(Robot) Put your hand on the side of my head again. (Tommy) Okay.
We've only just met. (gasp)
Oooh. Hey. Hi everybody.
(music)
I'm at the International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference
in San Diego. And today, I want to show you some of the brand new
things that are available for folks with all sorts of disabilities.
(music resolves)
(Tommy) This is Jarek and he's from a company called Harpo. How are you doing today?
(Jarek) Very good. How are you? (Tommy) I'm great. Thank you so much.
So what are you demoing today? What do you have here at the conference?
(Jarek) We have a bunch of devices for blind people. One of which
is the P.I.A.F. It's Pictures In A Flash.
(Tommy) Ooh! (Jarek) It's a really cool device that helps
kids to experience the
technographics but also have the teachers to create
technographics almost on the fly.
(Tommy) Wow. That's fantastic. (Jarek) What you need for it is a special swell paper.
I have a sample here. (Tommy) Okay. (Tommy) The first thing you do
is you design the picture. Then you print it on this paper.
You just put it through the P.I.A.F.
It's really like putting a toast in the toaster. (Tommy laughs)
(Jarek) And after a few seconds, it will come out
puffed up. (Tommy) A raised line drawing. (Jarek) Yes.
(Jarek) So, here is now the outcome.
Now you see all the lines are raised. (Tommy) Yeah.
(Jarek) And it's in Braille. (Tommy) Everything. This is incredible.
And it's like a floor plan. Look at that. Look at this.
And a teacher could just make this in class
in a second? (Jarek) Yeah. Exactly.
(Tommy) That is genius. I love this. I wish they had this when I was in school.
I might have paid attention more. (Jarek) Maybe you be a mathematical
wiz or something now.
(Tommy) You can tell he just met me. (Both laugh)
(music)
(Tommy) This is Scott Larsen and he's from a company called Caption Call.
Now, tell me about this. What exactly is this? What happens?
How does it work? (Scott) Well, this Caption Call phone
captions what the other person is saying. So if somebody has
difficulty hearing on the phone. They can both hear
and read what is being said.
(Tommy) So if I'm talking to somebody who is hearing impaired, for example,
they can read what I'm saying? (Scott) That's exactly right.
Somebody who has this Caption Call phone in their home
they will see what you're saying on the screen.
It's kind of like your captioned television when you
turn on the captions. (Tommy) Sure. (Scott) You can see what the other person
is saying right on the screen. (Tommy) You know, I think the only draw back
is that the hard of hearing have to put up with telemarketers
and people trying to sell them the newspaper and raise money and all that. You know what I mean?
The old days it was -- what, what, I can't hear you?
(music)
(Tommy) I want you to meet Kristen. She's from a company called AbleNet.
You're doing very cool stuff. What's happening? What's going on? What do you do?
(Kristen) We do switches and communication devices. And we also do
mounting and computer access for people with
physical disabilities or learning disabilities as well.
(Tommy) Wow. And what's the thing you have in your hand? How does this work?
So, this is the Quick Talker 12. So it's a portable communication device.
It's durable and it has a handle. And has you're walking around you can
record different messages and people are able to communicate
pressing different buttons and communicate with
other people using the device. (Tommy) So this is for then non-verbal
kids, right? Kids who maybe have autism or something like that?
Or just don't speak? (Kristen) Yeah, definitely. So, here's
the top one. (VOX) I want more.
(Tommy) Okay. Alright. Okay. What else?
(VOX) I want to eat a banana. (Kristen) It said I want to eat a banana. (Tommy) Yep.
(Kristen) I love M&Ms. (Tommy) Oh, I love
M&Ms too. Plain or peanut?
(Kristen) Well, you got to go with the peanut butter. Definitely the peanut butter.
(VOX) I need help. (Tommy) Oh, wow. (Kristen) Yeah.
(Kristen) Well, I have one more button for you. (Tommy) Yes. (VOX) I'm all done.
(Tommy) That's it? You're done. No more? (Kristen) I'm all done.
(credits music)
(Tommy) You know what would be cool if you had a button on that said, "Get me another beer."
(Kristen) Well, we can record that for you.
(Tommy) Can you? (Kristen) Yes. Definitely.
You can take it to the bar with you whenever you'd like. (Tommy laughs)