Story Archives of 'Disabilities'

Amazing things are being done in the field of robotics. And some of that work holds promise for people with reduced mobility, including soldiers injured on the battlefield.

At the University of Washington, researchers have created a lifelike robotic hand. Each bone was modeled on a human bone, and seven motors represent the muscles in the hand. When people eventually attach the prosthetic to their arm, the idea is that the same signals they once used to move a biological hand would work to control the electronic replica.

Word of Mouth producer Avishay Artsy recently spoke with Yoky Matsuoka, the director of the neurobotics laboratory at the University of Washington, and asked her how she became interested in creating robotic limbs.

Watch a video of Yoky Matsuoka discussing how brain signals can control prosthetic limbs, and other advances in the hybrid field of neuroscience and robotics. The presentation was given at the 2008 New Yorker Conference "Stories from the Near Future."

Henniker resident Susanne Gorin says her ten year old son, Colin, makes connections with his peers through the afterschool programs and summer camps at White Birch Community Center.

Longtime Concord Monitor photojournalist Dan Habib debuts his film documentary, “Including Samuel”. It’s the story of Habib, his son Samuel, who has cerebral palsy, and his family’s struggle to have Samuel included as much as possible in normal childhood life.

Guests

• Dan Habib, photojournalist with the Concord Monitor. His freelance work has appeared in numerous publications, including Time, Newsweek and the New York Times. His new documentary is called “Including Samuel”.
• Cheryl Jorgensen, Project Director with the Institute on Disability and Assistant Research Professor in the Education Department at UNH.

We'll also hear from

• Jessica Gervais, Director of Exceptional Services at Pembroke Academy
• Ann and Emily Huff , two women featured in Dan Habib’s documentary. Emily is a 22 year old New Hampshire woman with schizophrenia. Ann is her mother.

Boscawen, New Hampshire is home to the first Easy Living residential home in the state. It’s designed to meet the needs of people with disabilities.

The newly constructed house has spacious halls, easy-to-use fixtures and even a wheelchair ramp in the garage.

New Hampshire Public Radio’s Dan Gorenstein went to the open house and files this report.

The story of a severely mentally and physically disabled Seattle girl known only as Ashley has rippled through the public conscience in recent weeks. Ashley's parents had a group of procedures they call "The Ashley Treatment" performed on the child to stunt her growth and remove her breast tissue and uterus so that she could be at a small enough size to allow her to continue to be part of the family. They say it is for her good so that she can be loved and cuddled and cared for, but others say it is just a matter of convenience for the parents, who would have a hard time dealing with a larger disabled child. Either way, this particular case has raised the discussion on where the line is with genetic alteration, what is acceptable, what is not, when it is for convenience and when it is for the health of the child. Today on The Exchange, we discuss the many medical and ethical questions raised by this case and get your thoughts as well.

Laura's guests are Dr. Sam Casella, Section Chief for Pediatric Endocrinology at the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Dartmouth Medical School and Dr. Carl Cooley, Medical Director for Crotched Mountain, Developmental Pediatrician and Former Director of the Dartmouth Center for Genetics and Child Development.