers to the field.