I currently find that assistive technology predominately focuses only on executing specific tasks and not providing a means for personal expression. In order to address this disconnect, I have been working on project called iN-BaGs, which focuses on the objects we carry and how they reflect of our personal expression.

The two current explorations revolve around organization and security of the backpack. One exploration is a series of pouches inserted into the existing backpack. The pouches are wireless connected and controlled by a master panel. The panel is a way for the student to indicate the pouch (desire) they want or to be notified if a pouch is not closed properly (secure).

The second exploration is the in combination of fashion and mobility through the constraint of weight distribution. The frame of an existing backpack is used and modular components are attached and detached as the user desires. This provides flexibility in weight distribution and aesthetics.


The lapPAC from Assistive Tech

Clinical Trials and Research on Backpacks and Mobility.

Working with Abilities School in Long Island, NY
Working with Cognitech Cafe in NY,NY
Working with Adaptive Design Association NY,NY

The Design of Everyday Things
by: Donald A. Norman

Female Forms: Experiencing and Understanding Disability (Disability, Human Rights, and Society)
by: Carol Thomas

Don\'t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability (2nd Edition)
by: Steve Krug

Strength: Broadsides from Disability on the Arts
by: Paddy Masefield

User-Centered Technology: A Rhetorical Theory for Computers and Other Mundane Artifacts (Suny Series in Studies in Scientific and Technical Communication)
by: Robert R. Johnson

Internships: CognitechCafe, Adapative Design Association

Two Audiences:
1. The students at the Abilities School in Long Island, NY. They use motorized wheelchairs.
2. An adolescent in High School who needs a better way to carry her stuff.